#Remolove (2020)

Bas les masques !

En cette fin d'année 2020 les productions françaises font encore totalement l'impasse sur la pandémie de Covid, qui continue à bouleverser nos vies. Peut-être dû à la gestion catastrophique de celle-ci en France, mais aussi à l'idée que les masques et autres gestes barrières dans les fictions pourraient faire fuir le spectateur. En Asie, les séries ancrées dans la réalité pandémique (notre réalité, donc) sont arrivées dès cet été. Mais j'avoue que moi-même, j'étais à la fois attiré par la curiosité de découvrir comment le sujet était traité et repoussé par cette anxiété de la vie quotidienne que je ne voulais pas retrouver dans un divertissement. C'était sans compter sur l'effet cathartique que pouvait avoir un drama qui traite intelligemment et avec beaucoup d'humour du sujet.

C'est le cas de #Remolove, qui, si l'on s'arrête à l'affiche ou au résumé, peut être pris comme une énième histoire de futur trentenaire qui cherche à se caser avant ce satané 30ième anniversaire (cliché, quand tu nous tiens). Mais qui nous montre plutôt avec un certain humour à quel point la situation que nous vivons tous est absurde. Sur fond de romance par messageries interposées à la Meg Ryan(assez peu réaliste d'ailleurs), le drama traite des réseaux sociaux et de l'anonymat, de la solitude, de la vie de couple, ou des relations humaines en général, en cette étrange année 2020. Il donne à réfléchir et on se retrouve tous à un moment ou à autre dans ce drama.

Mais le point fort de la série, pour moi, c'est l'humour. Rire avec les masques, le lavage des mains et surtout la distanciation sociale paraissait mission impossible, mais c'est grâce à la jolie Haru dans le rôle de Mimi Sensei que tout cela est possible. Le port du masque l'oblige à intensifier son jeu d'actrice et surtout son regard hyper expressif. Ses expressions corporelles font mouchent à chaque fois. Son rôle de Médecin du travail obsédé par les gestes barrières permet une telle outrance dans le jeu, et cela sans jamais sonner faux. Les autres acteurs paraissent bien fades à côté, surtout les rôles masculins, qui malheureusement sont encore trop marqués par l'immaturité. Le port du masque devient ainsi un problème pour distinguer tous ses mâles au même traits de caractère. Mais c'est peut-être voulu, montrant à quel point Mimi Sensei est désabusée par les hommes. Après 3 épisodes j'espère bien encore être surpris, mais le teaser de l'épisode 4 me fait un peu peur. À voir donc.

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All hope's not lost with social distancing

Set in the time of the pandemic with characters spotting masks, having to practice social distancing & reflecting on the changes the pandemic has brought on their world, this was a thoughtful, adorable and heartwarming drama with some equally beautiful love stories. WHAT A FREAKING GEM!

There was nothing dramatic about this show. It is as good as it gets when it comes to presenting real people facing real problems in the real world. We're all living in one world but we see it all so differently, whether you're a kid, a psychologist, a HR manager, a doctor or just an office worker. And these different perspectives are what makes interactions and character dynamics so fun to watch.

In brief, it is one of those dramas that everyone will relate to in so many ways
- the pandemic and how our world has changed
- the loneliness so many of us are facing
- intimacy in a relationship
- real characters
- online dating
- communication in a relationship (how difficult and important it is)
- office culture

I finished this drama feeling emotional yet hopeful for the world we're living in.

Great writing, acting, screenplay all around. WATCH IT!

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Nom, Nom, Best French Cuisine Ever!!!

At the surface level, the story is very simple: After a bad breakup, Dr Mimi resorts to settle only for the perfect man "World's Best Steak" until she develops a unique friendship with a fellow online gamer.

Now, remove the backdrop of online friendship and that's just the plot of gazillion romantic-comedy dramas out there, one might wonder. But what differentiates it from others is two things.

Firstly, the setting of COVID-19. Unlike showing some masks and sanitisers, this drama extends into showing the shift in workplaces' paradigm, work-life of health care workers & the consequential harassment and how even restaurants and other places cope with the changing scenario. Even the change in dating places and "bases" is shown. This is endearingly shown by simple events like distribution of customer calendar can lead to a domino effect of spreading happiness and assurance to a grandma living miles away during tough times, or the buying of meal coupons can aid the restaurants. Although this drama is fictional, this doesn't fail to show the handling of the pandemic in Japan in an innovative way.

Secondly, the unconventional and delicate handling of otherwise serious issues like the mature handling of the lovey-dovey couple's decision making process or resolving the suspicions and jealousy. The best part was the importance given to the consent of the child in his father's dating. Heck, even the second male lead couldn't be hated. Lastly, the handling of online relationship merging with the real-life one. The way it didn't fake its transformation into a perfect real-life relationship or didn't completely deny the possibilities of such a relationship happening was applaud worthy.

The entire drama is a complete heartwarming treat and never induces anxiety. If at all any such moments develop, the issues are all dealt with in the episode and the only one time it didn't, was to give a completely wonderful finale. The ending was totally unpredictable given the recent release of so many marriage centred rom-com jdramas. I was a tiny tiny bit disappointed in the conventional sense. But the ending was totally justified and had a really lovely message which has time and time reiterated to us yet many of us keep forgetting it.

