(Jdorama Review) Will This Love Is a Checkmate?

Original title: Kono Koi wa Tsumi na no ka? (この恋はツミなのか!?)

This 4 episode-dorama has junst finished being uploaded yesterday. And I just finished watching it last night. Is there any special in this dorama? Well, my first reason watching this, of course, to see the cute face of Kentaro Ito. He seems to be more kawai these days. With his improving acting, I think I’m eager to see him more in more movies or dorama in the future. But with more serious role,more than just being an awkward no experience of love guy. I think he can do better than that.

The story line is simple and quite predictable, to be honest. There is nothing new in here. The interesting part is merely Kentaro Ito, if you’re his fans, or Yuki Kashiwagi, one member of AKB48. Those two are really eye candies 😁😁

 

It started from bumping to each other on the bus, when both of them were about to go some place. Kentaro as Kohinata Taiga is 24 years old, an introvert, not popular among girls, he even has OCD complex. Every morning, he had to decide what tie he would put on when all of them had the same color. Black :D . He couldn’t leave his apartment when the remote controls were not in line from smaller to bigger size. LOL. In his office, an IT company, he was known as a hardworking employee who was too strict to rules. He could be annoying when it came to working. While his friends were busy thinking about which girl they should attract to, Kohinata just focused on his job. It all changed after he and Tae Komade came across to each other.

Yuki Kashiwagi was cast as Tae Komade, a shy but popular shogi player. Her fans on shogi came from shogi world. Her senior and junior idolized her. One of her seniors was Kohinata’s chief in his office. She was a role model for her junior. Kohinata fell for her on his first sight. Maybe his first sight on her boobs hahaha….  From that day, he couldn’t forget the sensation of her boobs touching his chest. 😀😀😀

And the rest of the story? You can just predict. A series of accidental meetings got them closer, and knew each other. As someone who realized he was not popular among girls, Kohinata wondered if he could win Komade’s heart. He even started to learn shogi. Komade could be a good teacher of shogi but a distracting one for him. 

The scene where Komade teaches Kohinata about shogi

This series is too short if the writer wants to focus on their love story. How can two people, both shy and inexperienced on love, tried to open their heart to each other. There are even some rivals for Kohinata to get Komade, his chief, Kamade’s junior and a stalker who always brought a camera with him, taking pictures of her. Komade’s best friend, Sanae, even though labeled Kohinata as a pervert, could just be someone who stood between Kohinata and Komade. He cheerful and straight forward trait could complete Kohinata more than Komade. 

If only the writer wants to focus on shogi, so shogi, that is. It’s like Chihayafuru which tells about karuta playing, a Japanese card playing, the manga, the anime and live action tell a lot about it. At least for me who know nothing about shogi could understand a little. Unfortunately, instead, Haito Torishima showed more on both characters inexperienced love. Well, I love the way Kohinata stuttered when he was nervous though, but if it’s too much, 24 minutes-watch is just wasting my time. 

You could find some typical romance scenes, like defending the female character from bandits while the male one actually knew nothing about self defense. Being romantic but silly could be for Kohinata’s role. Sometimes, when I watch this typical scene, I would like to shout at him, to get someone’s attention; you don’t need to make yourself sick. Ah, I think, I’m poor in romance no matter how many romance movie I have watched. Lol. So, if you like this typical drama, this one is for you.

The manga cover

The story is originally from manga, and Haito Torishima published it on June 2018 by Shogakukan. Judging from the period of publishing,  no wonder that this series is too short. The message delivered is cliché, too, like, if you fall in love with someone, you can change the way you are. You can see from Kohinata ‘s change after he met Komade. Their 6 year-different-age at first seemed to be a problem, but then, everything went well. Happy ending. Period.

I don’t say that I don’t recommend this drama, but, just don’t expect too much on this kind of drama. I like it since it’s easier to write such babbling review about the drama, though, hahaha…

Full casts:

Kentaro Ito as Kohinata Taiga

Yuki Kashiwagi as Tae Komade

Murakami Jun as Kohinata’s chief

Takumi Saito as Komade’s shogi teacher

Yamoto Yuma as Kohinata’s office mate.

Kato Shinsuke as a stalker

Mao as Sanae, Komade’s best friend

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