The summary seemed insane, and yes! that's what attracted me!

In a word, I liked this drama. Or maybe more, the concept of this drama. The intriguing plot was very unique. There are a lot of twists, you really need to watch each episode until the end!
Above all, watching those people watching their life was really disturbing. That corporation gives you to watch the dark side of humankind. Throughout the episode, your point of view about the protagonists changes, sometimes in a radical way. and makes you wonder : what if I knew everything about my life ?
The episodes are short, but each scene gives you one piece of the truth. there are also very touching episodes.
The music was nothing really special imo (i hardly noticed it) but suits the atmosphere and conveys the feelings this drama brings to you.
Finally, the cast was good. Not a lot of famous actors (or at least I hardly now them) but in some kind of ways that's a good point. You can focus on the story, and all the actors are doing a great job!

What I disliked :
- the episodes are not connected (positive aspect of this bad point : you can miss some episodes without being lost in the next ones).
- the episodes have mixed value. Imo, the two first episodes were great (the first one really amazing), but the good point of the drama (the twists) also makes you reflect a lot on what will happen, and there are less surprises. re-watch value is bad for the same reason.
- I didn't understand the final episode.

Nevertheless, I would recommend it. At least make the experience of the first episode! And ask yourself: do you want to re-watch your life on your TV screen?

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A story about human people

Everything contributed to make this drama a must watch for me. Not an easy one, I was prepared for that, but definitely a worthy one. The rating reflects it.

Well, when I say everything, I mean the cast and the topic.

The cast :
I came here for Kohinata, and I was first disappointed to see him play a politician, once again if I may say so. But who can say he is not good in this kind of serious, introspective, sometimes bursting with anger and helpless at so many other moments, mean and somehow inhumane roles ?
I was also very curious to see more of Yakusho Koji, recently awarded in Cannes Film Festival for his role in another movie. If it’s not my first drama with him, it’s the first time I’m watching one where he has such a prominent role. As expected maybe, I was not disappointed by his performance. He carries the whole story, and I’m under the feeling he gave justice to the man he has incarnated on the screen. The calm and comforting force emanating from his character, Yoshida, somehow helped me continue watching the show, as the man might have helped all his co-workers in this unheard situation.
If I’m not the kind raving about Takenouchi Yutaka, as I’ve never fallen under his charm, I have to admit his performance is perfectly fitting the character.
Overall, the entire cast did a pretty good job portraying those characters, giving life to people who were only disembodied shadows seen from the other side of the world. Most of all, their interpretation is giving homage to the hard work those people have done in such a critical time, a work we had no idea about at the time while watching those air images of the nuclear plant at the time.

