Black Cinderella (2021)

Really really really loved this drama.
Before watching this, I totally thought it would just be a high school fluffy drama but the story here is presented so well.
Everybody lived their part well, Keigo & Sora both possess a beautiful heart & Manaha is strong & cheerful.
Unlike other high school drama, I loved the fact that both ML are beautiful inside and out, no one is aggressive & pushy but they consider FL's feelings as a priority.
There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" Indeed.
I'm glad, I watched "Black Cinderella".

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I'm pleasantly surprised with this drama. It's not just some fluffy story showing first love scenarios but it also delivered a deep message of self-acceptance or self-love and the struggles of achieving mental wellness. It also showcased the importance of true friendship, family and reaching for your dreams no matter how trivial it seems to other people. I especially liked the line, "Find your own kind of Sparkle".

The actors did very well on their roles and you can feel the angst and other range of emotions that we all went through at some point in our lives.

You'll also develop a second lead syndrome. The 2nd lead is equally amazing and there are times you'll wish he ends up with the female lead. This is highly recommended for those looking for inspiring messages. This is one of my favorite Japanese drama now.

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I still don't exactly understand why the female lead picked the guy that she picked (trying to avoid spoilers here) because to me they didn't have much reason to be this deeply attracted to each other. I get that this is basically a regular drama but faster because there are only 8 episodes, but none of the relationships made much sense to me besides the female lead and the guy that didn't get her in the end. It was quite obvious that they weren't endgame from the very beginning but I was still rooting for him the whole drama, because he seems more "calm" (?) with his feelings (the other guy's love confession was just too weird and too soon and too dramatic). They actually had a developed friendship, and I could actually imagine them together in the end. idk, the endgame pairing was just a bit weird, even though the ml is a good guy on his own, and I guess that's just about the only complaint I have about this drama. The message the drama had was pretty sweet, and there wasn't anything stupidly annoying that I would normally lower a rating for. This drama and I just didn't really click.. probably because I grew out of high school romances.

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Self acceptance brings the best version of yourself.

This show has its own potential to carry its main theme; self acceptance/self love to the fullest. But I wasn't interested in their teen romance plot. It's stopping my momentum to like this show as a whole.

I love the main issue centred on this show which is beauty standard (for me). It ranges from privileges, inner beauty to public acceptance/stigma/standard on physical scars, plastic surgery etc. Short but better than solely focusing the romance plot.

Another thing I like from the show is the male leads characters. They came out as nice, non-toxic high school boys. I certainly experienced 2nd lead syndrome; Sora being teasingly playful but a comfort is his ultimate charm. But I also got it why it should be Keigo. Optimistic and sometimes clumsy Keigo has dynamics with Manaha. Nevertheless I'm not invested in their love story.

I also enjoy the progress of Manaha accepting herself. I mean, it was utterly ridiculous to see people talking about her scar like she brought some deadly diseases. If she was treated like that, how about me? Nevermind. Anyway, she was this extremely polite and nice kid with reactions like, you know how typical female characters in japanese shows are written but she knew her worth. On another note, Riko portrayed Manaha very well.

Their beauty contest school culture bugs me lmao must be a hassle to be in the school; either as a student or a teacher.

Overall, the show is not my favourite but it might be up to your liking if you enjoy true beauty or id gangnam beauty.

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Fluff, fluffier, fluffiest...

This was just sooooo cute, while I am not really sure where the black comes in... this probably is as light and fluffy as it gets...With adorable leads, friendships and just enough drama and misunderstandings to keep it interesting but without giving angst.

The overall message seems to be good though I can not for the life of me understand why a scared face would r why a scar on a face would be such a big deal... But since this is not the first drama with that theme I guess it is a cultural difference... I could however relate to the idea of wanting to own your own life and story without being bought or sold as clickbait.

The female lead is as awkward as awkward gets and it is sooo cotton candy sweet and kind that it becomes ridiculous, but in a good way.

The male leads are so cute that part of me shipped them to each other another one was hoping for a polyamorous relationship, but no matter who she would pick would be awesome and give slight SLS (unless they would go for the polyamory) . The way these three interact is probably the sole reason for the high score...

The friends go thru some ups and downs, but are over all good supporting characters.

The female leads parents are as sweet as the female lead... So is the former beauty queen, there to show the good side of parents.

And the show is packed with sweet fun interactions among the cast.