There are so many many food references from calling Dr Mimi as French cuisine by her ex, and comparing all men with food by Dr Mimi, to the game IDs as food names, and Dr Mimi watches Indian Food Journey (a food show). Like they say good food is a good mood. These reflect how eating and cooking food helped us cope with 2020.

The comedy aspect can sometimes be a second-hand embarrassment and face-palming but I couldn't stop grinning widely. The romance aspect was so mature and cute. Who cares about a full-on makeout scene when even hand-holding can be so hot!! The days when I watched episodes I would feel so happy and warm. All the characters are so lovely and have their own dimensions. If at all any character was acting oddly, they soon resolved their "issues".

The actors have really done a superb job. Especially Haru, who with her numerous expressions makes the character more lively and comical. The Music was very unique to this drama and the violin-Esque number suited the drama moments well. The jazzy music played other times uplifted the drama's liveliness. The end track was memorable and serene. Rewatch value, for all its messages and heartwarming scenes, it is totally worth.

Final note, Remolove needed 2020 (events), 2020 needed Remolove.

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Falling in love (online) – What does it actually mean to "know" someone?

#Remolove deals with (online) communication, loneliness, stress, and our need for connection in a serious but also funny way. You are able to feel with the characters and laugh with them. Despite the fact that #Remolove: Futsuu no Koi wa Jado is set in a world where COVID-19 exists and people have to wear masks and deal with a pandemic, it is still able to provide us a clever and heartwarming story. If you ever met someone who you have been talking to online in real life, you maybe know what kind of weird experience it is. You can get along very well, but it can be super awkward. It's easy to break barriers online, to tell someone the most random or deepest thoughts online. But what happens when you can't keep the connection only online anymore? What if you develop feelings for that person? Is it possible to separate the virtual world and real life? Is virtual love, real love?

This drama is able to show how difficult it is to meet someone and to understand a person. Communication is important but sometimes you can talk as much as you want to and realize that you are both speaking a completely different language.

I highly recommend watching this drama. This is the first time that I feel like a story focuses on how meeting someone online and meeting someone in real life can be one hand, really frustrating, and challenging, and on the other hand, a beautiful inexplicable way of connecting with someone. Usually, stories about meeting someone online seem rather unrealistic to me but not this one. This drama made me laugh a lot and I'm usually someone who is hard to please when it comes to comedy.

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Two awkward and weird individuals = Adorkable romance

Completed - 1/30/2022

I initially dropped this drama after watching the first episode in April 2021. I could not get past its overdramatic acting and did not like the female lead. She's like a Covid-19 tyrant, forcing people to follow all the preventive safety measure (of course, for good reasons). She is not likeable at all, and it's hard for me to continue on and root for her. However, after watching more Jdoramas, I have gotten used to its style and really can't hold it against all dramas. It proves that sometimes, a drama is worth a second chance and you need to be in the right mindset to watch it.

This drama covers topics of online dating-->real life dating, accepting each other for who they are, being honest and communicative. There isn't really any plot twists or anything too exciting, but just a easy, funny and a little over-the-top rom-com to watch set during the Covid-19 pandemic. Two years later, we are still going through all this. This drama has a strong focus on preventive measures, since our FL is a doctor and she does not fail to remind people to keep their masks on correctly and to maintain social distance.

Our leads met online while playing a video game. They started as just simple friends, chatting about daily musings and nothing personal. Of course, they started liking each other. We then follow their journey of discovering each other in real life, learning to switch from an online relationship to real life relationship (all its ups and downs) and learning to work through differences.

Our leads are really weird and awkward in their own ways. However, they are so cute and adorkable together. Most dramas, you lose that fun when the leads get together. But in this drama, I especially enjoy watching them after they started dating. In their early stage of dating, it's hilarious to see them still using the chat app instead of talking directly, even though they are sitting next to each other, typing away. We see how they try to move away from that in the second half of the drama and work hard to have meaningful conversations offline.

I might not like FL in the beginning, but she has grown on me. I admire her honesty and courage, esp. when she's confessing to ML. She's not experienced at all, and is definitely a weirdo, but she is so honest with her feelings and oftentimes the one to take the initiative in the relationship.

However, there are still quite a number of slightly annoying, overly nosy and gossipy supporting characters. They calmed down towards the second half of the drama and have become great support to the leads. They just show their caring side in their own unique, nosy ways. It's also nice to see a good 2ML who doesn't do anything to sabotage the main romance. I do feel a little bad for him, but no second lead syndrome.

Other observations:
1. Why does the ML put the toothpicks back in the container? That's so unsanitary!
2. I love ML's voice when he's the voiceover of his texts. Very soothing and calming.
3. Don't watch this if you are sick and tired of the pandemic and don't want people reminding you of safety measures (but you should still wear a mask).

