Renai Battle Royale (2024)

A fight for love, and more..

"Renai battle royale" was pretty good, and I think it was really deeper than a simple highschool romance.

- If you didn't see the drama :
This is not the best drama you'll see this year, but it's worth the watch. It's really thrilling and the main couple is really cute. The OST are amazing and the cast so good.
So I think it's worth your time.


- If you've seen the drama :

Here are some thoughts I have about it and I'd like to discuss :

* love is universal

The drama depicts many kinds of different love, not only teen love. Student-teacher relationships, adultery, homosexual love, friendship, maternal love... the drama shows love is universal and complex. It also advocates for "gay love" to be recognized as love, what resonates in a Japanese society where the homosexual marriage is still not recognized. I loved the drama for the way it makes us dive into teen love.
"experiencing love is part of growing up as a teenager"

*no-dating rule in Japanese highschool

In 2022, a female Japanese student sued her highschool for expelling her because she broke the no-dating rule enforced, she won the trial. When you think about it, Renai Battle royale is therefore quite realistic in a still conservative society where dating is sometimes banned in schools.

*two heroes fight for love

If the first reason for the female lead to be the love keeper is money, the implication of the male lead changes their fight in a fight for love. The main couple is so cute, their scenes so tender, I just loved their romance. The lead actress was just perfect and so good at facial expression, like she literally broke my heart. The male lead is so cute and makes their love a sweet, heartwarming relationship.

*protecting teen girls

The drama also denounce the way teen girls tend to suffer more in relationships. The headteacher says it multiple times, and there is also the story of Ema, whose boyfriend ran away after finding out she is pregnant, and the similar story of the headteacher 's friend who killed herself. The drama advocate for protecting teens and supporting them in their relationship instead of restraining them. It also makes the watcher think about the way (japanese) society sees girls who have sex or get pregnant.

note : I'm not a native English speaker, I apologize if any kinds of mistakes were to be found in this text.

these are just assumptions made by me, which you can totally disagree with.

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SILLY? YES, BUT NECESSARY...

I started watching this drama with zero expectations. Honestly, the plan was just to kill some time, since it's just another high school Asian drama, right? But then, I found myself getting drawn in. Let me explain: Is the plot cliché and cheesy? Absolutely. Are some of the performances a bit over-the-top? Definitely. But despite that, it was executed so well, and it brought some genuinely valuable life lessons for today's youth—whether they’re from the East or the West.

Special shoutout to Mikami Ai, who brought a great vibe to her lead role, and Terajima Shinobu, the veteran actress who played the principal. She gave us some tough love and real lessons about the pain and recklessness of youth.

Overall, the takeaways from this first season align with what Whitney Houston's song "Greatest Love of All" says: "Before you can love someone else, you’ve got to love yourself first. You’re your own priority." Also, getting hurt and going through tough times might suck at first, but those are rare and valuable lessons for growing up.

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In the mood for love

“We can’t pause time. Things grow old as life goes on..."

Chastity High popped up on my Netflix account a couple of days ago and I started it out of pure boredom. I concluded once again, that series that I have no idea about end up being the most entertaining.

Love: Battle Royale -that is the much better Japanese title- is a binge-worthy and highly entertaining drama about a "love ban" in an elite Japanese high school and it is unexpectedly -or not so much- based on a true story, at least according to some sources.

I enjoyed the series a lot and it was even objectively quite good in many aspects. I will be briefly mentioning below the things I liked and disliked for whoever may be interested and then I will comment on my most and least favourite thing in the drama.

Things I liked:
- Production quality
- Acting (from the majority of the cast)
- Music
- Concept: It sounded pretty “cheap” and idiotic, but it worked perfectly
- Cliches and predictable moments: There were many cliches, but they were mostly done right and they ended up being extremely entertaining to watch
- Anime/Manga vibes
- Fun to watch characters
- Actors "looks": Despite the actors being over eighteen, they fit their roles perfectly and many of them can actually pass for high school students.

Things that I disliked:
- Typical emotionally unstable/villain characters
- Some overacting here and there
- Quite a few “easy way outs” for the plot to move forward


MY FAVOURITE THING → Last scenes
Chastity High manages to craft some quite emotionally impactful last scenes in many of the episodes. Despite their typical structure, by having the main protagonist talk, throwing some pretty great lines, while the viewer watches scenes unfold, they create a very beautiful and sentimental atmosphere.

