Ayaka works in a fairly typical Japanese office where the star of the company is Hiroko, a very competent, caring career woman. After a gaffe early in her career, Ayaka is helped by Hiroko, and as a result, Ayaka has fallen in love with her sempai. To try and gain Hiroko’s attention, the mousy Ayaka had undergone a remake and is now fashionable and cute. And she is all over Hiroko.
Only, Hiroko is actually a lesbian. On the one hand, this is a part of her life she has not shared at the office, and as the cool sempai, she is beloved by both male and female colleagues, so she keeps her professional relationships professional. On the other hand, she is absolutely sure that Ayaka is straight and clueless, so she’s not touching that with a ten-meter stick. On the third hand, Ayaka is so hot, it’s killing Hiroko.
Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru Live-Action (彩香ちゃんは弘子先輩に恋してる) is based on the manga written by Sal Jiang of the same name, of which I have reviewed Volume 1 and Volume 2 here on Okazu, but have not yet had a chance to read Volume 3.
Japanese comedy is often quite broad with zany facial expressions and wacky sound effects, even slapstick action. This series is meant to be understood as a comedy. As a result, I went it into the first episode unsure if it would work for me, although the trailer gave me hope. Because Hiroko’s reactions are 98% of the comedy, it is very much on Mori Kanna’s shoulders to carry the series. I am pleased to report that the comedy does work. In part because of the way Mori plays Hiroko, and also in former Nogizaka46 member Satou Shiho’s Ayaka, who does not overplay her role. So Ayaka comes off as sincere and maybe a little much, while Hiroko is played sympathetically as a lesbian who would totally be in to this girl who keeps throwing herself at her, except she’s probably super straight, argh!
My favorite scenes in the first episode (titled Nonke ni Otosrenai, ノンケに落とされない, don’t fall for a straight girl) takes place in Hiroko’s local lesbian bar, where her endless ranting about Ayaka is both hilarious and annoying to the other patrons. I laughed out loud at Hiroko spinning in her barstool complaining about how this straight girl is going to kill her. ^_^
Which brings me to a pretty major point here. This series is another live-action Josei series by and about queer women in Japan, thus once again allowing me to be smug about Josei making good live-action drama (^_^) and rejoicing that we have another live-action series by and about queer women in Japanese media! I am very pleased by that.
Ratings:
Acting – 9
Characters – 9
Story – A very silly 8
Service – It’s not above showing a little skin
LGBTQ+ – 10
Overall – 9
As noted in last week’s YNN Report, this series is available with subtitles in English and other languages on Asian LGBTQ+ media streaming service GagaOOLala. Episode 1 also aired in Japanese, with no subtitles on TVer.jp. I watched it on the latter because I wasn’t in the mood to sign up for another streaming service and I have a VPN, but do whatever works best for you. That said, do watch Ayaka-chan ha Hiroko-sempai ni Koishiteru live-action, because it is openly queer and actually amusing. And I’d love for this to get the kind of reception Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna live-action got, sending a clear message to Japanese media companies that queer rep by queer creators will do well.