The topic :
Indeed, the topic itself interested me, I can’t say personally because I have no relation with the people in the area, yet in a very inner way. Allow me an almost off-topic digression about this event.
I remember very well this day on March 11th, in 2011. I had started watching Asian (and when I say Asian, I mean solely Japanese) dramas for several months at the time, and it has overtaken my life to the point that it was the only thing I was watching at the time. At the beginning of 2011, I was starting to dream about visiting Japan, though I felt like I would never dare to do so. But I have already said my co-workers that I was interested in Japan. That day my boss came at the office at around 9AM and said to me, almost casually because at the time we had no idea how strong the disaster was, that a big earthquake had occurred in Japan. I had the possibility to go back at home during lunch time, I watched the news and discovered the big damages due to the earthquake and the tsunami : at that time it was the tsunami that stroke me the most, mainly because it was what was mostly filmed by people in the area. I still have strong remembrance of certain images. The next days, I followed the news, and mostly the ones coming from the nuclear plant in Fukushima. It had become the primary source of worries for the whole world. I remember all the speculations about the consequences on the Japanese territory and the whole world of this nuclear disaster. I remember also, that we never really knew what was happening in the plant at the time, the comments were on par, more or less, with what is shown in the movie. I remember vividly also, my colleagues and family telling me that going to Japan was not a good idea anymore. That was it, for months…
Back to the drama. I was eager - that might sound a gloomy, unhealthy idea, but I was eager to see what happened inside the plant at the time. I was expecting difficult times, difficult events, and the story, while unfolding, fully shows them. But with a gravity, and at the same time, without any over-dramatic effect, that gives them the solemnity required for such a tragic event. The performance of the cast, as said above, plays a big part in that. But the cinematography does a good job, conveying through the lightning and some effects, the feelings and experience those people must have had at the time. The music is beautiful, yet I can’t really describe it. Because it’s here, everywhere, underlining the tragedy, yet never overshadowing the reality of the images.
I guess there were a lot of CGI for recreating the nuclear plant, but at least things felt real.
While the situation may have felt suffocating for the people working in the area, confined in their protective suits and in small areas (control room, disaster center) - and we are somehow understanding this feeling while watching the drama - we are nevertheless lead by a more comfortable feeling : the solidarity between the teams on the site (not talking about remote centers in Tokyo), which is truly beautiful to watch.
And that is the strong point of that drama : despite its theme, despite all the tragedy we are witnessing and guessing, because we know they are condemned sooner or later, this is a beautiful story. It pays homage to the courage, mental strength, commitment, and sacrifice of the people who were there, by chance, unfortunately we may say, and that stayed and gave their best. Entangled in a disaster they did not have seen coming, that was unprecedented in some of its aspects, they managed to try again and again, endlessly it seems, against all the obstacles that came ahead, one after the other. They might have wanted to leave, they might have wanted to give up, but they gave their utmost to overcome the situation. Those people were ordinary people confronted to the extraordinary. Being able to respond to it, is something that has always felt amazing to me. I bow to people who are able to do so.

It was an important drama to me. Not an easy watch, I said it, and I sometimes came reluctantly because I knew it would be overwhelming. It was, I shed some tears (which I generally don’t in realistic dramas), especially at the end of episode 7, that I found heartbreaking. I won’t describe those scenes, but they somehow describe so well, without any proper explicit word, all the feelings people might have felt in such a time. I’m also keeping with me the beautiful gravity of all the feelings that passed though that red phone line between the disaster center and the control room : the silences between Yoshida and Maejima said more than any word. It was, truly, a story about human people.

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You want to see Arashi members at their debut, so you will.
You want to have fun and laugh with the five of them. So you will.
You want to listen to their music, so you will (just a bit though)
You want to know what it was, to live in Tokyo suburbs in the beginning of the 2000's (i'm pretty sure everyone is eagering to know such a thing). So you will.
You can watch this movie just because you are a fan of Arashi, or because you want to spend a funny evening after a hard day at school/college/work or whatever you want. It will work, undoubtedly, and there is no need to read more.

But this movie is not what you are expecting.
Pikanchi is for sure on the Plan to Watch list of every Arashi fan. If it isn't, then you should add it right now.
Don't be misled by the scores, i'm not the kind to give a 10 easily, even if I really enjoyed a drama/movie. And I enjoyed a lot this one.
It's just that sometimes the story is not as deep as such a subject may suppose. And that we can see that the five leads have not yet developp all their acting skills. They have showed better interpretations since that movie, but do not forget that they are still young.

Nevertheless, not only the five Arashi members, but the entire cast is great and is able to convey this strange atmosphere of warmth and confinement in this area. So close, yet so far from the Tokyo megalopole. Aiba, Matsumoto, Ninomiya, Ohno and Sakurai portrays five friends which different values and ambitions, at a decisive time of their life. How to become an adult, how to deal with reality and move forward when everything around stick you to the ground, or at least, to that area. How Japanese are able to deal with emotions and with such a complex subject through so much weird and funny scenes is still surprising. That's what attract me the most in this movie. Moreover, through many details, from emulation to jealousy, the friendship stays the main subject, and it's always a great pleasure to see how those five guys manage to convey such a wonderfull bond.

