Bitter-Sweet-Bitter
Shitsuren Chocolatier
★ ★ ☆ ☆
Overview
I can see why this drama didn't do very well in the ratings. It's sad that they blame it on the actors though because they all did a great job, the story just sucked. The first two episodes are terrible and I was questioning whether or not I really wanted to go through with watching the whole thing. But who am I kidding, of course I was going to watch the whole thing, terrible or not. And thankfully, it did get better.
UNTIL THE END, WHICH SUCKED!! I shouldn’t really be surprised considering the "heartbreak" is in the title. But it was getting really good, Souta finally realized that Saeko would never be his and he didn't need her because he already had something great with Erena, and despite all of that, he wrecks everything. AND I was still holding on to that last bit of hope that he would wake up and realize that Saeko is a total **** and he belongs with Erena, but no, he dumps her too and runs away to Paris. The last episode was really hard to get through, and he doesn't even talk to Erena until the last 10 minutes. Ugh. Really disappointing ending, especially for a getsuku.
Mizukawa Asami's character Kaoruko-san is probably the best thing about this drama. Her antics kept me interested when the rest of the story got annoying. I thought it was interesting that her scenes seemed to increase as the story went along, like maybe I wasn't the only one who thought that.
I feel bad that Matsujun had to take such a bashing over this drama because he really did a good job portraying Souta's range of emotion. And even though I hate Saeko, Ishihara Satomi was also wonderful, she's so cute and very expressive.
Tech Check
The theme song is, of course, "Bittersweet" by Arashi, and the rest of the soundtrack is composed by Ken Arai in the same techno-pop style. The techno music gives the drama a very modern feeling and complements the editing. I was really interested in the editing style, which is choppy but not in a distracting way. The cuts in and out are well timed and often in a funny way. It works with the story too, in which Souta is constantly daydreaming.
The scenes with chocolate are pretty cool too, it's fun to see great puddles of chocolate being sloshed around the marble tables. I thought the scenes with Matsujun working with chocolate looked legit, not that I know anything about making chocolate, and his hand movements smooth and confident. In addition to the obligatory chocolate scenes, there is also gratuitous amounts of fan service, that include several bed scenes (nothing graphic though).
Bottom Line
Not terrible, but overall disappointing. The main characters are annoying but the supporting cast is fantastic and make the rest of it bearable. If you're a hard core Matsujun fan, you probably won't care about any of that, but feminists beware. If you've got time, give it a try.
★ ★ ☆ ☆
Overview
I can see why this drama didn't do very well in the ratings. It's sad that they blame it on the actors though because they all did a great job, the story just sucked. The first two episodes are terrible and I was questioning whether or not I really wanted to go through with watching the whole thing. But who am I kidding, of course I was going to watch the whole thing, terrible or not. And thankfully, it did get better.
UNTIL THE END, WHICH SUCKED!! I shouldn’t really be surprised considering the "heartbreak" is in the title. But it was getting really good, Souta finally realized that Saeko would never be his and he didn't need her because he already had something great with Erena, and despite all of that, he wrecks everything. AND I was still holding on to that last bit of hope that he would wake up and realize that Saeko is a total **** and he belongs with Erena, but no, he dumps her too and runs away to Paris. The last episode was really hard to get through, and he doesn't even talk to Erena until the last 10 minutes. Ugh. Really disappointing ending, especially for a getsuku.
Mizukawa Asami's character Kaoruko-san is probably the best thing about this drama. Her antics kept me interested when the rest of the story got annoying. I thought it was interesting that her scenes seemed to increase as the story went along, like maybe I wasn't the only one who thought that.
I feel bad that Matsujun had to take such a bashing over this drama because he really did a good job portraying Souta's range of emotion. And even though I hate Saeko, Ishihara Satomi was also wonderful, she's so cute and very expressive.
Tech Check
The theme song is, of course, "Bittersweet" by Arashi, and the rest of the soundtrack is composed by Ken Arai in the same techno-pop style. The techno music gives the drama a very modern feeling and complements the editing. I was really interested in the editing style, which is choppy but not in a distracting way. The cuts in and out are well timed and often in a funny way. It works with the story too, in which Souta is constantly daydreaming.
The scenes with chocolate are pretty cool too, it's fun to see great puddles of chocolate being sloshed around the marble tables. I thought the scenes with Matsujun working with chocolate looked legit, not that I know anything about making chocolate, and his hand movements smooth and confident. In addition to the obligatory chocolate scenes, there is also gratuitous amounts of fan service, that include several bed scenes (nothing graphic though).
Bottom Line
Not terrible, but overall disappointing. The main characters are annoying but the supporting cast is fantastic and make the rest of it bearable. If you're a hard core Matsujun fan, you probably won't care about any of that, but feminists beware. If you've got time, give it a try.