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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.
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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