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Ingredients is more than an advertisement, but it's all about the right moment to watch it.

I’m not a reviewer but the importance this show had in my drama watching life in 2020 lead me to take the time to write a proper one. I’ve tried to avoid spoilers, but still labelled it so as it’s sometimes hard to draw the line. I’ll try my best to not reveal the way the story go, but will address some production aspects, the influence of the advertisement part, and how the acting affected my vision of the show. This might include things that could be considered as spoiler by some readers. This will be filled with my feelings too.

Story
The story is quite simple : we follow the daily life of two young housemates, a passionnate yet shy and quiet cook and a musician who dreams to make it big all around the world. Marwin is young, ambitious, a little bit self-centered and immature. Tops is helping solving his problems by cooking him delicious and aesthetically beautiful dishes. As the story unfolds, the relationship between the two men is evolving.
People watching Thai dramas targetting young people are used to watch products placements and non subtle ads scenes in the middle of a series. « Ingredients » doesn’t even try to hide its commercial purposes, it is announced from the very start and all the products you can see on your screen are likely to be sold in any shop of the company. Yet the process seems to be reversed here as, all along the advancement of the serie, the advertisement part is slowly fading behind the progression of the story. To the point you finally forget what was the original purpose of the show, probably to the viewer’s expense.
This show is labelled as « Gay relationship » on MDL, yet the very slow paced growth of the love story has discouraged many viewers, all the more that the two weeks wait for sometimes-less-than-10-minutes episodes was kind of frustrating. I personaly think it’s a shame because despite its elementary plot, the show has a lot to offer.

First of all, you get to learn Tops and Win on a nine months course, and, like you learn to love your friends as you discover different sides of their personalities, you learn to love those two characters month after month. Their qualities and flaws, unfolding in their everyday life, make them very endearing. Before you realise it, you get attached to them, Despite being different because you can’t interact with those characters, watching them episode after episode reminds me of the process of progressively becoming familiar with people on MDL feeds.
Getting to know them better is also making you realise that the short description given of them at the start of the series is not really reflecting who they are deep inside.
The short length of the episodes and the pandemic context don’t allow many supporting characters, giving more room for the interactions between the two main leads. The growth of their relationship is palpable, you realise they might not know each other that much in the beginning of the show, but while living together, the closeness is increasing.

Another aspect of this mini-series is its slice of life feels to it. This genre is not always very well received, but that’s one of the reason I’ve enjoyed it that much. I’m not a cooking show fan, but the way the cooking part is incorporated in each episode is generally well done and feels quite natural (after all, Win just adores to eat and Tops to cook!) Most of all, each episode describes the everyday life of those two students, making it relatable to many (younger or older).
From one episode to the other, the story could seem disconnected, and surely we sometimes feel like we missed some important scene, wondering if the relationship has evovled. Despite having felt the same, I’m not mad about it, on the contrary. The production took into account the passing weeks from one episode to the other, giving me the impression I was visiting some friends on a regualr basis and witnessing the small changes between them. Moreover, the episodes are answering each others, be it through flashbacks and more often to simple references to what happened previously be it some weeks ago.

Despite being an advertisement for a supermarket, from the very first episode (« episode 0 »), the show is questionning the effects and consequences of a change in a relationship, and how it can affect not only your everyday life, but also your own goals.

On a side note, I particularly enjoyed the choice of title for each episode. This is not something I usually take into consideration, but in « Ingredients », I was early aware that those choices had many meanings and were related to different aspects of the story.

Acting
I’m not good at saying if an actor is a decent one. I can understand a pretty bad acting, and honestly, Thai BL shows have offered too many obvious examples. I can understand pretty good acting, many praised japanese actors have proved it to me. I find the in-between difficult to understand. Here the surprise lies in the quality of the two actors performances in a show that falls under the advertisement category.
The situation is different for each of them though.