Bingeabilaty: 10
cuteness 10
Bromance: 10
Intrigues and drama: 7
Annoying side characters: non
Kiss: 2, it felt like a dead fish kiss

No doubt a show worthy of any sweet romance lover...

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This was cute, but uneven in my ability to enjoy it

The first half of this show had me on the irritated side. 1) Everyone saying, "Eh?" all the time. I know it's a Japanese thing, but it was so prevalent here I felt like I needed to turn it into a drinking game. 2) SFL - she was a mean human being with no redeeming features. I was seriously disappointed in the lack of repercussions for the terrible things that she did. I understand that the writers wanted to wrap this drama up in a cute, happy ending bow, but this character was just too mean. 3) ML going around asking everyone, "Are you captivated?" 4) At the beginning, even the FL was working my last nerve. The bowing, the lowered eyes, the apologizing for everything. Again, I realize it's part of the Japanese culture, but there's a point where it gets to be too much. 5) the FL's extreme reaction to the scar on her face. I get it, it's teenage land, where hormones run amok, and all emotions are way over the top. The scar wasn't bad enough to warrant that much angst.

I persevered, however, and I liked the last half so much more than the first.

1) The FL grew through her experiences. Strong theme of the importance of loving yourself.
2) The supportiveness of friends, and people apologizing to those they have hurt in the past. (Still not enough to forgive the SFL, however. Maybe a lot of scenes were cut that would have made her change of heart forgivable?)
3) Her parents were lovely. I loved the scenes after the ML and FL were caught in front of her house in the middle of a school day.
4) I'm still not sure, in my heart, who I think the FL should have ended up with, but I loved how both of them wanted what was going to make her happy. I also loved how they grew to respect and like each other.
5) I absolutely loved the parts of episode 7 where the ML was trying to come to terms with his feelings and had no clue how to express them! I rewatched that, multiple times.

For the most part, the show is fluffy and enjoyable to watch, I was just hoping for a little more.

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Good Enough

Japanese Drama 'Black Cinderella' gives a new twist to the school romance dramas.

The story centers around the main character and her struggles to keep her smile when everything is falling down around her. Her determination and her journey to find herself and love herself were pretty much the highlights of the drama. Especially since the female lead was a well-constructed character. The love triangle was a nice touch too, cute and sweet. However, the main romance was predictable, adorable though. The male lead was not handled with that much care, however. The wicked second lead was a generic character who had a rushed character development and showed only specs of what was going on in her life.

Finally, the performances were pretty good by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, 7 out of 10.

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A hidden jem thats refreshing

Truly loved it from beginning to end. For an 8ep drama they completed the story. Japan is definitely putting out more and more great dramas to add to my favorite list. Besides being a really good looking cast they did an amazing job and look forwards to seeing them in other drama/movies.
I liked Keigo who is a model whom acts and treated everyone equal and wasnt shy about his good look in a fun way. Then Yuri is a model whom spoiled rotten and needs the attention of her looks always making fun of other and would hurt what she couldn't have. Then we have the shy, timid but fun Manaha who is always willing to help others and attracts Keigo and Sor attention. Now Yuri gets jealous and will use the beauty pagent in order to try and embarrass keigo on stage. On the day of the pagent Manaha runs into Sora the new kid who hates the pagent, but is quiet, nice and cute will become friends and rivals for Manaha. We also have Himar who is manaha best friend and bubbly, but after the accident she betrays her. Then Hayata is keigo BF who talkative, friendly and like himari. Then the quiet, shy non talkative nagisa that manaha is always nice too, but hurts her by mistake at the pagent.
Cant forget Kyoto and her side kick who some times i think worse than yuri. This is there story of friendship, jeousley, bullying, truth, Deming, backstabbing and forgiveness. On the day of the pagent everyones ready to go out when Manaha see the light falling she pushes yuri out of the way and is injured. She wakes up in the hosp. her head bandaged and once home overheard that her scar could take years to heal. She freaks out at how big/ugly it is and hids in her house for a month. Now the story goes on sora saving her, then kiego saving her, the truth of the accident comes out. New romance come into play. A really great drama much more than ive written. Looking forward to the next 2 shows :BC graduation addition

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has some great messages

I did it! I finished!

This one has a lot of positive messages about loving yourself, striving for your dreams, but also being happy with who you are right now.

The only reason I'm knocking off a star is because if they were going to make me love Sora this much, then they shouldn't have put him in the drama. I get it, I know why Manaha chose Keigo. He's right for her .But I will ALWAYS love Sora more. Someone like him is right for me. So while the entire show is about being captivated by Keigo, I spent it being captivated by Sora. So sad!

