Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru (2020)

A "Sweet" Thrilling Ride.

I've known that several Asian countries preserve certain forms of art and even have generations of the same family take it up, thus continuing a legacy. Once the family falls, the art dies down. Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru/Something Is Wrong With Us strongly portrays the importance of such traditions.

-- - When 5-year-old Okuro Nao (Sakura) came to the legendary sweet shop Kogetsu An with her mother, she never expected that her entire life would get turned upside down after her mother is framed for a murder that she did not commit… all based on the words of Tsubaki, her only friend and the one who made her love the art of sweetmaking. 15 years later, she decides to go back to Kogetsu An to find out the truth and clear her mom's name in the hope to enjoy the art of sweet-making freely. She hides her true identity and gets entangled once again with Tsubaki, discovering secrets that could turn her world upside down.

--- The story: is very Makjang style. But, not too much over the top - everything came to a believable conclusion. The murder and sweet making go hand in hand. I kept waiting for unfortunate events to befall Nao, but she faced them with all the might she had and learnt to survive in the deadly kitchen of Kogetsu An. She has to sort out her priorities: her mother's truth or Tsubaki's trust? The term suspension of disbelief becomes unsuitable once we realize how much of a big part the sweets play in the drama.

--- The Sweets: Like the title of my review, the art of sweet making itself seems like a more scary job than performing a surgery. And no sweet was simply a sweet. Each one had unique meanings and descriptions that would make ancient poets weep. It looked as if everyone made it with their heart and blood instead of flour and sugar. The carving, colouring and the effort that went behind a single one makes me want to frame them in a glass case instead of eating them.

--- I absolutely loved Nao's character. She had guts and a lot of willpower. Although appearing frail and powerless, she is ready to go headfirst into several situations that one would usually dare not go close to. Particularly, someone like her who must be avoiding suspicion. I loved her journey. I loved how her character grew into someone who could stand on her own and be a worthy opponent.

--- Tsubaki was no exception; he was the one person whom I felt had a distinct character growth. He had his own emotional baggage to hold up and simultaneously prove that he was worthy of his father's name.

--- The supporting characters and even the ones who are to be labelled as villains were all pitiful and three dimensional. Everyone were just pure humans in the end. I didn't hate a single person. I had a particular liking for Takigawa-san and Jojimo-kun, who impressed me with their performance and characters.

--- The time skip: I have yet to see many dramas that can portray a proper timeskip without making things seem like complete nonsense. This drama in particular had two to three timeskips that had a natural flow to it. Characters grew and evolved as individuals during them, making the next set of events nerve wracking to watch. It is a well paced drama.

--- The aesthetics: Japan rarely goes for flamboyant display of beauty and this drama was no different. The grace and poise in every character and the craft were so well portrayed that I can't recall a single moment where I was bored out of my mind.

--- The OST was the downside for me. While I enjoyed the simple BGMs and the opening credits, I did not like the song that popped up usually right before the episode wrapped. It sounded more suitable for some anime or heroic movie. This might also be due to the language barrier; I didn't understand a single word.

It's definitely worth a watch. And also, one of the better dramas that does not disappoint.

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Well, at least, they acknowledged it - that something is wrong with them. Look, these guys were aiming for a certain aesthetic, and they got it. Namely, that aesthetic is Japanese culture (as in pretty sweets, nature imagery, beautiful kimonos, & Japanese architecture) with a side of murder, infidelity, and conspiracy. The drama has a darker tone to it. I adore the aesthetic, but I have to admit, I don't really agree with anyone. And if I met any of the main characters in real life, I would run in the other direction. I also think I could stick around for all the plot twists because it was on the shorter side. I was actually able to enjoy the drama and dark tone in this one. If you can ignore pesty moral conflicts, this one is hella fascinating. I really enjoyed it!

