Ameiro Paradox (2022)

It's a Filler Drama, so Don't Watch with Any Expectations

All I can say about this drama is to watch it without any expectations. It's not too bad if you watch it without any.
However, if you are going to watch this after watching other Japanese dramas like Utsukushii Kare or Cherry Magic, you're going to be very disappointed. It's a decent watch, but it's not anything spectacular.

Similarly, if you are coming to watch this because you've already read the manga, then you will also be disappointed. I think you need to watch this as a standalone drama without comparing it to the manga. Don't worry, I'll explain below.

That being said it's not a terrible drama. However, it is mediocre and definitely a filler drama. Don't bother to watch this if you want a good quality drama. Do watch this if you need a filler drama with good looking men falling in love.

•❅✧❅✦ STORY •❅✧❅✦

Onoe gets transferred to the stake-out team of the weekly gossip magazine he works for. His new partner is Kaburagi, who is the magazine's best cameraman. While Onoe is very serious and well mannered, Kaburagi is notorious for being a lady's man and Onoe finds him to be very rude. At first they don't get along, but the more cases they take on together, the more closer they become. Onoe learns there's more to Kaburagi then meets the eye.

Honestly the story is not too bad. It is based on an older manga so it is a little bit cliché, but it's not terrible. I personally found myself interested in the antics that the two were getting into. The only part of the drama that was strange was the bed scene that the screenwriter's crammed in at the end. Honestly, we could have gone without that.

While not the best drama, the biggest issue with this drama isn't really the story, but rather the acting. Honestly the acting wasn't great, but at the same time I preferred how they portrayed Onoe and Kaburagi in this drama rather than the manga.

ONOE X KABURAGI

Onoe is a very serious writer for the weekly magazine. He is more of a bookworm that's not really good at lying. He also doesn't seem to have much luck with the ladies. In contrast, Kaburagi seems to have a double personality. Usually he's stoic and doesn't seem to care about others, but other times he suddenly becomes a lady's man. He also is very good at lying and manipulating people. At first, Onoe hated Kaburagi because of his seemingly twisted personality and his lack of care when lying and manipulating people. However, once Onoe learns that Kaburagi actually hates lying and is actually more sensitive than he lets on, his whole perspective of Kaburagi changes. He also ends up falling in love with the sensitive side of Kaburagi.

•❅✧❅✦ ACTING •❅✧❅✦

Even though it's not that bad, the worst part of this drama is the acting. Every actor, from the main to the side characters, is on a different wave length and it's just a mess.

Kimura Keito, who plays Onoe, unfortunately is very stiff when acting. While not terrible, it is obvious that he's acting and it doesn't look natural when compared to Yamanaka. It looks like his acting is forced and that he's putting on a show. Again, it's not bad, but it is obvious that he needs more practice. (On a small note, Kimura is part of Exile's FANTASTICS with Yagi Yusei, who plays Kiyoi in Utsukushii Kare. It makes me wonder if Kimura's management is trying to ride the BL wave that boosted Yagi's popularity. Also, I can't help but compare the two. I haven't seen Kimura's other works, but I wonder if Kimura actually wanted to do this BL or if it was the management's choice.)

Yamanaka Jyutaro plays Kaburagi. Now, some people might not like his acting and say he's non-expressive, but I beg to differ. There are times where his acting is a little stiff, but for the most part I thought it was okay. As a character, Kaburagi is stoic and non-expressive, so I liked how Yamanaka played him. His acting felt more natural as I have met guys like Kaburagi in Tokyo and they do act like how Yamanaka plays Kaburagi, so I had no problem with his acting. Again it's not perfect, but it is hard to play a stoic and non-expressive character so I will give him some credit.

Lastly, the side characters. All of the side characters were on different wave lengths as well. I found that the older cast were better at acting than the younger ones. All of them are not on screen for very long so it's not too noticeable, but they are stiff. The actor who plays Masayan was probably the worst offender out of all of the actors. While his acting wasn't terrible, it was very exaggerated. His acting might be more suited for comedies, but I just couldn't watch any scene he was in because it was overly exaggerated.

•❅✧❅✦ DRAMA vs MANGA •❅✧❅✦

Something to note is that I had read Ameiro Paradox as a manga a few years before this drama came out. I didn't fully remember what the story was about, but I had a basic knowledge about the plot before watching. After watching the drama I went back and I reread the manga. This is how I am analyzing the drama, so I might be a little less biased toward the manga than others who read the manga first and went into the drama with the manga in mind.

As a drama, Ameiro Paradox is completely different from the manga. While the drama adapted most of the storylines and changed some aspects of the plot to fit the drama, the biggest change made was the relationship and personalities of the Onoe and Kaburagi. This change made the drama completely different from the manga as the manga fans might not like the new version of Onoe and Kaburagi, and their relationship.