Anyway, a terrific show, silly at times like the slow-motion running, but overall a great message. Manaha gets support and positive advice from both guys in her life, which is awesome, and I ended up not hating Yuri which was a shocker. So good times all around. It did take me almost 10 months to move from episode 4 to 5 and I blame that entirely on my SLS. But I'm thrilled I finished it and I will undoubtedly watch it again and be even more in love with Sora the second time around. Ahhhhhhhh.

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It was fun, cute, and very lighthearted

I mean…. it was good, the cinematography was very well done and you can clearly see that the production team didn’t overly done the yellowish tone and I’m truly glad for that. The tone itself… I think they go into a more cool toned color like blue-ish and pinkish and it’s honestly refreshing to see that in a jdorama which clearly means to define their ‘youth’ theme. Plus I really love that one particular scene where Sora is sitting alone in rooftop for hours and they captured that through time lapse. VERY GOOD. *chef’s kiss*. It really does captured his heartbreak in a gentle and genuine manner.

It was fun, cute, and very lighthearted. Though I am definitely can’t relate with the story cause it was suited best for teenage girls whereas I am myself is a fully grown woman, but the message still stands strong: “Body from plastic surgery or body full of scars—it doesn’t matter. What matters is you become the best version of yourself.”

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An interesting story of friendship to forgiveness a good watch

Truly loved it from beginning to end. For an 8ep drama they completed the story. Japan is definitely putting out more and more great dramas to add to my favorite list. Besides being a really good looking cast they did an amazing job and look forwards to seeing them in other drama/movies.
I liked Keigo who is a model whom acts and treated everyone equal and wasnt shy about his good look in a fun way. Then Yuri is a model whom spoiled rotten and needs the attention of her looks always making fun of other and would hurt what she couldn't have. Then we have the shy, timid but fun Manaha who is always willing to help others and attracts Keigo and Sor attention. Now Yuri gets jealous and will use the beauty pagent in order to try and embarrass keigo on stage. On the day of the pagent Manaha runs into Sora the new kid who hates the pagent, but is quiet, nice and cute will become friends and rivals for Manaha. We also have Himar who is manaha best friend and bubbly, but after the accident she betrays her. Then Hayata is keigo BF who talkative, friendly and like himari. Then the quiet, shy non talkative nagisa that manaha is always nice too, but hurts her by mistake at the pagent.
Cant forget Kyoto and her side kick who sometimes i think is worse than yuri. This is there story of friendship, jeousley, bullying, truth, Deming, backstabbing and forgiveness. On the day of the pagent everyones ready to go out when Manaha see the light falling she pushes yuri out of the way and is injured. She wakes up in the hosp. her head bandaged and once home overheard that her scar could take years to heal. She freaks out at how big/ugly it is and hids in her house for a month. Now the story goes on sora saving her, then kiego saving her, the truth of the accident comes out. New romance come into play. A really great drama. There is a special graduation edition take place a year later waiting for release date

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"Beauty is something you create"

This drama truly was something special and the beautiful messages it conveyed almost every episode made it easily become one of my favourites.

I went into this mainly because I'm a fan of both Kamio Fuju and Itagaki Mizuki and I was excited to see that the two of them were in a drama together so I went in not really knowing anything about it other than that it was something relating to a pageant. But Black Cinderella is so much more than that, it's about dreams, it's about self confidence, it's about friendship, it's about love, and of course it's about beauty.

This drama made me laugh out loud, it made me cry, it made me experience so many different emotions and I'm so glad that I took the time to watch it. Riko did an amazing job at portraying Manaha and her story to the point that I was incredibly surprised to find out this is only her second main role in a tv drama.

"Even mistakes and places with scratches become beautiful depending on the person, and their point of view" this truly is the moral of the drama, beauty is the eye of the beholder and we see multiple of our characters struggle with that and their views on perfection and it's done so beautifully.

I was really was proud to see Manaha's development shine through in the final episode. She was her true, raw, honest self and Riko did a wonderful job at portraying the journey that Manaha had been through to get to those final moments.

The way they brought in the Cinderella aspects was such a nice refreshing change to what we usually see when it comes to stories inspired by Cinderella, there's just so much I loved about this drama that I could go on forever. If you're thinking about watching this please do I really do recommend it.

The only reason I couldn't give this a full 10 as much as I really wanted too was because Yuri got so insufferable at times that it did infuriate me a bit too much.

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