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A dark love story with a sweet ending

The main couple will pull you in with their chemistry and restrained acting. The beautiful kimonos are as much a visual feast as the traditional sweets depicted. I loved the descriptions of these confectioneries as they are presented it added depth to the the story as did the emphasis on their world of politeness and manners.
Another surprise addition is the evil mother singing Gothic tales as she plots her next evil deed.
Plot twists and reveals kept the tension up as the pieces of the murder puzzle and accusation of Hanaoka Nao’s mother Yuriko are uncovered.
Takatsuki Tsubaki is depicted as a severe, focused person trying to win over his grandfathers approval in a bid to be the successor. Hanaoka Nao is just as focused and determined to discover why her mother was framed for the death of Takatsuki Tsubaki's father.
The love hate attraction determines the push and pull of their relationship.
This is a complex story of traditional mores in a conservative Japan and the tragic consequences.

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A wild ride from start to finish.

Words cannot describe how over the top this drama is, in the most entertaining way possible. Every time you think the plot could not possibly get more insane, Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru blows past your expectations. This is not a drama that likes to milk its pivotal moments; instead of dragging out conflicts or straining your patience with filler love triangles, it strings events together in such a way that every shocking revelation serves to set up the next one.

The drama throws the viewer into its dark, unapologetically manga-esque universe from the start, when Tsubaki first tastes Nao's confections and proposes marriage to her on the spot in a dual bid to recruit her to his side in the war of succession at Kougetsu An (the traditional Japanese sweets shop at the heart of the drama) and to thwart the marriage his mother has arranged for him. All you can do from that point onward is hold on to your hat.

Nao is, of course, the daughter of the woman Tsubaki's testimony condemned as the murderer of Tsubaki's father many years ago, and she has decided to infiltrate Kougetsu An for her own purposes, i.e. to unmask the real murderer and destroy the sweets shop that ruined her mother's life. Obviously. But several shocking developments complicate this simple plan...

Birth secrets, hidden identities, forbidden love, cold-blooded seductions, childhood trauma, fires, pregnancy, jealousy, secrets, revenge plots, deathbed confessions, organ transplantations, tragically mistaken identities, etc.: WwDS has it all! I'm not kidding. And you'll love every second of it, or at least I did.

Amidst all this extremely entertaining nonsense, the dark romance between Tsubaki and Nao develops quickly yet without compromising on emotional and psychological complexity. The two waste no time in getting physical, but the real drama only begins once they've acknowledged their feelings and have to confront the impossibility of turning the twisted pretence between them into a real relationship. I actually found the romance between them to be very fun and sexy, and delightfully free of cliches (except where the drama leans into them in the campiest way possible, e.g. angry kabedons galore--and, well, fine, I can't lie; there is a time skip in the last episodes and it sucks as usual).

The strong character work is part of what makes the romance so good. Nao in particular, as a strong-willed, talented woman who hides painful secrets and is hell-bent on revenge, makes for a charismatic female lead and is easy to root for in both love and her quest for the truth. Tsubaki, too, falls in love with her in front of our eyes and we sympathise with him over his emotional turmoil, his sense of duty and loyalty to the oppressive Kougetsu An, his complicated relationships with his mother and grandfather, and the impossible situation he finds himself in.

The secondary characters are also well drawn and while some of them, like Yusuke and Shiori, at first appear to be stereotypical love rivals/spanner-in-the-wheel obstacles to Nao and Tsubaki's relationship development, their arcs are not drawn out, their character development is done well and we (or at least I) come to root for them as characters in their own right, which isn't something I often say about secondary love interests in jdramas. Tsubaki's mother is a solid villain too: cartoonishly vamp but entertaining and vulnerable... and even sympathetic in defeat.

The soundtrack greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the drama as it always matched the craziness that was taking place on screen. The director was not shy about using moody and dramatic instrumentals to highlight ridiculous scenes, of which there were many. Every time the angsty rock opera music kicked in while the camera panned to an innocent-looking flower-shaped dessert, I couldn't help but cackle at the nonsense the drama managed to get me to care about.