The manga has more of a cat-dog relationship between the Onoe and Kaburagi, while the drama is more romantic. In the manga, Onoe is more feisty and stubborn, while in the drama he seems to be more innocent and just putting on a strong front.
As a character, Kaburagi also is different. In the manga he is stoic and non-expressive throughout their whole relationship. Even after they begin dating, Kaburagi doesn't really show many facial expressions aside from getting angry. On the other hand, in the drama Kaburagi is stoic and non-expressive only until they begin dating. Once he is in a relationship with Onoe, Kaburagi begins to show more emotions. Even then Kaburagi gives off a more softer, sensitive, and sympathetic vibe compared to the manga where he is never sensitive, always horny, and acts like an old man trapped in a 21 year old's body.

All of these changes made to the characters' personalities change the dynamics of Onoe and Kaburagi's relationship, which in turn might throw off fans of the manga. The manga is all about the fighting and weird antics that the cat and dog relationship brings to this couple. The drama however, is all about Onoe learning about Kaburagi's sensitive nature and how love with make a stoic man more loving and emotional.

Now, I personally like the drama version of Ameiro Paradox more than the manga as I do like my men to be a little more sensitive and mature. To me, Kaburagi in the manga is just an old man in a young man's body and he doesn't really express his love to Onoe. I don't understand how Onoe can love someone that doesn't really act like he loves him back, but again the manga is all about the antics that they get into. I prefer storylines where the characters grow to love each other based on what they learn about each other and their personalities rather than storylines where it's all situational, which the manga is situational.

•❅✧❅✦ OVERALL •❅✧❅✦

I didn't really hate Ameiro Paradox. It's not bad, but there are better drama's out there. It's definitely a filler drama and a one time watch.

Also, if you liked his drama don't bother reading manga since the characters' personalities are different and the relationship between Kaburagi and Onoe are completely different as well.

Similarly, don't bother watching this drama if you are a fan of the manga and want to see the weird antics that Onoe and Kaburagi get into in the manga. This drama is all about their relationship, so if can't watch this drama with an open mind, then you should probably skip this manga.

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Cute but it´s not very longlasting feeling

Very nice and cute story about two coworkers. Maybe a special episode in the future would be great because the story itself was really basic. I feel like if there were maybe more dialogues it would be better. I get that it needed to be basic, cute, and short but that's all it was - basic, cute, and short.
Acting was accurate. The story itself wasn't bad either but I wouldn't call it drama or a series. It was a nice short story, which could be easily portrayed in one film. And I think, that then it would be more acceptable, that the scenario was this light and basic.

I feel like it´s that type like when once you watch it, it loses your interest.

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Dommage

Le drama se voit très rapidement, 8 épisodes de 25 mn. Le découpage est typique d'un manga BL, chaque épisode se concentre sur une enquête, donc est indépendant, excepté l'évolution de la relation des personnages.
Les acteurs sont mignons mais leur façon de jouer est vraiment à améliorer, c'est principalement à cause de ça que j'ai eu du mal à entrer dans la série. C'est vraiment dommage, la base du manga aurait pu permettre une prise de risque et un choix visuel et scénaristique intéressants, mais le rendu général fait "old school", tant dans le manque de profondeur des personnages, que dans la manière de poser la caméra (aucune imagination) ou d'utiliser la couleur (inexistante alors que l'un des personnages est photographe).
Reste que c'est assez sympathique.

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This series was a decent watch overall. It had its moments of charm, and the chemistry between the characters was evident. However, I wouldn't label it as anything extraordinary. It served as a pleasant, albeit unremarkable, quick binge that I still found enjoyable.

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Save yourself time and read the manga instead

I read and loved the manga of this story, and I wasn't expecting an exact adaptation because I understand wanting to make a new experience for the audience. But everything that's different from the original just makes the story and the characters weaker.

Literally all the reasons I like the manga are absent from this show. The acting feels awkward and forced, and the writing isn't great either.

I'm surprised I watched as much as I did. I guess there was nothing that made me outright hate it. It was just a forgettable disappointment. I stopped when I realized I'd have more fun just rereading the manga instead of finishing the show.

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Paradoxically Underrated

This is one of my personal favourites and honestly one of the most criminally underrated shows on this entire site.
I have spent probably entirely too much time watching, rewatching, and analysing this show and I have a frankly unreasonable amount of opinions about the entire thing, so let me try and explain why I feel so strongly about what, to most people, seems to be nothing more than a mid-tier drama.

Let's start with the characters:
Onoe is unfailingly honest and direct, and wants to believe the best in everyone, which are qualities that frequently land him in trouble. He is earnest and sweet and does his job because he wants to genuinely help people.
Kaburagi meanwhile is the opposite. He is very quiet and jaded and has lost faith in the purpose of his job. He initially takes the job because, like Onoe, he wants to do good in the world and to learn how to peel back people's layers and find good there. Except he gets unlucky with his scoops, doesn't find that hoped for kindness and love anywhere and gets even more closed off and cynical as a result to the point where he essentially abandons all his ethics in the pursuit of newsworthy stories.
Their relationship could easily have been nothing more than a typical "complete opposites" dynamic, but the show opts for a much subtler and more low-key approach to this than usual and the dynamic quickly changes to the two characters balancing each other out more and more and making each other better.

