I had high expectations going into Cherry Magic because I've heard so much about it. However, it left me with some mixed feelings. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but I don't think it quite lived up to the hype. The premise of the story was interesting and was pretty well done, I liked the characters and the fact there wasn't a villain, but the pace lagged towards the end and things started feeling repetitive. Even so, I found it to be a pleasant enough experience watching it.

I liked the story premise, though I can safely say it is, regrettably, not true. The way people's internal thoughts were portrayed, while not accurate, was still well done. The thought processes were too linear and too conversation like to be realistic, in my opinion, but within the story it worked to get what was needed across. I do think more could have been done with it. Adachi seemed to struggle more with the morality of his gift, while I feel like responding to people's thoughts instead of what they said would have been a challenge as well. We see that touched on twice, but only with Kurosawa and only towards the end of the drama. I think it would have been interesting to explore that aspect more. I also would have liked to have seen more of Adachi's life after he no longer had his gift and the change that created. Lastly, though not a huge deal, I didn't necessarily appreciate the kiss baiting between Adachi and Kurosawa. There are multiple moments where they are about to kiss, but something always interrupts and in the end, we never actually see them properly kiss. There was a fairly good distribution of humor and serious moments. There's more humor earlier on and then it gradually turns more serious though still with enough levity to keep things balanced. There is absolutely no judgement towards any of the characters being gay. While Fujisaki is the only one at work who is aware of Adachi and Kurosawa's relationship to any degree, outside of that, there's never any indication that they or Tsuge and Minato I did like the relationship development between Kurosawa and Adachi. Though that was part of what got a bit repetitive and slow towards the end, it held strong for the majority of the drama. Tsuge and Minato's relationship was less well developed and seemed a bit more implausible given their very limited access and knowledge of each other, but was still cute. The pacing was inconsistent. This drama is a slow burn, which I don't mind at all, but slow burn dramas needs to have steady pacing to keep the viewer from getting bored. And unfortunately the pacing here started to lag a little over halfway through and didn't pick up again until the last two episodes. It didn't feel like much was happening during those episodes and some aspects started to feel repetitive. At that point, the focus was starting to turn towards Adachi feeling a moral dilemma regarding his gift and what advantages it might be giving him. Outside those scenes though, a lot of what transpired felt unnecessary and didn't contribute much to the story or, like I said before, felt like a rehash of past scenes.