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Sometimes, 10 is too much

One of the things I love about Japanese doramas compared to K dramas is that they are short. Generally speaking 10 episodes of 50 minutes to an hour is exactly right. Every now and again though, there is a rare J dorama which is too long even at just ten 50 minute episodes. This drama was one of those.

I gave it 6.5/10 because of the strength of the way the relationship between the two leads developed, and a lot of the very thoughtful and insightful commentary on relationships. But it was stupidly overlong. Nine episodes would have been better, eight would have been ideal. This drama had two incredibly aggravating factors that served primarily to drag it out to the required 10 episodes. The first was the female lead's work colleague, the male nurse who kept talking to the camera. His contribution was as funny and appealing as stepping on a dog turd, and much less useful to the story. The meddling of he and his girlfriend was one of the factors used to drag out and complicate the relationship of the OTP.

The other major aggravation was the 2ML. His nasty sly passive-aggressive method of not taking no for an answer was again simply a device to stretch out the drama. In the end it was an effort to finish this drama because they kept dragging it out so much.

The above is even more disappointing because the core of the drama was strong. Had they cut a lot of that unnecessary baggage, it would have been a really top-notch contemporary romcom. As it was, the good outweighed the bad by just enough.

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Stop looking for steak and try cabbage instead

The plot is simple. A 29 year old woman who forms an image of a Mr Right or Steak as she calls it, after a breakup, and doesn't want to settle for anything less. During Covid, she meets someone in an online game and hits it off. But will it be the same when she meets the guy in person? Is he her Mr Right or will she impose the idea of her perfect man on him?
And it's not just about her perspective. The drama has several characters who are all trying their best in life.
The story is realistic and talks about the insecurities and struggle that comes with online dating. It also talks about the impact of Covid in working space as well as personal relationships.
I personally wanted one more episode. Or 15 more minutes to see how they would work it out in the future ( and Misaki finding out all the office secrets).
In terms of acting, I found it very realistic. And that's the thing about japanese dramas. Both the acting and stories are relatable. It's not a fairytale romance or a domineering CEO kind. It's something we might see in every day life.

What you should expect: Slice of life. Realistic scenarios. Expectation vs reality when it comes to online dating. All kinds of love - young, middle aged and mature.

What you should not expect: Skinship. Lot of bubbly cdrama/kdrama like moments or romantic gestures.

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Fun and heartwarming with a well-rounded cast

Remolove is a very cute and mostly drama-free story about two people who started talking online during COVID, only find out they work in the same office. Keeping true to its rom-com goal, there's very little drama in terms of love triangles (there are those but they're really not important plotwise). Besides the main love story, I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the interactions between the characters, especially the side story of Asanari-buchou, his son, and Tomichika the psychologist. Daiki and Shiori/her dad also make a great arc, and every time Daiki goes to break the fourth wall it's hilarious. I'd classify Remolove more as slice of life than romance, but this is as cute and heartwarming without going into melodramatic territory as it gets. One of my all-time favorite dramas!

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Good Enough

Japanese Drama "#Remolove: Futsuu no Koi wa Jado" is a wink towards the new situation created by the pandemic, giving the remote love life a fanky twist. The mood is light, sweet, romantic and funny at times. And even though the love story isn't THAT surprising, the performances are spot on, with just enough exagurations and the facial expressions that the story needed to be fun and enteraining. The way the story was narrated was another interesting and unique factor that aided to the entertainment of the drama a lot.

Now, for the chemistry of the couple, they had plenty and the short lived love triangle was bearable and gave a small intrigue to the whole story. However, the side characters were left with half baked stories, used only when the main plot needed some time to breathe.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

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♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

*Adorei demais esse dorama , quando vi o primeiro episódio nem imaginei que seria tão bom, me empolgou bastante, vários momentos de pura comédia 🤣🤣🤣 a atriz Haru me encantou mais uma vez com sua atuação, fiquei na dúvida de pra quem torcia se Shotaro (Gomoji) ou o ator Kouhei(Fuichi) , eu já havia visto Shitteru com ele e até torci um pouco pelo seu personagem, mas nesse dorama ele simplesmente roubou o lugar do Shotaro e foi pra quem eu torci, nossa a cena dele falando Ahhh quem dera que fosse você me derrubou, fofo demais gente 😍, os últimos episódios senti uma parada ,mas ainda com cenas de rir e de acelerar o coração, faltou um pequeno detalhe, mas entendo que o dorama foi na época da pandemia e a história era sobre os cuidados com o vírus, mas mesmo assim eu queria 😍🤣🤣, aguardo um especial pós pandemia *

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This is Grass Mochi 2 writing

Since this is a short drama, all episodes are simple and fast-paced. This is my first drama seeing a doctor working in an office, and I had fun watching. I love how the relationship between Aobayashi and Ozakura Mimi doesn't feel forced, and they took their time getting to know each other. They depict life when the COVID pandemic starts accurately. This drama is not only entertaining but also informative. All characters are adorable, but I find the tandem of Yagihara and Otomaki the cutest.

If you are looking for a fun and innocent love short Japanese drama, then you can try this one. I think I didn't hear any OST in this drama, but still, it is enjoyable. A 7/10.

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