Ah, the “ Cinderella-Tale”. It’s the trope which embodied the ‘ Hana Yori Dango’ franchise, 2000s rom coms and 1990s shoujos countless others beforehand , where the outcast or plucky mundane heroine changes the spiteful, rich male lead ‘s life before he whisks her away to live happily ever after. The trope nearly defined the zenith of 2000s romance dramas, yet nowadays the “ Cinderella Tale” archetype is often seen as being retrospectively outdated . Now the trope comes to life once more with “ Promised Cinderella” but just how does this cliche actually play out in 2021? Is it a nostalgic trip about the old days of romance dramas , or is it just too outdated for its own good?

At its heart “ Promised Cinderella” is based upon the Josei ( aimed for older teens to women) manga of the same-name. It is a trope-worthy love story between 27 year-old Katsuragi Hayame ( Nikaido Fumi), a vagrant former-housewife and rich and pugnacious 17 year-old Kataoka Issei( Maeda Gordon) who Hayame is forced to move in with. However whilst Issei finds his feelings growing for his senior, Hayame finds herself torn between Issei and his seemingly kindhearted brother Kataoka Seigo ( Iwata Takanori) , leading to all the imagined twists and turns out of a love triangle setup.

The drama is undeniably lighthearted, with a more mature and serious heroine taking central position in the drama and also taking off that burdensome worry of labyrinthine plot line . Overacting was sometimes an undeniable problem here, but nonetheless the main cast were dynamic . Nikaido Fumi really embodied Hayame to life onscreen through her performance, en par with fellow costar Maeda Gordon as foul-mouthed high schooler Issei and evidently Iwata Takanori as Issei’s brother Seigo.

Yet is is impossible to turn a blind eye towards the numerous problems amounting in this drama towards Hayame’s “potential love interests”. As far as the main couple goes let’s not sugarcoat it. Hayame is a 27 year- old woman and Issei is a seventeen year- old kid. Understandably the drama has never established anything lewd between the two aside from Issei’s crush and of course age gaps can be shown in numerous and versatile ways. However when tackling the subject of age or generational gaps, a topic which admittedly does come up is how this can impact a relationship between lovers socially, culturally and psychologically.

The drama plays repeatedly upon the gag that Hayame is an “ old woman” ( despite only being 27) but rarely does it draw onto the more significant factors of this age difference for both parties. Issei is incredibly immature for his age. There is the argument that a lot of his conducted attitude is based upon his experiences and whilst we do get to see his character grow at times, he was the typical “ spoilt and insolent brat” archetype. He nearly constantly put Hayame down verbally by passing remarks even in social situations, whilst irksomely Hayame ( despite being 10 years his senior and with more life and relationship experience) seeming “ wittiness” would be thrown out the window in order to keep this lacklustre charade moving as part of the plot device.

Then of course there’s Hayame’s “ potential chemistry” with Seigo. Despite being the older brother of Issei , Seigo has his own dirty secrets which can flare up a nasty side to a seemingly “sweet as pie” trope character. Undeniably intriguing to watch this character unravel, but nevertheless it made it troublesome for viewers to truly root for a respectful and flawed yet likeable character in this drama. Seigo’s “ infatuation ” with Hayame without respecting boundaries sometimes or his own brother’s feelings could verge upon obsessiveness . Perhaps this problem wouldn’t have been so bad if the drama had noted or brought to light that Seigo’s actions were unhealthy or wrong but rarely was this brought up and instead often passed on as “ just fascination” . In a setup where both characters are supposed to be flawed but have their own unintentional screenwriting problems, it is hard to truly root for either main lead. ( Without the lingering thought that Hayame is nothing more than a plot device to keep this lacklustre potential romance “ more dynamic”. )

To make matters worse aside from the questionable relationships in this drama, ‘ Promise Cinderella’ pretty much ticks all the boxes of every romantic cliche that you’ve seen and done before a million times;

1)The jerk former husband who abandons his wife, and isn’t necessary to the storyline pretty much ever again? Check.
2. The female lead who is too prideful to bother actually looking for a job to get off the streets, but no because it gets in the way of the actual reason to be saved by a high schooler? Check.
2)Trying to cover for a “ divorce background” with her husband in order to pair off Hayame with the potential love interests, yet never actually covering legal matters or court processes because it is too much like adding something realistic to the drama? Double Check.
3)Introducing the crude, teen male lead with an inferiority complex and who has a reason for being rude but none of them justify his bratty actions, or allow an opportunity for Issei to issue an actual apology to anyone? Triple Check.
4. Subverting the entirety of the female lead’s strong willed personality in order to make her cutesy to the plot but then changing her again, and then making her docile once more ? Quadruple Check.

‘ Promised Cinderella’ isn’t entirely a bad drama per say. It was pure sickly sweetness in all its glory with an ending which goes down an expected route. The acting was solid and an older female lead adds an intriguing dynamic to the storyline with her potential love interests, however, at the same time, the storyline was often predictable and dull by not even attempting to play or add anything new to the screenplay setup . The relationship between the two main leads and the controversial age gap raised red flags for all the wrong reasons without even trying to present this gradually , and the fact the drama itself wasn’t entirely sure how to incorporate Hayame’s character or revamp the “ Bad Boy” trope with Issei made ‘ Promised Cinderella’ an undeniable guilty-pleasure , but a 2000s-style revamp which feels more out of time than a nostalgic trip down drama lane.