The characters were all fairly solid, again, I liked that there wasn't a villain and it was more a focus on dealing with our internal demons. One aspect that I particularly liked was the use of Fujisaki. I'm so used to BL dramas making poor use of their female characters or making them into the villain that it was a pleasant surprise to have a woman portrayed in a positive light.
-Adachi was a favorite character probably because he was the one I could most identify with. He's socially awkward, shy, self-conscious, and a bit of a wallflower. He struggles to see his own worth and positive aspects of himself. That is until his gift kicks in and he starts connecting with his colleague Kurosawa and discovers that Kurosawa likes him. His character growth is gradual but well done as he slowly gains confidence in himself and learns to step outside his comfort zone. He has a symbiotic relationship with Kurosawa beyond just their love for each other. Kurosawa is able to be himself around Adachi while Adachi learns from Kurosawa and is encouraged by him. Adachi finds his new gift to be both a benefit and a curse. From the beginning Adachi was shown to be unobtrusive, comfortable in his shell, however, he was also shown to be kind. Maybe not overtly, but he's attentive in his work and helpful where he can be. Once he finds that he can hear people's thoughts, though he doesn't generally go out of his way do so, when he does hear someone's thoughts and he has a way of helping them, he does so. And it's not just Kurosawa, though he does go more out of his way to assist him. But with Tsuge, Rokkaku and Fujisaki, he does his best to help them as well, often stepping outside his comfort zone to do so. Eventually though he begins to question the morality of his gift and if it's really okay for him to have the access to people's thoughts that he has and whether that gives him an unfair advantage. It comes to a head when he impulsively uses what he heard to help him in a work competition. Whether using his knowledge is cheating is left up to the viewer, but Adachi believes that he has. This event coupled with hearing about several surprises that Kurosawa has for him, eventually leads him to a breaking point and he tells Kurosawa about his gift before they end up breaking up. That is, until he finally realizes that he truly does love Kurosawa and want to be with him, regardless.
-Kurosawa is the golden boy. He's attractive, he's smart, and he's well liked, but we come to discover that he pushes himself to maintain a facade of perfection not only because that's what expected of him, but also to prove that he's not just a pretty face. He's attracted to Adachi because Adachi sees beyond what he projects and actually sees him and appreciates him. As they begin to interact more and he gets to know Adachi better, what started as something more akin to a crush blossoms into love. The positive aspects that many people miss about Adachi and that Adachi doesn't notice himself are seen by Kurosawa and appreciated. Kurosawa is conscious of Adachi's moods and behaviour and works to make him comfortable all the while wanting more. He's careful to not cross the line, no matter how much he wants to and he's very respectful of Adachi. He becomes a support for Adachi, building his confidence and helping him as he can, but also slowly learns that he can rely on Adachi as well and find equal footing. When he finds out about Adachi's gift, he's not judgmental or accusatory, instead he again puts things in Adachi's hands and let's him take the lead, even if that means he gets hurt. And in the end, he reveals that he doesn't think ill of Adachi for hiding his gift, but is instead grateful for where it brought them. He's just such a pure character and you have to really appreciate him.
-Tsuge is Adachi's friend from college and they are similar in many ways. Tsuge is also an introvert who doesn't like to step outside his comfort zone and is socially awkward. Despite being a virgin himself, he writes romance novels, and is the person Adachi initially goes to for advice when his gift manifests. Tsuge doesn't believe him, at least not until he hits his own 30th birthday and has the same gift. Tsuge is an interesting character because he looks very scholarly and put together, but he's actually a bit haphazard and his reactions are very over the top, amusingly so. His initial reaction when he meets Minato isn't exactly favorable, until he hears his thoughts and starts to fall for him. For Tsuge, he has to overcome his own perceptions of his self-worth and learn to communicate. His growth is quicker than Adachi's, necessarily so since he isn't a central character, but it is still present, and despite entering into a relationship with Minato and starting to learn how to be in a relationship, he is still very much himself. He doesn't change for Minato, they simply learn to coexist.
-Minato isn't given a whole lot of background and he remains a bit of an enigma throughout. He's on the younger side and we know he likes cats, wants to make it as a dancer, and is gay. That's about it. I would have liked to see him developed more and known more about him. His feelings for Tsuge and how they developed are relatively vague. He things Tsuge's a good person for rescuing Udon, but what more there might be is pretty much left in the dark. Nevertheless, I liked his character and thought he was good for Tsuge, pulling him out in the world more and exposing him to different experiences. We don't get as much of an impression on what he gets from Tsuge other than likely someone more mature, in age at least, and stable as well as encouragement as Tsuge doesn't find Minato's dreams foolish and supports him.
-Rokkako was adorable and unpredictable, I never knew what to expect from him. While he seems like he's good at his job, he's not as wise when it comes to interpersonal relationships and reading social cues. I was initially a bit wary of him, wondering if he was going to prove to be romantic competition for either Adachi or Kurosawa, but he quickly proved to be just a generally very decent guy, if a bit of a dope at times, though an adorable one. I liked how he admired both Adachi and Kurosawa and looked up to both of them. I also appreciated his loyalty to Minato and the way he was willing to fight Tsuge. That bein said he is a bit of a hothead and once he gets something in his head, he tends to run with it. Still, nothing he does is meant maliciously and I really enjoyed his character.
-Fujisaki was the lone supporting female character, but she brought a lot to the table. Initially introduced as a possible love interest for Adachi by his supervisor, she instead becomes a friend and supporter. Her thoughts reveal that she likes Adachi, though based on the interpretation I saw, it seems that like is as a person, not romantically. Adachi's initial support of her leads to a greater friendship between the two and she is seen acting as a support for Adachi later on and a bit of an advisor for Kurosawa. Unlike Rokkaku, she is perceptive and she can read the signs between Adachi and Kurosawa and she fully supports them, even orchestrating a firework show for them there at the end when the real event is cancelled. I loved her character and found her to be such a sweet soul.

The acting was quite good all around. Akaso and Machida had a subtle chemistry that really worked for their characters. It was quiet, comfortable, but also obviously not any kind of buddy chemistry. And the buildup of it was portrayed very nicely. Individually, I thought they both did a good job. Akaso's reactions as Adachi tended to be more over the top than Machida's but it didn't feel silly unless it was supposed it. He brought a good balance to the role. Machida was very steadfast as Kurosawa but he wasn't boring. He was consistent throughout and remained engaged regardless of the scene of what he was doing. Asaka was similarly over the top in portraying Tsuge, though his was certainly played more for laughs. He did it well though and despite the fact it was comedic and exaggerated, it didn't feel overdone. He also had a good balance of portraying the bookish author who tended to overreact. Yutaro was good as Minato even though he didn't get as much screen time. He brought a certain boyish innocence while at the same time showing that he wasn't naive. He had good chemistry with Asaka and they played off of each other well.

Japanese production is always a bit hit or miss for me. I don't always love the lighting choices, it can come across as a bit dark and gloomy to me, and the sets can have a sameness to them that just blend with other dramas. Cherry Magic, however, had a pretty decent balance with the lighting and with the office setting, it worked. While I didn't find the sets to be anything extraordinary, there were some aspects, mostly with Adachi's room that made it feel a bit more personal. I liked the opening and closing music, but didn't find them to be anything spectacular, although they fit well with the credits. I did, however, really like the visuals of both credits. The opening credits had an almost ethereal quality to them and I really appreciated the artistry of it. I would have liked to seen more of that quality in the drama as well, but you can't have everything. The ending credits gave a very comfortable and warm vibe, that I also appreciated.

I mostly watched Cherry Magic in anticipation of the Thai version that's currently being filmed. I wanted to get a feel for the story and characters as I find it interesting how various countries tell the same story differently and alter aspects of the plot and characters. Despite the fact that it didn't live up to the hype, I enjoyed this drama. The story was interesting and kept me invested for the most part and I really enjoyed the characters and their development. This is a drama I would recommend and while I don't know if I will watch it again, I do consider it worth the watch.