The success story of a woman who lost her purpose of life

Things you should know first:
-This is season 2 of a show that only has a similar plot to this one. And other than the protagonist of the last season appearing in one episode, (and spoiler alert, turning out to be a key element of the story), the shows don't have any connections to each other. The endings are very different and so are the premises, most importantly, the protagonist. And while I will include some comparisons of the show, because of reasons I will state alongside, I won't go too deep into the first season, as it is a review of just the 2nd season.

- I WILL INCLUDE SPOILERS, so be FOREWARNED.

- Last thing, this might be long, but bear with me.

Plot: 10/10
Hino Misaki is an aspiring manga artist and housewife. Why is she both? Well, because she went to her (then future) editor of a successful manga husband before the course of the show to consult with him about her manga manuscript but (unfortunately), they ended up getting romantically involved, which resulted in Misaki conceiving Yuuto, her only son.

One shotgun wedding and 4-5 years later, Misaki is now a housewife, living with her apparently happy family, forced by her husband and in-laws to give up on her dream. I have to mention, that I watched the spin-off episode 0's series, where Misaki reveals, that while she had to give up on her dream, she truly was happy living as a housewife. Her kid was the purpose of her life, and when you're a mother, you can never not think about your household and child, even when you're on your break. So this setup is a bit different from the first season, where the protagonist didn't already have a kid, but went through a miscarriage.

But since the title is "socially killing your husband", the husband is the bad guy and causes Misaki to walk down a dark path. How so? By doing what husbands/boyfriends in most Jdramas do! Yes, having an affair. And since this was a shotgun wedding, it was revealed that he never really loved Misaki, and loved the other woman the whole time. And that affair causes the eventual death of Yuuto/Yuu-chan (because he's allergic to gluten) at the beginning of the season. Don't worry, I won't spoil EVERYTHING for you. But to be a bit linear with this review, I'm saying some of the details beforehand.

And after her son dies, Misaki contemplates suicide. But soon gets video messages from the anonymous "Kamen/Mask-san", who tells her to take revenge instead. And man, that was the best thing ever. I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED seeing Misaki torturing the douchebag who she unfortunately had to call her husband. She not only gets the most satisfying revenge, but she also wins the best newcomer award for her manga. Not half bad if you ask me.

Cast/acting: 10/10
The lead, Takanashi Rin, who I'm a big fan of, did an incredible job. Right from the moment I learned that she was doing this show, I knew it was gonna be fantastic. Because she is so good playing every type of character, be it the clumsy lead in a rom-com or a vengeful, angry, badass character in a story like this one. Not to discredit Baba Fumika, maybe that was the writing/directing/ behind the scenes issues of the last season. But Rin's character was handled much better than Fumika's character. So if the 2nd season was meant to be a do-over from the production team, then mission accomplished! And the other characters were also good, seeing 2 amazing toku heroines (Kudo Haruka and Rin) as sisters, was one of the biggest treats of this show. Season 1 did this Toku sister/almost sister relationship too, with Fumika and Mori Kanna, which I also LOVED to see.
Crazy coincidence, as last season featured Baba Fumika from KR Drive, this one featured Inaba Yu from KR Drive. I was hoping there'd be interactions between the characters, but oh well. It was a fun treat for toku fans, nonetheless. Thank God, we saw at least one GOOD Toku collaboration in 2024.
I haven't seen Yanagi Shuntaro in many things, but he successfully made me hate him 1000%. So there's nothing wrong there. Yuu-chan, I wish he didn't have to die. Just cute enough to break my heart.

Music: 10/10
Winter Jdrama at the beginning of the year. 2023, 2024- 2 completely different kind of Jdramas, with a few things in common. Featured Takanashi Rin as the lead, and ending songs sung by Natumi(pronounced "Natsumi", apparently). Yes, this is random, but I just wanted to mention this somewhere that coincidences like this happen. Both songs, as different as the were, were wonderful, by the way.
This show's ending, "Kuruwase" was perfect, with sweet and creepy vocals, matched with crazy music.