MY LEAST FAVOURITE THING → The last episode
"My Life, My Rules", as the last episode is titled, is the least interesting and the most unrealistic episode of the entire drama. Of course, I know the series was never meant to be realistic to begin with, despite the fact that it deals with quite a few sensitive subjects. The thing about the finale, though, is that it feels a lot more “ridiculous” than the atmosphere and plot of the rest of the series. What bothered me the most, though, is that they could have taken advantage of some plot points to make it emotionally impactful, but they didn’t. As a result, it felt quite idiotic at times and it didn't really left a good impression on me.

"....love, jealousy, hate and joy. It all just slips through our fingers."

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What is Missing in Education!

Throughout history, there have been those who wish to impose their own societal, cultural, or religious beliefs upon others. This is not something new. However, what most advocates for the imposition of arbitrary rules fail to realize is that all imposition and oppression will always be fought again. Why? Because these things go against the very nature of the soul. And the nature of the soul is freedom.

Life is choice. It always has been and it always will be. “Rules” are implemented by those who lack the wisdom of education; to help people make better choices. And yet, all education lacks the central core value that everyone needs: learning how to love yourself. When you love yourself, you will find it very difficult to make any decisions that bring harm to yourself as well as others. When you love yourself, you will no longer need outside help and influences to make decisions. They will simply become a fabric of who you are. In short, they will be second nature. This is what is lacking in every single educational institution on the planet. Mankind has not yet evolved to this level yet, but there are those very few who are trying to help people realize that this is absolutely necessary because it is the missing piece. And it is even more vital that this type of education be implemented from the very first levels of schooling (kindergarten/pre-school).

The headmaster of an elite all-girls school has merged with an all-boys school. Immediately, she implements a ban on romance. Anyone caught engaging in romantic activities--even if it’s not on school grounds, will be expelled. This is the type of primitive, Puritanical control spawned by the most cowardly of people; those who are incapable of dealing and facing their own feelings, and so instead, they attempt to control others. It’s entirely cowardly and fear-based. Such cowards will eventually have to come to terms with their own impotence.

A gestapo group of students are even utilized by the headmaster to hunt down and find any students are breaking the rule. They are asked to bring back photos or any evidence they can obtain. Of course, most of the students who are engaging in such practice are those who have been spurned or rejected by someone, and therefore, do so out of anger and self-loathing.

Ichika Arisawa is a young girl whose mother is in tremendous debt. Debt collectors harass her, due to her father’s inability to pay off the family debt, despite the fact that Ichika’s parents are divorced. Her mother is working long hours to just to make enough to make ends meet. The school is made up mostly of very rich students, and Ichika spies a way to make some money to help. She finds students engaging in romantic activities, and then she makes a “demand” of money to keep their romance safe. She even gives herself the pseudonym of “Love Keeper.” At first, it’s very self-serving and nothing short of blackmail, but students eager to keep their romance safe and not risk getting expelled are more than happy to pay the one-time payment. Ichika even knows how to break into the school counselor’s computer in order to delete any evidence.

Ichika, however, soon finds herself front and center when she falls in love with Maki Ryogo, a rebellious student who, at first, is trying to get expelled from the school. However, his father, a bitter, abusive man, donates a tremendous amount of money, and therefore, his “romantic whims” are simply overlooked by the headmaster. Maki discovers that Ichika is the “Love Keeper” and decides that he actually wants to help.

The series plays out much like “Footloose” a movie based upon a true story where dancing was banned in a small town because it was thought to be a promiscuous act. The headmaster endeavors to “protect” the students with such a ridiculous rule, but failing to realize that it’s impossible to go through life without pain. It’s how we deal with the pain that matters, but she hasn’t the wisdom to realize that her job is to empower and help students navigate these temporary, painful moments of life. Attempts to shield your children from pain is like standing in front of them in a rainstorm, and actually believing that you are protecting them from the rain. It’s an impossibility. Instead, you teach them how to protect themselves and empower them with the wisdom and confidence that they will, hopefully, make wise decisions. They won’t always do so. Not even adults bat .1000 in this regard!

The series is insightful, despite the fact that it may be hard to believe that in this day and age, there are still those of a Puritanical mindset, but the series works. It is also not afraid to address all aspects of romance, whether it be heterosexual or homosexual. Remember that true love has absolutely no conditions.

Performances are first-rate across the board. We share in the angst and frustrations of the students are simply trying to get through a day while battling the feelings and seemingly conflicting emotions which are prevalent in teenagers. Remember the joy of experiencing something for the first time, whether it was kissing someone or holding their hand? To a teenager, it’s huge, and most adults have forgotten those precious moments. To cast them as “bad” is like throwing a bucket of mud on a flower.