While he is more experienced if we could say so, I first thought that Gameplay was a little bit stiff. But as the story unfolds, I realised he is in fact showing quite surprising strong skills. Gradually, he managed to build a character shy at first encounter, able to open up to others when he feels comfortable, and becoming bold on the most unexpected moments. Above all, this actor is able to express with just a gaze or subtle changes on his face and in his body, and with barely no word, a wide range of emotions that contributes a lot to the realistic aspects of the show. The way Gameplay displays the character’s feelings and tourments is praise worthy. And, despite not being interested in the cooking part of this show, let’s congratulate the actor for coming up with cooking ideas and recipes for each episode.

Jeff Satur is the one that has probably improved the most. He has gained confidence in his acting and to me he has evolved and got better throughout the months. In the first episodes, Win is too obvious in his reactions, (and his overreactions), mostly due to the fact that the shortness of the episodes can’t suffer too much subtility in the portraying of the characters. We should not forget it was supposed to be a 10-episodes-only drama, so the pacing was presumed to be fast. When the story got extended, as well as the episodes length, there were finally room for more subtle reactions. Or, possibly, more realistic ones. Jeff Satur’s acting on the second part of the show seems more on par with the description of his ambiguous emotions. We can feel the struggle within himself.
He was able to add layers to Win’s personality, to make his character very endearing and relatable, despite being at first sight the kind of cool brat boy I generally don’t really like in dramas.

Those two actors also add to the realistic aspect of the show thanks to their amazing chemistry. Once again, I’m generally not good at saying if actors have chemistry, but the way those two men are interacting with each others gives no doubt about the level of proximity they have. Don’t get me wrong : I’m not saying that there is something going on between them, I don’t think so and, most of all, this is none of our business. But they know each other very well, maybe like friends do - we can see it in the behind the scenes of the episodes or other shows attached to this one - and that contributes to make their interactions very natural. I particularly enjoyed the tenderness they were able to establish between the characters, that felt much more natural than what I’m used to watch (whatever the country).

Production and setting
In many ways « Ingredients » is well anchored in its era. From the pandemic context to the services advertised by the company, and most of all, to the very own questions of every of those young people, this is the current thai way of life that is portrayed throughout the series. That might be surprising for a supermarket brand (I would have been less surprised to see families or older people for supermarkets ads, but that just might be my old fashioned way of thinking), but I think it was a clever marketing move, because they managed to appeal to the young (or older) watchers (of BL).
The company has probably achieved more than its original target, considering the extension of the series, which might not have happened if the reactions were not that positive. Most of all, the company managed to make people click on its YT channel, go see, maybe out of curiosity or solely to watch more of Gameplay and Jeff, the other videos they are sharing. Those services are addressed in the series, even if just in the course of a phrase. The company is also promoting its own values (or, if we are more cynical or just realistic, what it thinks should be the values that will give them more credits in the eyes of the young population targetted by this online advertisement), be it the support of the LGBTQ+ community or sustainable development.

I wouldn’t say it was a chance for them, but the pandemic context made the health and sanitation topics part of the stories and they capitalized on it, at the same time showcasing what the supermarket is selling and spreading the prevention message to the young generation. We can almot follow the progression of the pandemic in the country, as we start the serie at a time when sanitary measures are expanding in Thailand : canceled concerts in the first episode, hand sanitizers throughout the first part of the show, which disappeared for some episodes and came back later, letting you understand that the situation worsened in the country (the prerecorded last episodes are probably not a proper image on the real evolution of the diseaes in the country since summer 2020). I can understand that going through a story which reminds you at any moment the hard times the world is facing can seem repelling. But on that aspect I found that « Ingredients » was in fact quite interesting : if the context is there, it is never addressed in a dramatic and anxiety-provoking way. On the contrary, it dedramatized the way we should protect ourselves and others, and the messages were distilled here and there, lightening the heavy situation we all faced.