Rewatch: 7/10
I rarely rewatch dramas, but if I were to say which Jdramas I would consider rewatching, then this would be pretty high up on my list.

Overall: 9.5/10
Recommended? As you've guessed by now, YES. Treat for Toku fans, and Jdramas fans who are looking for a bit of revenge to spice up their day. If you're thinking, if this is as bad/good as season 1, then I can guarantee you, it is certainly better on so many levels. The plot, acting, characters, everything.

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A different take on my favorite romance trope.

First of all, I have to say- why aren't there 2 separate pages for the 2 separate versions of this story on MDL? There should be! That caused a whole lot of confusion before I started watching these 2 series. It's the same story, but the dramas are completely separate. So there should be 2 completely separate pages for them. No offense to anyone intended. Problem with MDL aside, let's talk about this drama. A bit of a warning, I watched this drama without any English subs using my so very broken Japanese. But I got the gist of the story, so shouldn't be a big deal. Even so, if there's some misinformation in my review, then I apologize beforehand. And sorry if the review is too long and boring.
I was drawn to this drama because of the female lead's actress, Hotta Akane. I liked her performance in Peanut Butter Sandwich, so I wanted to watch something else she was in. Also due to the fact that it centers around my favorite romance trope- friends to lovers. The thing I didn't know is that this story also involves the biggest enemy of any marriage- affair (one more time, I am annoyed that the page on MDL didn't include this very important piece of information). That took me by surprise, as I was NOT looking for that. I also started watching in the wrong order. The Rina version of the episodes take place ahead of the Ren version, which I didn't know when I started watching.
Let's start with the plot. The plot was very meh for me, and I didn't like what they did with the story. I got into it thinking it would be good, since this trope rarely fails in my experience. Clearly, I was wrong. That's all I can say without spoiling it too much. On the other hand, if anyone is into stories about affairs then this might be fun. Also, too many bed scenes for me. The weirdest part is, the main couple didn't get many bed scenes. An affair drama with a many bed scenes, but not enough of them with the main couple.
The acting was fine, I think. Hotta Akane delivered well. I can't think of any complaints about the others' acting either. But, when I looked back at the drama, I realized that maybe Izumisawa Yuuki wasn't the right actor to play Ren. He works when it comes to the plain, sweet and cute platonic male friend and goes "Yo" when he bumps into Rina in the city. And that would've been fine if this story didn't include the affair storyline, with just the "friends to lovers" part. But since they did include the affair storyline, it would've been better for me if they casted someone a bit more handsome and manly for this part. He didn't look good next to the very pretty Hotta Akane. Although, in a sense he was the right option if they prioritized the sweet male friend part. So this combination didn't work for me. Sidenote: Takeda Kouhei playing a playboy douchebag probably for the millionth time. One more misinformation I found on MDL, I thought Jinnai Sho would have a bigger role in the drama. But no, he only guest starred in an episode and didn't have much to do.
The music was annoying. Not because the music itself was bad, but because it didn't fit well with the drama. If this was a more of an innocent story, I probably would've liked the music too. But for this one, whenever the music started playing, I felt very annoyed. Felt more like an interruption.
If I talk about the 2 versions of this story, I think I like the Ren version of it more. I complained that I didn't like Izumisawa Yuuki's role in this drama as much, but he was pretty good when it came to narrating Ren's inner thoughts. He could be a good seiyuu (if he is already and I don't know about it, then my bad). For a story that wasn't so big, I don't get why they spent so much money and went as far as making 2 dramas out of it. I would have liked it better if Ren's version was the only one.
And I don't think I'll rewatch it. Not worth it. Won't recommend it either. This kind of story has been executed better in other Jdramas, for example "Guilty: Kono Koi Wa Tsumi Desuka".
Final rating: 5/10

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