This compelling subtlety permeates through all aspects of the show; the story touches on a lot of fascinating, complex, and serious topics, sometimes more in depth sometimes a bit less, in a very quiet and understated, but very deft way and then neatly ties every theme back to the characters and their personal growth and development.
Most of the "villains" the characters expose with their stories are much more than two- dimensional antagonists.
The show makes a point of showing that there is no such thing as clear-cut morality, that the "villains" aren't monsters beyond human comprehension, they're just people. There's a running theme of "Just because you did something evil doesn't mean you're not sympathetic" as well as "Just because I can empathise with you and understand your reason, you still did horrible things and that's not an excuse". To quote another clever show: "Cool motive, still murder"
As the story progresses it explores these topics in increasing depth and with such nuanced complexity that I found myself genuinely slack-jawed and amazed at times.

A further strong point of the show is Onoe and Kaburagi's relationship.
From the very beginning they communicate so openly with each other. Onoe, for example. figures out his attraction to Kaburagi very quickly, goes to ask his friend for advice, gives himself a bit of time to figure out the differences between platonic and romantic affection and once he does, is pretty much entirely upfront with Kaburagi about how he feels for the rest of the show.
Meanwhile Kaburagi is having a bit of a harder time figuring out what he's feeling but rather than letting their relationship devolve into an endless, angst-filled back and forth, he just tells Onoe how he feels.
He specifically tells Onoe "I like you! Probably" and every subsequent time Onoe confronts him about sending mixed signals or misunderstanding something, Kaburagi just very openly tells him "I don't know how I feel, I don't know what you are to me". They keep giving each other time and space to figure things out, which is such an unusual and healthy portrayal of a budding new relationship. I genuinely have never seen a romance drama paced like this before, it is a truly unique approach and a much-needed breath of fresh air for the genre.

In conclusion: This is a truly masterfully written and acted show, with solid visuals, an amazing cast of supporting characters, and an understated, deadpan type of humour that suits the story perfectly and which I personally find incredibly charming.
I keep coming back to this show again and again and the simple reason for this is that, to me, this show has an intrinsic and fundamental understanding of what it means to be human, flawed and multi-faceted and endlessly joyful.
I highly recommend you watch it.






Post-script with content warnings and mild spoilers:

One thing I feel like I have to address is the show's one unfortunate flaw - the source material.
There are two scenes in the show that I strongly disliked:
First, one in which Onoe is almost sexually assaulted by someone during an undercover operation, and while the show does acknowledge how bad that situation was, they sort of gloss over how serious and traumatising the experience should have been to Onoe.
Second, a scene in which Kaburagi's main informer lets him choose whether to pay for the intel with money or with sex and while Kaburagi does turn her down and only ever pays her in cash from then on out, the show never explicitly states how problematic such an arrangement is, nor do they condemn the informant specifically.
So why, where did those scenes come from, why do they feel so tonally inconsistent and out of place compared to the rest of the show?
This is where the source material becomes relevant. I got my hands on the manga on which the story is based, only to realise, with no small amount of horror, that the source material barely resembles the clever, heartfelt sensitivity of the show and is instead an incredibly run-of-the-mill, rapey yaoi trash-fire. That may sound harsh, but it is unfortunately accurate.
Seemingly the scriptwriters for the show did their level best to take the compelling concept of the manga while removing its glaring flaws. In their attempts to still remain as true to the original as possible, as fans so often demand, they only sanitised the scenes in question, rather than removing them completely. This doesn't excuse the inclusion of said scenes whatsoever, but it does contextualize them, and make them slightly easier to bear in my opinion.

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Very cute drama

Hey guys it was really short and sweet drama also short means not too short to cover up the story they pretty much covered the entire story with good scripts , I don’t understand with the reviews of other people I guess they are into Thai dramas may be that’s why it didn’t keep up with their expectations but guys trust me I’m very picky in dramas so many dramas I have left in the middle after few episodes but this drama was really wholesome I finished entire drama in 1 day because the way of acting and background silence with voices is a signature dish of Japanese dramas it was really good not everytime watching college stories common it’s a work place story with cute scenes and based on reality please do watch it by not keeping other Asian bl series in mind this is really good drama I support this than most of stupid bl dramas in Thai and Korean not all Japanese dramas are good but this one is amazing please do watch and provide genuine review based on this drama by not comparing to others all the best to the team you guys really did well I enjoyed it on my weekend bze whole week tied up with the work but this drama made me a kind of refresh thank you please make more such dramas and lead actors were best and cute thank you

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Wish it improves on next episodes

Ameiro Paradox is one of my favorite BL manga and one of Natsume Isaku's best works, I've reread this manga countless times already and was kinda dissapointed with the live action. I think the actors did not even bothered to read it and they were just given a script or whatever. The actor for Onoe is okay, but for Kaburagi ??, was it his first drama? Aghh I can't find any trace of Kabu in his acting. There were important scenes from the manga that were either not included or not executed well on the drama. The plot is very good but that's a given because it was adapted from manga. Anyway, I hope it improves on the next episodes.

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