In the last year, I have been sporadically reviewing Asian dramas as I’ve been consuming them. I don’t think that it’s a surprise to anyone that I’ve been watching them, but I’ve only recently got into video reviews as well. I had always intended to go to YouTube, but TikTok has just been easier for when I’m cycling through books.
I think that the more I get into reviewing Asian dramas, the more I’ll migrate over to YouTube. Dramas give me more of an excuse to do long-form videos, whereas non-spoiler reviews of books don’t need to be more than 60 seconds and that is great for the setup I’ve created.
In any case, this week I watched two short dramas, The End of the World With You and Yes, Her Majesty.
The End of the World With You
In The End of the World With You, a meteor is set to hit Earth in ten days and Masumi wants to spend it as peacefully as possible. However, when Masumi runs into Ritsu, the man who broke his heart ten years before, he is offered another way to meet the end. Will the two make peace, or are some hurts too big to get over?
Before watching this drama, I generally did not consume Japanese live-action content outside of a few cases. Nothing had really drawn me except for notable things like Battle Royale. (To be fair, I had just seen a Japanese movie about a fox demon that was about to marry a prime minister hopeful earlier this week, but I’m willfully disregarding this one). However, The End of the World With You was my first Boy Love drama, and the length of the episodes – along with the premise – made it worth checking out.
With eight 30-minute episodes, The End of the World With You is worth both the watch and its NC-17 rating. There are probably 3-4 sex scenes – relatively explicit, but not outright pornographic – in the entire show, but Ritsu really lived a life and was terribly unapologetic about it.
In more than the most obvious way, it’s truly a queer story – tragic lesbian death inclusive. Just about every character has a complicated past worth exploring, and they are all treated respectfully. The one backstory we don’t get is the one most intriguing, but I appreciate the show for not giving that to us in an obvious way.
I don’t have any complaints about this show. It was short and sweet, and I liked the ending. I even liked the end theme, which I felt was phenomenal even though I don’t know or understand any of the words.
If you like Romances at the end of the world, second chances, and magical teenagers, then this one is definitely for you.
Yes, Her Majesty
In Yes, Her Majesty, after a fall in the lake Yue Li Zheng wakes up with amnesia believing herself to be the emperor of Great Yuan. Her consort, Li Shi Hao is amazingly attentive, but Li Zheng still feels like there’s something that she’s not being told. Can Li Zheng figure out the truth before everything falls apart?
Chinese dramas have a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s the costumes, maybe it’s the time they take to flesh out a story, maybe I just like the actors better, but it’s just something about those C-dramas that has me favoring them above the others.
With 10 episodes coming in at less than 20 minutes each, Yes, Her Majesty tells a story that I can truly get down with. I won’t bother to do any spoilers, but I will say that the reveal is pretty good. Even the summary doesn’t completely give it away.
We, as the audience, spend the show seeing everything from the main character’s point-of-view, so everything is, of course, revealed in that way. The show actually plays as a Romantic Comedy right up until the reveal and then would be considered a Romance for all intents and purposes afterward.
If you like a good costume drama where the guy likes the girl first (my favorites!), then Yes, Her Majesty is definitely for you. As a certified Romance girlie, I’m leaning into the things that make me happy, and these things especially do.
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Eurydice Howell 