Make no mistake. This series isn’t really about sex, although it’s discussed and shown briefly as well as tastefully. It’s about trust. It’s about empowerment, and these are things, even in today’s world, that are sorely needed!

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Exceeded my expectations.

This drama was beautiful. In my honest opinion, I did NOT think I was going to like it at first based on the synopsis. However, I still wanted to give it a shot since Honda Kyoya was in the cast. I’m pretty certain the only reason some people want to give it a low rating is because of the teacherxstudent trope for two of the side characters. I completely get that, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to jdramas. I have to say though, this scenario is completely different. In other jdramas they glorify the trope, but in this one they’re shaming at and portraying to the viewers that it’s shameful to the adults. Unfortunately, this does happen countless times to children in the real world, and their basis around the whole story was that children in Highschool all have their own stories and have it rough in one shape or form. This case being one of them. Anyways, just thought I should mention that. Acting was phenomenal, soundtrack was great, and plot was plotting. Although, I really hope we get a season two. 😭🙏

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What happens when you forbid love?

Despite the drama being named 'Renai Battle Royale' on here, I'll be referring to it as 'Chastity High' (name on Netflix). Honestly, this was a pretty entertaining watch and worth the time (mostly).

This drama was on my PTW radar and I decided to pick it up (3??) days ago to fill my weekday wasteland, that was dry asf waiting for new episodes of Love Next Door. The premise is really interesting and the plot sounded unique. But, I was STRUGGLING to get through episode 1. I had to leave it and come back to it multiple times but when I finally pushed through, I was hooked.

The story isn't simple. It constantly changes course and there's a new plot twist every episode. A lot of unexpected things happened, but it's not TOO chaotic that you get lost.

The characters are pretty fleshed-out. There is a lot of depth behind every character and a lot of backstory. Arisawa is at first only Love Keeper because she needs money, but Maki brings out a different perspective and she begins to fall in love with him, and they even help a couple for free. Maki's brother Haruto is a mess. He's a cheater, basically a pedophile and overall a mess. He was not taking Ayami seriously. But we find out some of the troubles he has, doesn't make him any better though and I won't symphathise with him. There is a SML and I was confused at first because he seemed to be stalking her with all those photos. But I guess in the end, he's good? The principal, I was expecting her to experience first person trauma about romance, since she's so ANTI-romance but it was her best friend instead. The build up was making it sound like she got pregnant in skl and then the father left her or smth?

The acting is pretty good though and I now have an eye on Ai Mikami. Beautiful and also talented acting!

OVERALL:
This drama isn't a must watch, but it's there if you're bored and need something to fill in time. I got pretty bored around the last episodes NGL, I fast-forwarded through those. 7.5/10, but honestly a 7/10. It deserves 0.5 for good cinematography and an interesting premise.

If you do watch this, I hope you enjoy! :)

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A hidden gem

I had low expectations coming into this. I seriously thought I would drop it after episode 1 .But this show surprised me.ended up binging this in one go . absolutely loved it .
The fast paced ,engaging story kept me at the edge of the set .Not one scene was unnecessary.With a unique plot ,great characters this story managed to capture the viewer's interest .
This story did not focus on main leads .
I really loved how we got to know the stories of many characters in detail.
I loved how they all had their own parts to play and were able to bring their own flare to the story .
This is high school mystery drama thriller done in the right way .
The OST was incredible with a wide range of music fitting the mood of the scene .
Absolutely loved all the charcters and the stories they brought.
Really looking forward to a second season if they choose to do one.

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Super cute watch. Went in with tempered expectations.

I went in with tempered expectations, knowing that this series was only 8 episodes. I think the writers went into a reasonable amount of depth for the length of the series, and the pacing was surprisingly smooth for such a short series. For example, the ends of episodes 5 and 6 I think were executed so well, especially considering time constraints.

I could feel the depth of the main couple's feelings, and they truly complement each other so well! This J-drama is like a shoujo come to life. However, this J-drama separates itself from other youth dramas I've watched because the acting doesn't feel overdone. The acting feels like real people (not live-action anime characters) which is part of why the actors' feelings come across so authentically, and I was so invested in their stories. Overall, it was such a sweet watch that captures the intensity and sweetness of teenage romance. It definitely satisfied my craving for a cute, authentic high school romance story. For anyone who grew up reading manga but kind of matured out of the genre, I think you'll really enjoy this one!

