Switch Girl!!: J Drama Review | Season 1 & 2

Switch Girl!! (Season 1 & 2): J Drama Review

(スイッチガール!!)

* ON - OFF *

Lately, I have been so obsessed with K dramas and their melo-romance fighting! that it had really started to affect me. I started to think of myself as the damsel in distress stuck in a drama and everything around me seemed to be a well-written K drama plot (YES, COMPETE WITH THE AMNESIA AND CANCER). Admit it, you have all faced that at least once. So, that is when I knew I desperately needed a change in genre and decided to go for something light, sugary just a breezy watch. Thus, my immediate next step was to watch a Manga-to-live-action J Drama (well, obviously) :D

I had heard plenty about Switch Girl!! but had blown it off until now thinking it would be a sheer waste of time. But being in my last year of high school, I figured watching a high school drama couldn't hurt. And it didn't.

It was literally like cotton candy. It was pink and fluffy and strangely warm and inviting. I knew it had no nutritional value, it would probably give me cavities, it was something I would regret having eaten later, would never admit to having eaten it to anyone EVER and yet enjoyed  thoroughly while eating it (or watching it in this case). 

Why, oh WHY is Mariya Nishiuchi so kawaii?

Now Nika Tamiya is your average Japanese high school girl who dolls up in school and let's it loose at home. NOT. She is the hottest seventeen year old girl in town who appears *DRUM ROLL* as a model in fashion magazines! (I can certainly recall one of them being seventeen) and is hence the object of admiration of most girls and guys who seem to be unable to form coherent sentences while talking to her. She has a circle of girls who worship her and she vehemently tries to conceal her true identity from them.
Of course she has to have a rival, namely the 'Monkey Queen' and her sidekicks, the school bully who was the best at everything before Nika came into the picture. Throughout season 1 she tries to crush Nika at every chance she gets while often yielding hilarious outcomes.

But the biggest question here is: What is Nika's true identity?

A perennially Neko tracksuit  wearing dork!

She is literally an old woman's soul caught in the body of a slightly dumb albeit extremely attractive, feisty and cheerful teenager. But as the role model for teenagers across Japan she cannot let her true self be revealed in public. Nika trying to protect her true identity and often finding herself caught up in supposed-to-be-serious-but-actually-rather-amusing situations is the main plot of the drama.

Obviously no J Drama is complete without an adorable male lead who the heroine yearns for and finally he arrives to save the damsel in distress in the nick of time. The reason why I first decided to watch this drama was because of Kiriyama Renn (he plays Nika's love interest the oh-so-cold-on-the-outside-but-warm-on-the-inside Kamiyama Arata with a sad but unbelievable backstory) but then I ended up liking most of the other comical characters too. They first meet on the rooftop of their school where Nika is busy eating an outright disgusting lunch with her best friend Nino when she bumps into the handsome transfer student Arata. That night she meets someone familiar in the grocery store (in her OFF mode) and teaches him to put 35 cucumbers in a bag and farts right on this face! (disgusting but hilarious). Next morning she realizes the grocery store guy is Arata, the rooftop guy who recognizes her in her ON mode immediately and they both end up making a deal to not reveal their true identities. Thus the romance begins.

* ON - OFF *

The first season is mostly laced with he loves her, he loves her not episodes, some cutesy, some serious (when Arata's past is revealed) and some absolutely hilarious moments. There is also Masamune the playboy who gets what he wants and Meika <SPOILER> the evil switch girl who likes to break up couples </SPOILER> who end up playing crucial roles in season 2.

The first season is a "fluff" watch as the genre suggests; no more, no less. Yet, by the end of the drama you find yourself grinning happily like an idiot. 

In love with two rabbits? That's a shame!

The second season's plot line sounds incredulous: Nika and Arata's relationship has not progressed ahead of the first base and she tries her hardest to yes, err...umm... get into his pants. But the show is as funny as ever! It introduces a hilarious drag queen who seems to follow them everywhere they go: in love hotels (hahaha xD), part time jobs and even to the hot springs! 

After a miss in the love hotel on her birthday Nika is determined to do It with Arata and enter into Adulthood (the way the show depicts it will give you laughter induced belly aches). When a friend needs money all of them decide to help them by taking up part time jobs where Nika and Arata work in their OFF mode in order to avoid attracting any attention and end up having a showdown with the evil manager.

Mr. and Ms. OFF at your service!

The job ends with a new revelation: Masamune and Meika's past as members of a high school drug and human trafficking ring. The following episodes emphasize greatly on them, perhaps the only part of the series that the viewers take seriously. But that too ends with a hilarious appearance by a Chasity belt as the scene shifts to the hot springs. 

Similar to most Hong Sisters drama, the hero gives the heroine a piece of jewellry (a ring in this case) which later acts as an omnipotent in moving forward the plot. Complete with belly aching cardboard box games and evil Casanova hairdressers who compete to see who cans sleep with more girls, the series ends with Nika and Arata progressing to the next base. Well, almost. I'll leave it at that.

Nika, Arata, Masamune, Nino

This series is somewhat like a summer pool party, you can't expect a great revelation that changes your view of the world but just something that simply let's you laugh and have fun. This series doesn't take itself too seriously and expects the viewer to do so too. 

However, the drama does serve a message that in today's superficial world beauty with brains has become indispensable. Of course intelligence is important and even the show highlights that but it also bring out the harsh reality of life: Attractive people will receive better treatment than those who are conventionally 'unattractive'. Hence, one should always take care of themselves.

• Things I liked:

>Good casting. Everybody was hilarious although at times one could point out that they were acting.

>I can't seem to emphasize this enough: Hilarious plot line and I didn't get bored for a second.:)

• Things I didn't like:

> The characters felt very one dimensional. I could see them and laugh at them but not feel them or laugh with them.

>I wish it would have a deeper plot than just looks and boyfriends but it IS just a manga adaptation and that made it funny so that's that.

>I wish Arata's backstory had more to do with the drama. That could have lent it a little more depth.

>Why was is so short? I want more!!

• Number of episodes: 8 + 8 = 16
• Running time: 27 minutes

• Overall7.0
• Story7.0
• Acting/Cast7.5
• Music7.0
• Rewatch Value6.0

What is your take on the drama?

Be sure to leave a comment!

For any suggestions about which drama I should review next, drop me an email at:

wearethechange.forever@gmail.com

Here you can enjoy the Switch Girl!! Closing Theme:

UNTIL NEXT TIME HAPPY J DRAMA WATCHING!

CHEERS!!

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