What's on Screen? : My Little Lover

I know it's been a while since we had a "What's on Screen?" post. This is partially because I haven't been able to stay focused or pay attention well enough to get more than 5-10 minutes into a show or film. But the past two nights I managed to find a way to keep focused.

My Little Lover
ten episodes

By now I'm sure many of you know I am very fond of fantasy in various formats. So the fact that the show I binged was a fantastical romantic comedy should be no surprise. What may be a bit more of a surprise though is the fact that it was in Japanese. I watched it with the subtitles on, because I don't know Japanese myself. But I think this helped to keep my attention on the show.

Why do I say this? Because I was watching the screen to see the action, as well as watching to read the text to know what was being said. I also had audible cues fromt he soundtrack and characters that helped in comprehending what was going on. I guess it's not a huge surprise, I've been watching a few things over the past months in this manner.

Ah! But what did I like about "My Little Lover"? I enjoyed that it was cute, and didn't rely on sexualized humor. Things were very pg compared to television shows that are on currently.

I also loved the costumes. The person who made the doll costumes for Chiyomi paid close attention to how the dresses look in their miniature size in reality, and made sure that the dresses the actress wore were a match. I loved seeing the cute pieces they had her wear during the show.

Enjoyment of the series was also found in their use of fairytale ideas. They compared the situation to events that occured in various fairy tales. Frequently saying that the situation was similar to the legend of "the one inch princess". I currently don't have enough gumption to research and see if that's a real fairytale or one simply used for the story.

The show is based on a manga series that was written in serial form in the mid 1980's. This particular televised interpretation is the third one. I am unsure on if I will go out of my way to watch any of the earlier ones. But for now I am happy to have completed watching this one.

Would I watch this show again? Yes. I think I enjoyed it enough that if I was to be asked to watch it again I would. But I don't know if I want to watch this particular show alone again though. So I do recommend "My Little Lover" to those of you who may be interested in foreign film or tv. It's adorable, sweet, and charming. I really did enjoy it.