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literalmente sex education japonês

Apesar de não ser tão explicito quanto sex education, os temas abordados, a história, e até mesmo o final, lembram muito. Achei bem ousado para uma séria japonesa, espero que tenha outra temporada. Não é perfeita, tem muitos pontos que poderia ser melhor. Sem dar spoiler, o gancho para a próxima temporada eu achei meio sem sentido por conta de algumas questões, mas de modo geral vale a pena assistir, é abordado vários temas, vários tipos de relacionamentos e como os personagens lidam com seus sentimentos, principalmente nessa fase da vida do ensino médio.

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Good Enough

Japanese Drama '' Chastity High '' is a school melodrama.

The story centers around the main lead, Arisawa Ichika, as she struggles to survive financially and becomes an unexpected hero.

The drama tackles a lot of themes, with sensitivity and care, but, due to its length, it doesn't manage to present them properly. None of them has the proper organic development and some of them, especially the romance, feel rashed.

Still, the characters were interesting and the actors and actresses of the cast did an amazing job with their performances.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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Another exploitative teen drama

This drama has explicit, gratuitous, graphic sex scenes of characters that are supposed to be minors, so it exploits the image of school girls in the guise of illuminating issues that the oppressed students face. Similar to Euphoria, it's pretty unnecessary to show so much, especially what the teacher does to that student. Also, that relationship only ends when the student finds out he has a fiance rather than he's a 30 year old teacher and she's a high schooler. The show doesn't draw the line between sexualizing minors and championing the youths be allowed to explore their sexuality. I do find it interesting that the main character challenges the rules of a private school that are not beholden to the government oversight that public schools are. It's basically instituting abstinence only, specifically for cis hetero students under the language of "no dating." The issue is that students will do it any way without any knowledge of contraception or protection against STDs. The ban only makes sex seem even more important in the kid's minds as the ultimate thing they can do to show how they feel about each other, like what happens to the main characters. As well as turning it into a police state making students report each other, even when they are outside of school grounds. Expulsions won't protect the girls. It was unpleasant to see some of the narcs just get away with ruining another classmate's life. The lesbian character should have apologized to both of the gay students she outed just because they weren't expelled due to homophobia excluding them from the abstinence no dating ban. Stalker incel Kanda doesn't even apologize to Ichika. It's not clear if she knows he narced on her as LK. Ryogo knows he narced and that he likes Ichika. Dude just ignores all the red flags of that guy obsessed with his girlfriend. Ms. Shinoda is really, borderline indulging the affections of the high schooler infatuated with her. It's unclear if she quit or got fired for testifying, but it's probably good she left that kid's orbit though she was the best faculty member on that campus. The school is such a messed up situation that Ichika's extortion scheme in a twisted way undermines the narcs that turned people in, and is helpful to the students reported a chance to buy their way out of being reported since Ichicka actually deletes the photos from the report site. Her mom is indeed trying her best and she is also a victim of her ex-husband, but still her daughter is totally also being harassed daily by loansharks, she can't really say she's not raising her daughter in this kind of desperate situation and at least she realizes that she's also a bit part of the problem having her daughter go to a private school when it's difficult to pull together the funds for it to begin with. The loanshark issue kind of just randomly disappeared with the ex popping up to take care of it. Ichika carried so much of it. It's also weird that all the high schoolers would turn over their phone to the faculty to look through. These kids need to learn to put passwords on their phone and passwords that are not fingerprint or face recognition and turn off the phone to be safe too. Also don't admit to anything. The rich kids should have lawyered up.

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Painful to watch with literally no story

It is not everyone’s cup of tea and I watched till the end just to write the review here because people really are giving really good rating to such a mediocre script with good cast just because it has kids fighting against the system to “fall in love”; which is more like make out and have secs. Seriously way too much skin showing of those who are playing high schoolers and pretty dumb script, which was doing well initially and literally fell flat after a whole. There were so many places in story you would go ?????.
They did a good job getting some strong actors to get attention of the people and since it is Netflix it had to put sec scene in the beginning to attract the viewers internationally and get LGBTQ pulled in the story to be accepted.
This show was more like fan service and to create the hype for Japanese drama on international streaming platform but even the ending of each episode wasn’t interesting enough to pull you in for the interesting ride.

Really, you are not missing out on anything if you don’t watch it. If you want to watch your fav actor in this show, then yea go ahead. But the fresh concept won’t cover for the weakness of the script or the story telling.

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