Mitsuya Sensei no Keikakutekina Ezuke. (2024)

Heartwarming story and beautifully made drama

This is one of a few Jdrama that I followed it weekly and I am also writing this review as someone who read this manga long before the drama.

Beautiful Cinematography:
There’s always complaint about most JBL drama having cheap and unappetizing cinematography with bad color grading which I can’t even defend but Mitsuya sensei drama is different, every screenshot looks like art as they paid attention to details in decorations, the atmosphere of the scenes and carefully set the right shot. I’m just obsessed with how they organized Mitsuya’s house especially.

Not a single character was wasted:
This drama made sure every supporting character has a role to play in shaping the story around Mitsuya and Ishida and It got you hooked to see every single of them. Ishida’s co-workers and boss have their roles on Ishida’s side, Frito the dog and Shige and Kaoru have their role with mainly Mitsuya and also Ishida. I especially love how they wrote Kaoru not just as an asshole exboyfriend who comes back to make Ishida jealous and stir up conflict but he’s there to make Mitsuya move on and to give Ishida a new inspiration for his passion in sport.
Frito the dog is the real MVP of this drama until the end as well, he’s such a good boy with good acting that deserves to be praised as well.

Director has a vision of actors that they wanted:
Most controversy about this drama before and after it started that I heard from was people upset about how they cast and styled Mitsuya as a simple down to earth old man instead of following the seductive sexy old man that he was in the manga, but the story clearly showed that they did on purpose for the vision they had they which was different from the manga. Mitsuya in the drama showed more of this emotional side and the loneliness he held for 10 years compare to his manga version which I love both versions by the way.

Overall, it’s such a good adaption, I would say it’s in my top 3 JBL this year and I would rewatch again. It’s a shame that it was one of VERY FEW JBL drama that wasn’t chosen to have international release.

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Japan strikes again!

Trust the Japanese to come up with a novel twist to the usual BL story. They do know how to surprise us with their choice of topic: here it is a May to December romance between an older man who is a cooking writer and his editor, half his age.

Ishida is a lost 27 yr old man, bored doing a job he does not like. On the cusp of resigning, he is suddenly sent to see a cook who writes a monthly column for a women's magazine. The cook feeds Ishida who is immediately smitten by the quirky character and his cooking. But there are a lot of obstacles on their way, the main being the age gap.

And the total lack of chemistry!

I just could not feel the attraction, the emotions. So I tried to figure out why he would fall for a father figure but we find next to nothing about him (raised in a loving family with 3 other siblings! Apparently!). I did not find the romance convincing. While the cook was dignified and calm like a sage man, Ishida was all over the place: jumping around, his thoughts showing on his face for the world to see. But, as they say, opposites attract!W

But, when the Japanese talk about the food, everything else, the storyline included, is left behind!

What this drama has going fot it is its length (very short!), nice music and cinematography (well, they are filming food preparation!), some beautiful photographs at an exhibition, the dog (what a great actor!) and.....that's it.

An easy watch which will be remembered for its topic: an age gap romance....

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