I read many comments on YT complaining about the sound, which is not new in thai productions. They are indeed, at times, sound issues, mostly music covering dialogues or mics blocked because of the characters moves. If this would be a total shame on any normal serie, I am quite oblivious of this issue considering the purpose of the show and the general quality of what is « just » an ad. But as frustrating as it was, there were times that this sound issues were interesting as they get to make us aware of some moves, transporting us in the room with the characters in their everyday life. It contributes to the closeness we can feel with the characters and the fact we can relate to the scenes.

As in a sitcom, most of the scenes are taking place in Tops and Marwin’s house, and especially in the big kitchen-living room shown in every episode (which is quite understandable as Tops has to cook, and people had to stay at home more often). We get to visit almost every room, making you feel like you really inhabit the house with the young men. This house has become a true character of the story, the sofa and the kitchen being the key places. How two young people of their age (around 21-22 maybe) can afford this kind of place is still a mystery to me (even if it’s not a fancy place).

OST
This is definitely the great achievement of this show, at least a big part of the enjoyment I had while watching it. I don’t know if all the musical signatures of the show were original ones, as we could sometimes listen to classical music pieces. This musical soundtrack is very apeasing and makes you feel relaxed, offering a necessary counterpart to the sanitary context. The music playing when Tops is cooking is also filled with love and happiness.

As for the songs, I have no words strong enough for them. I’m not talking about some background songs or music pieces that were sometimes played (you can check some of them by clicking on the description on YT). I mean those which have become the iconic ones. Jeff makes me cry with his interpretation of « Princess » (all the more if you’re watching the official MV on DV8 YT channel, but do not spoil yourself before reaching episode 16).

But the true masterpiece will stay for me « Moment ». This song really incarnates the slice of life aspect of what « Ingredients » is, a collection of moments in their life, some moments that could seem insignificant to many people but which mean a lot to the two of them. I found in this song the same apeasing vibe the musical pieces have in the show. It fits this mini-series perfectly. Jeff’s voice also catch me out of guard whenever I listen to him in the first line, even months after its release. It’s a song that will accompany me for years, being kind of timeless.

As for the song we had a glimpse of in the 12th episode, I’m looking forward to its release. I won’t say more, but people who have watched the show would definitely understand its meaning.

All in all, this drama made me discover Jeff Satur, and his voice was what I needed at this difficult time of my life. It would be a shame if his talent is lost in BL series, I’m really wishing it to be a stepping stone for more recognition, in his country or abroad.

Rewatch value
My answer is totally biased on that matter. To many people it must be very low, to me it is probably the drama I’ll be able to rewatch many times when I’ll need peace of mind and to relax. I’m not a rewatcher (except for some movies) but I already rewatched this each episodes, the « iconic » ones ahead, numerous times.

Overall
As you have understood, this review is totally biased. I’m so oblivious of the many flaws people are pointing out that I’m unable to make an objective statement on this show. I’m assuming this biased rating and biased review. It’s not about wanting to support an actor or a show or wanting to see more than there is to see in it. This is just about the place that little add took in my life in 2020. Previous remarks and praises are only relevant to the person I was in 2020, the context I watched it (not really the sanitary context, just the pressure I got because of its consequences). This mini-series was my very own breathing space, the things that managed to apease me at that time. It worked for me because it was the right moment, the right pacing, the right dose of fluff and down-to-earth nothingness in the midst of a chaotic era.

It also worked because I followed it while airing. It gave me the time to overthink about it, to rewatch episodes many times, to read the comments every time, to look forward to the next episode while daydreaming about the next events, such fantasies being crashed everytime to my greatest delight. Would have it been at another time of my life, would have I watched it in a go after its ending, I would have probably not find anything particular about it. If I haven’t become a fan of japanese slices of life, I would probably never have been able to enjoy it, I would not even have started it because it’s an add. But I’m really glad I did.

In « Ingredients », the journey was probably more enjoyable than the goal itself. And I’m happy to know that this mini-series would probably be my lasting memory of this very peculiar year.
I would highly recommend it to anyone who needs something to destress, without useless drama, but I would aslo advise to take the time to savour it by watching it bit by bit.

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