Japanese Drama: Love Rerun (ラブリラン)
Broadcast Date: April 5, 2018
Airs: Thursdays
Total Episodes: I think it’s 10 but don’t quote me on this one.
Leads: Anne Nakamura & Yuki Furukawa
Episode 1
Working as an assistant designer at a small company, our 30 year old heroine, Sayaka Minami has never had a boyfriend because she has been harboring a crush on her childhood friend, Ryosuke. Shy and mousy in appearance, Sayaka knows that it is unlikely any man would find her attractive but she still stubbornly holds onto the hope that one day her unrequited love for Ryosuke would have a happy ending.
Ecstatic when Ryosuke offers to celebrate her birthday with her, Sayaka decides this is her perfect moment to finally gather up her courage to confess…only to wake up one morning to find herself faced with a man who calmly informs her that he is her live-in boyfriend.
Unable to wrap her mind how she woke up in a crazy world where she is wearing clothes she would’ve never worn in a million years, living with a man who is definitely NOT her crush, and if the stranger is to be believed…apparently her virginity is a thing of the past as well.
Running off to work while her mind is still in utter confusion, Sayaka eventually figures out that 1.The stranger’s name is Shohei Machida, a very capable new salesman working in the same company as her. 2. According to Shohei, they have been dating for two months but has already broken up so she is supposed to move out as soon as possible. 3. Three months have passed and she has somehow lost all memories of what happened in between that time.
Instinctively going to Ryosuke’s house in her time of crisis, Sayaka receives another shock when she meets his girlfriend and finds out that Ryosuke has already proposed.
His face seemingly perpetually devoid of much emotion when he is talking to our heroine, Shohei too has figured out that Sayake has really lost all memories of the last three months. Walking up to a crying Sayake sitting on a park bench, Shohei convinces her to live with him for the time being so she can recover her lost memories… and wrap up their relationship in a clean manner.
Favorite scene: Sayake wakes up with a start to find a half-naked Shohei in her bed. Still groggy, Shohei sits up, leans over, and gives Sayake a morning kiss. Blinking when he sees Sayake’s horrified expression as she demands “What did you just do?!”, Shohei mumbles “Sorry, I got confused.”
Covering her face in distress, Sayake cries in a low whisper “My first kiss!”
Still groggy as he stumbles out of Sayake’s room, Shohei mumbles “I told you, it’s not the first time…”
Episode 2
Still trying to figure what exactly happened in the last three months, including her shocking complete transformation from a mousy shy introvert to a woman immersed in the current fashion, our heroine is shocked when a stranger passionately greets her on the street and tells her that he is someone she regularly cheats on her “boyfriend” with. Appalled by the thought that she of all people would sleep with random strangers she met by chance, Sayake wrecks her brain for answers but the little broken pieces of memories seem to only confirm the stranger’s assertion.
Running into Ryosuke by chance, Sayake forces herself to congratulate him on his upcoming marriage but finds out that his marriage proposal was rejected. Catching Ryosuke up with her little memory crisis over coffee, Sayake smiles happily when Ryosuke offers to celebrate her 30th birthday again. It is interesting to find out from Sayake and Ryosuke conversation as they reminisce about the past that the childhood memories Sayake cherished so much was actually seen quite differently from Ryosuke’s point of view.
Receiving yet another shock when she is informed by Shohei and others from work that not only has she been prompted to be a designer in the three months time but a design she had worked really hard on has just been approved for the next project. With no memory of how she had achieved the seemingly once far off goal of becoming a designer, Sayake’s first instinct is to protest that she can’t possibly be in charge of the new project but thanks to Shohei’s encouragement and the remainder of the superhuman effort her forgotten self had put in the project, Sayake swallows her protest.
As it happens, the artist Sayake would need to work with is actually Ryosuke’s girlfriend (Mizuki) and of course, Ryosuke shows up during their meeting and our heroine saw with her own eyes that Ryosuke is still in contact with Mizuki eventhough she didn’t accept his marriage proposal.
More and more disgusted with herself as the strange man keeps coming around to demands that she leaves Shohei to move in with him, Sayake feels too ashamed to keep staying at Shohei’s house especially when it is obvious from Shohei’s actions and words that he knows her extremely well…which meant that he really put a lot of heart into their relationship while she was off cheating with other men.
Confessing her own self disgust for cheating on him with some stranger at a hotel when Shohei calmly lists off all the reasons why it would be a really bad idea for her to move out, Sayake is surprised as Shohei narrows his eyes after hearing her words then drags her off to a hotel.
Dragged to the rooftop of a hotel, Shohei informs Sayake that she had planned an elaborate star viewing event to comfort a disappointed Ryosuke (over the rejected marriage proposal) but clueless of her intentions, Ryosuke had left on a business trip. Looking into Sayake’s eyes, Shohei declares that a woman who would stupidly waste 15 years on a crush is not someone who would sleep with a stranger. Moreover, the Sayake he dated was not someone who would do that either. Surprised by a small fragment of a past memory where she had watched a falling star with Shohei suddenly comes back to her, Sayake begins to be curious how she had fallen in love with Shohei.
Favorite Scene: Looking at the coffee and cream (as per her preference) Shohei had so nonchalantly handed to her, Sayake smiles to herself and thought “I still can’t quite accept it. But there is no doubt this person knows me extremely well…which mean he really saw me.”
The mystery of how our heroine could possibly sleep with random strangers didn’t drag out but was promptly answered at the end of the episode. Turns out, the stranger is actually our hero’s friend who harbors a crush on Shohei. Resentful that Sayake is obviously someone special to Shohei, the friend has been trying to break them up and this last deception was just another one of his attempt. Instead of being furious, Sayake felt an overwhelming empathy for Shohei’s friend because he is just another version of herself- someone trapped in an unrequited love that they refused to let go but is also too fearful to confess their feelings.
Ninja’s First Impression:
Could it be?? It might be? Wow, I think we FINALLY have a good old J-romance on our hand!!!! Yeah!!!
This one is based on a manga which I haven’t read but was caught by the premise right away. Episode one reeled me in almost right from the beginning and I am pretty excited to see that episode two didn’t disappoint either. Plus, a kiss from our two leads in the very first episode in a J-drama?! Wow, we didn’t even move that fast in the Kimura era.
By the way, I am not committing to do a summary on this show…yet. If the next couple episodes continue to be this lovely, then I will most likely do one.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
cute
yeay thanks for the summary!
have been waiting for a good j-romance 🙂 its been ages
will give it a try
I’m happy to see that the Japanese industry is willing to give chances to their actors/actresses. I remember Anne was acting as Satomi’s co-worker/friend in From Five To Nine (a supporting actress) and now she is the lead in this. Thank you for the summary I’ll give this a try!