#yer2021

4. Miman Keisatsu: Midnight Runner (2020)

10 eps, 45 mins each

Some of you may recognise the title or the plot of this drama already. This is a Japanese remake of a hit Korean movie Midnight Runners from 2017 starring Park SeoJoon and Kang HaNeul.

The main characters are two cadets from police academy, Honma Kai and Ichinose Jiro. Kai represents the mind, Jiro follows his heart. Sugar and spice and everything nice. The mix of Kai's anxiety-ridden mind and Jiro's explosive attitude created an ustoppable duo, not even contained by strict police academy rules.

I was kinda curious what would become of the story, undoubtedly made for a short and crazy movie, when put in 10 episodes drama. The Japanese remake takes inspiration from the original, using similar settings, lines, and points of plot, but it goes in depth with main character's personalities, shows us more of Kei's and Jiro's bromance, adds more comical chaotic scenes, and develops the criminal plot further. I was going into this drama thinking it wouldn't surprise me with anything novel. Instead, I encounted someting new with every episode, and the ending completely shocked me. I went into it not expecting anything crazy from Miman Keisatsu: Midnight Runner, but I had lots and lots of fun.

2021 will be over in a few hours, huh? It's passed quicker than I realised.

To all of you who have fun plans and check lists ready for 2022, I am rooting for you! I hope you had fun in 2021 and I sure as hell hope you will have more fun in 2022. Even if things didn't work out the way they were supposed to in 2021, I send you hugs and positive affirmations with double intensity! Let 2022 be kinder to all of us.

This was a list of 4 fire jdramas I had fun watching during 2021.

Aaaand it's my fifth year with the recommendations project! Massive thank yous and hugs for all of you who visited my empty (sorry!) blog this year.

I hope you liked my list, and I hope I got you interested in at least one drama. This is all from me! With the last item of this year’s year-end recommendation project, I wish you all the best, less drama and more dramas in 2022! Happy New Year 2022!

Another year has passed. I hope you all have been well in 2021.

Some things happened in my life this year - some good, some worse, some things I overly enjoyed, and some things I will regret. But I'm here now. Spring passed, then summer, then autumn, and a few days ago Christmas came and went in a green&red glittery flurry. I barely even noticed how I've arrived from Christmas 2020 to this moment, another YER on my mostly-inactive-this-year blog.

I present to you 4 fun jdramas I watched during 2021. I will be posting one recommendation every day starting from today, 28th of December, and ending it on the 31st of December, New Year’s Eve. I hope my propositions will be well received; and maybe a few of you will be interested in watching some of them? Now, I proudly present!

1. Kieta Hatsukoi (2021)

10 eps, 24 min each

If something could crack my cold dead heart, this drama would be the most likely candidate to do it. This drama feels like home, and I'm sure I will be coming back to it a handful of times when the going gets tough.

This drama is a whole festival of misunderstandings that turned out better than expected. It's a simple and cute Boys Love jdrama about young people exploring their feelings and relationships.

Kieta Hatsukoi is full of sweetness, shyness, and typical for Japanese media cliches. It's a straightforward romance, but doesn't loose on important discussions like prejudice against same-sex couples, side characters' depth, their relationships, as well as clear portrayal of healthy boundaries and strong support systems within groups of friends. We get well-built characters and foolproof fun in exchange for 4 hours of our time, which sounds like a great deal to me.

2. Our Sister's Soulmate (2020)

9 eps, 46 min each

Truly mature drama that brought comfort and peace to my life. Japan has a way with their slice of life series that they feel super realistic and versatile-but-universal, which makes them relatable no matter what point of life you are at.

The story focuses on relations between family, friends, co-workers, and a sense of your own self in those settings. The main character, Momoko, sacrificed a lot to support her family, and just now she’s started to think about herself and what she wants in life.

Our Sister's Soulmate is a slow paced story centred around family, love, and work life. The characters we see in the drama have had their fair share of pain and trauma. However, the plot does not pick up the parts of those painful memories to keep the story going, it’s the people, the way they grew from those pains, their determination and hope to be something better drive the main plot of the story. And that, for me, is the healing magic of this jdrama.