Unfinished: Promise Cinderella

In general, I do not like to leave things half done and, even more, I like to complete watching a drama so as not to be left with the curiosity of what would have happened.
Furthermore, Japanese dramas, unlike Korean ones, are a source of entertainment for me, where very often you have to use suspension of disbelief and turn a blind eye to the attitudes and characteristics of the characters.
For these reasons, if I have decided to abandon watching a j-drama after watching just the first episode, it means that there is really something wrong.

Promise Cinderella is a drama adapted from the homonymous manga by Tachibana Oreko but, in my opinion, not all manga should have a television transposition. Over the years, in fact, I have realized that what may be acceptable in a manga is not acceptable in a drama, where the characters stop being 2D drawings and become people in whom the viewer should recognize himself.

What I didn’t like

• In general, the vibe of the first episode reminded me a lot of the dramas of the early 2000s, in which the female main lead was always abused and humiliated. While these kinds of situations were acceptable at the time, today I definitely can’t watch them.

For me, it is absolutely no problem that the love story takes place between two people with a big age gap, even if the boy is only 17 years old. I believe that at that age, one may already be mature enough to make one’s own decisions. What I really didn’t like were the two main characters.

• She is a woman who, after the divorce from her husband, leaves her home with only one suitcase, without asking for any kind of support from her ex or anyone else, loses her job and is robbed of her last remaining possessions so as to induce her to create a cardboard house in the park and live with the homeless… She is an absolutely spineless character who accepts her sad fate without a fight and waits for someone else to save her… and to this is added the fact that she is the typical Japanese female lead, dumb and clumsy.
• The male protagonist is, instead, at the centre of an absurd storyline. Rich, spoiled and problematic, he has a passion for bad taste jokes, that humiliate people, and challenges anyone to perform them in exchange for money for his own pleasure. Everyone bows to him because he’s rich, and no one really gives him a hard time.

It’s all very silly and way too over the top. Furthermore, it is evident that the female lead will be courted by more than one male character and will have many problems with the jealousy of her female colleagues in the workplace. Ultimately, I didn’t want to waste my time on a drama that has all the ingredients to succeed in a recipe for disaster.