Neko Kare: Shonen wo Kau (2023)

ML's actor ruined it

The premise was interesting, but as soon as I saw the ML's real age, I knew literally nothing substantial would come of this show.
If you're reading this review, you've probably read the synopsis, so I won't repeat it. Nekokare is, I suppose, what you could call a guilty pleasure, or at least in premise. In execution, it's just boring puppy love because everything is being legally limited by one factor: the ML's real age. (He was born in 2007, so he was 16 during filming.)

Now, I won't delve into the political/ethical issues this story presents. If you can learn to separate reality from fiction, you can get a pretty good story out of it. Look at Chūgakusei Nikki. for example. The main tween that and this show, though, is that the ML in that show WAS of age during filming, while this one isn't. Considering it's a ROMANCE drama with a 30-year-old year old FL, it closes practically every single door of opportunity. So, all we the viewers are left with is an attractive face and a very awkward viewing experience. literally should have just picked an actor from like 2005. and I bet you it would have been a much better romance.

Anyway, besides that KILLING the show, the story itself was actually kinda bad bad, haha. These kinds of large age gap dramas usually only when both characters (mainly the older one) are troubled people, We see this in Kōkō Kyōshi and Chūgakusei Nikki. But here, the FL has NOTHING WRONG with her life. Even the ML's problems are extremely minor, so for them to actually develop mutual feelings doesn't feel right.

The acting was alright, no one stood out as great, though the ML was particularly annoying. Maybe it's because he's still rather new in the industry, or maybe it's just how they wrote his character. But I swear he had the same annoyed/depressed demeanor the ENTIRE SHOW. I don't want to get canceled, so all I'll just say is that he looks and acts like a pushover, kinda of annoying.

From a technical standpoint, everything was up to mrn J-Drama standards: really strange colour grading, generally good lighting, good cinematography, decent music, etc.

Overall, it's not worth it. I would only recommend this show if you want to learn Japanese.

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