I was prepared to give WwDS a perfect 10/10 purely based on my level of enjoyment up to around episode 6, when things slowed down a little bit and the drama entered a slightly more conventional final act. I wish there had been a few more interactions between Nao and Tsubaki in the final 2-3 episodes, but [SPOILERS] worry not: their love remains strong throughout and they make several very good love confessions to clear the air in the end. And yes, of course there is a happy ending! I just wish we had been given a few more minutes to bask in it, but I'm still very satisfied with how the drama ended. [/SPOILERS]

Overall, WwDS is a masterpiece for carrying off its wacky manga premise with panache and conviction for 8 episodes of live-action TV and building a very satisfying romance around a solid revenge plot set in the dark world of... well... traditional Japanese sweets. It delivered everything I never knew I needed from a romantic jdrama.

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Interesting plot that is well executed!

The overall style is way too "soap opera"-ish to my personal liking, but the plot and the twists make me able to overlook all that.
It is quite dark at some points but somehow is also really wholesome. The main and supporting characters all have great chemistry with each other and really perfectly casted.
I love how in the end no one was ever really evil, every characters have their own resolution arc.

This show has it all: great plot, terrific acting from the casts, subtle but nice comedic touch and a perfect ending.
Give this a watch if you're into mystery with a touch of romance!
It's an easy 8/10.

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Really good!

Honestly when I saw that there was only 8 episodes I was kinda disappointed but now that I've finished it, it's actually better as a it is. The plot was really good and the story made me want to know more about everything that had happen. Chemistry is also amazing. I don't really watch Japanese dramas and I've been trying to get into it lately and this one really made me get into it. The girl wasn't cringy, or annoying imo and the guy wasn't annoying either.

Anyways I really enjoyed it and I wish there was like a movie or something to see the aftermath of them and how they keep the shop. :)

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The romance mystery with the twists, sweets and kimonos ?

The background of the story is very interesting, related to japanese traditional confectionnery which will make you eager to taste those sweets 😁 plus you ll have the chance to see casts with hakamas and kimonos, feast to the eyes 😍
A mystery romance genre. Kind of complicated ones. I was really curious to see how the two main lead with reasonable and understandable love and hate relationship would lead their story and to see the one who started to ignite the long trail of messy tragedies. It is really a cursed love.
I watched 3 episodes with enthusiastic, however kind of dissapointed with eps 4 plot, I even consider to drop it. But then I decided to continue the eps 5. The mood was coming back again and the story went greatly after that.
I really like the fact in eps 8 the duration was longer than previous episodes to accomodate the need. So it's not feel rushed. All were peeled off in the final eps very satisfactory.
For the casts, the actors are the power of the dorama I think, such as Tsubaki, Jojima, Takigawa all were played well. Their acts and body gesture were great. For the actress I do agree that Madam kougetsuan chara was powerfull act in the dorama. I like the personification of Nao as well, but I was hoping she could be bolder than that. While actually in the beginning of the episode, she did bolder but in latter episodes the character was a bit of off the hook.
Overall it is still a very highly reccomended dorama to watch, enjoy 🥰

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A psych-thriller drama made aesthetically beautiful by pretty foods.

Cursed in Love is the English title of the show. But why? It has a happy ending, so why is it cursed? Why not Sakura? Or Bitter Sweet, or Blood and Sweets? Or even something else. Or it's just me being picky.

This is a psychological-thriller drama made aesthetically beautiful by pretty foods with just a pinch of romance. Pretty food plus pretty actors. The Psycho-Thriller can be rated as 3/5 stars. Drama wise it is also a 3/5 stars. While romance is just at around 2.5/5 stars.

This show gave the viewers a glimpse of japanese culture when it comes to food, family, marriage and traditions. And then the story turns dark with deceit and death. Deceit by loving someone else spouse, like our main characters parents. Or death and destruction as a form of revenge.

At first, I dont like the ML that much as he was harsh with the FL. The FL is a sweet girl with a thrist for justice, she's even willing to enter into a marriage without love just to give her moms name the justice it deserve.

