Love. Friendship. Trust. Betrayal. Next Innovation.
I don’t even know if I can coherently express the love that I felt for this drama. I’ve been too occupied and bombarded myself with so many K-dramas that I feel like I just need to take a short break. I’ve thought of re-watching Hana Yori Dango but my mind is craving for something new and fresh (I still love HYD, no doubt about it). And so “Rich Man, Poor Woman” came into the picture.
I actually have a thing for personal growth in every drama that I watched. It feels more sincere whenever a character is facing a tough problem first before he/she blossomed into a much a better person. This Jdorama gave me that and it was better than I expected. What a good “welcome-back” Jdorama it is for me.
The first few episodes was hard for me to watch. Then the plot went full circle and I just found myself in it for a roller-coaster ride. I love the romance. I love the friendship. I love how everything went downhill with the characters. I love the redemption of the characters. I.LOVE.THIS.SHOW.
(By this time I’m having a hard time formulating words so just bear with me)
Romance
Okay… The first thing I thought of is that, why does Asahina (girl) have a freaking two kiss scenes with Hyuga while with Natsui, I have to wait for 10 episodes for it to happen!! Hahaha! But then kidding aside, I love the built-up of relationship between our two leads. I love their rapports. They weren’t physically attracted with each other. They saw each other flaws first before seeing the beauty inside them. I think that was a good foundation of a relationship. I love how they supported each other, even in the lowest points of their lives. There was this saying that “behind a successful man is a woman who believes and supports him in each phase of his life.” That’s what Natsui did with Hyuga. She believes in him. And in return, Hyuga slowly learn to see life in a different perspective. She managed to let Hyuga out of the zone that he knows and show him that there is a different world aside from what he knows. I love how each episode gradually shows the growth of one another through the cheer and love they receive from each other. Hyuga learns a lot and the change really showed especially in the last two episodes. I just love these two. There are minimal kiss scenes and skinship but what makes this couple lovable is the deeper understanding they had with each other’s personality. She became his strength and constant reminder that everyone may abandon you but there will always be one person who will believe and trust you. There will be one person to accept your weakness and help you arise in the downfall.
I also love the growth in Natsui. She has become a woman who is willing to stand on her own. She doesn’t want to stay like that and has a desire to grow as a person. Hyuga taught her to dream big, to make a difference and to be a world-changer.
These two is just a perfect match!! I love their dynamics and their sizzling chemistry. They don’t even have that much skinship! What more if they have, then that is just WOW!
Asahina Kosuke
I don’t want this post to be lengthy but I just want to talk about this character. Among the four, I sympathize him the most. I love these type of characters. The kind who has a potential to be something great but then choose to be the bad one because they’ve been eaten up by their desire to be the best. They’ve been eaten up by insecurity, jealousy, self-pity to the point wherein they’ll do worst just so they can prove themselves. Only they chose to prove it in a wrong way. (I always think of Anakin Skywalker as an example to this kind of character).
Going back, Asahina is a good friend. His dynamic with Hyuga led them to make Next Innovation a top company. It’s because of the TWO of them why they managed to be successful. But then he thought he was being overshadowed by Hyuga (because of the people who keep on praising Hyuga and comparing them with each other), and so he was manipulated by his emotions. He wants Hyuga to fall just so he can rise on top. He doesn’t realize that it’s not just Hyuga who made the company successful. It was their joint effort. He was a part of it. So I just feel so sad especially in the latter episodes because it’s not just Hyuga who fail; he, himself, crumbles. When he let that evil desire entered his mind and put it into action, he was doom to crumble.
I seriously don’t want to have his redemption. Hyuga has a soft heart for forgiving him that fast! I thought that he can forgive him but never trust him again. However, that’s the beauty of forgiveness. The moment you forgive, you restore what was lost. It automatically heals what was wounded. It was a good thing to see him back on track at the end. And hope that he learns from this big mistake. At the end, I’m happy he got himself back and continue life. We make mistake and fail, but with that, we grow up as a better person. No matter how many times we fail, we get back on our feet and continue what must be done.
It’s the same with Hyuga. Let’s admit it he doesn’t have the best attitude, right? Maybe part of the reason is he got his success so fast that he thinks everything is simple. He doesn’t treat his employees and even the board of directors with respect. He thought highly about himself. His downfall made him a better person as well.
They were pressed and crushed but the extract was beautiful. It was fragrant. It brought out the best in them. And that’s what I dearly love about this drama. It’s not just a story about a man and a woman falling in love with each other. It’s a story of friendship, of dreams, of life. In life, we have to be crushed first in order for us to understand different facets of what we want to achieve. We have to get out of our comfort zone and experience pain. Only in pain we will realize that there are beautiful and wonderful things happen. Only in pain we will find out who will stay and remain. Only in pain we will realize that we are not perfect but we can change.
I love this drama for the message it gave me. This is just my interpretation but the way I interpret is very personal. It was a story about each person’s lives. It’s a story of our everyday lives. Romance is a plus point. There were forgivable and irrational scenes but my overall watching experience is sufficient to love this show.
Now, the post-withdrawal syndrome will heavily starts now.
(Not proofread and edited, sorry for the grammar lapses)
Sweet Life 