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Captivating drama

🌸🌸 CURSED IN LOVE 🌸🌸

Here is another Jdrama that stand out for me (not just because ryusei yokohama is one of my babyloves in Japan) and I recently enjoyed watching. A little bit fast paced series that made me excited what will gonna happen next, it thrilled me too and doesn't got me bored coz the story is quite interesting.

🌺🌺 Although I am irratated with the evil matron but in the end of the story she gained my sympathy. I also have a special attention to Mr. Takigawa (mysterious man,who is the main key of the murder case) who has been all out support to Nao.
🌼🌼 Ryusei Yokohama (as Tsubaki) and Hamabe Minami (Nao) looks good together, and im looking forward for them to be paired up in another drama in the future.

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Man, how the hell did they manage to make me actually feel not-so-angry at the dude's mother by the end of this? It takes one hell of an actress to pull her off, and Mizuki Alisa stole the whole damn show. Main characters who? I literally had shivers every time she sang in that beautiful, somber voice. God.

I will admit, her incredible performance overshadowed the rest and really exposed how...bland...some actors were, Hamabe Minami in particular. That's not to say Minami was bad- in fact, both her and Yokohama Ryusei were actually quite good on their own, maybe Ryusei more than her, but definitely nothing really obvious. A large part of this show is about their romance, which is admittedly very good, if a little frustrating. By the end, the push and pull started getting really old and I really wanted them to just sit down and have a nice conversation instead of assume random things, cry, and then separate (order might vary).

They have great chemistry, which I honestly attribute more to Ryusei than Minami in typical J-drama fashion where the male lead is usually a lot more enthusiastic than the female lead in kissing and the like. It gets really old, really fast when Japanese heroines find it perfectly okay to just stand still like the national anthem is playing in the background while the male lead goes to town on their mouths. If I could tell these directors one damn thing before I die, it would be to ensure both the characters act like WILLING participants and show equal passion. Alas.

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Definitely recommend !

This review contains spoilers from all episodes so beware.

This drama is so so good and Def did not regret watching it. To be honest, I think it is too short for 8 episodes and Def should be longer. This drama has all sorts of genres like mystery, romance, suspense etc. I love the chemistry between the female lead and male lead. Aside from the romance, the revenge and murder mystery plot line is so interesting. It never fails to make me keep watching.

Now on to the spoiler zone and brutally honest review.

Love love love the plot line of murder mystery, hiding identity, childhood best friend and romance elements. It is so freshing compared to other jdramas. However, as other reviews call "soapy" or "soap opera", this drama tend to have soap opera elements so it was kinda cringy and cheesy in some of the scenes, not only acting wise but also production. Like sir I do not need a recap of your shocked face twice. Also, I feel like the storyline after ep 5 was a bit rushed. I personally think that it is ok to drag the episodes a bit since there were a lot of plot twists. It feels like every plot twist was packed at the last few episodes. I think that should have been unpacked slowly little by little and continued with the aftermath of it.
I'm quite surprised when Tsubaki and Nao just suddenly agreed to the idea of marriage on ep 1. Plus Tsubaki doesn't even know her identity yet! It feels quite weird to just jump straight to the "fake marriage trope" when you didn't even saw eachother more than twice. Also, even though the chemistry of the main characters were spot on, there were NOT 👏ENOUGH 👏SCENES👏 OF 👏THEIR👏 ROMANCE👏 DEVELOPMENT. What do you mean you liked eachother after two days and now you're kissing. (Well I'm not complaining tho) Isn't Nao supposed to hate Tsubaki or sm? Why is it that when he seduces her she suddenly can't back up for herself?? Yeah I can't get Tsubaki at first too. Like literally why is he hugging and kissing her when he knows he's in a fake marriage with her. Well maybe they're downbad, idk. I think they should have more scenes when they don't like eachother initially but gets more interested later on. Lastly, I wished we got to see what they're up to when they are reunited in the end.

Well that's all for my review, ik it's long but this is how much I wanted to say. Nonetheless, this is such a great story and I literally can't stop thinking about it the day after I finished it 😭💞. Their chemistry is sooo good and I hope they cast in another drama soon.

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