This one came as a surprise to me. I was just minding my own business trying to find something that would catch my attention in the depths of Netflix, and came across this. I don't typically watch jdramas, as they pull me in with their dark themes and no chill, and then crush my soul in the last few minutes of the final episode, but for some reason, I keep being pulled in.

This drama was no exception -

I loved all the characters - Kiyohara Kaya stole the show with her double role of playing Ayumi & Zenko;
Tomita Miu & Shigeoka Daiki also stole the show with their chemistry; and just overall, everyone did amazing playing their roles as well as embodying each character's personality with the switch

I loved the dark themes of how society and social norms play a part in young people's life. There were so many times where I was like...does anyone think it is bizarre when Kaga keeps calling who they believe to be Zenko, Ayumi? But it played into what I believe the theme was - how mindless the youth is and how they want to fit in so badly because they don't want to be an outcast, do they just follow what they believe the crowd follows. Yes, there were themes of self-internal beauty vs outward beauty which ended up separating the main characters from everyone else, and it was interesting seeing how each of the main 4 characters embodied a different viewpoint.

This is how I fell in love with Kaga, as I am sure, based on all the comments on this drama's page, everyone else did as well. Zenko believed that because she was ugly on the outside, no one would ever love her, and the only way to get love was to be beautiful externally. Ayumi was a very neutral person in the beginning - she was sympathetic and tried to reach out, but once she was rejected, she didn't try anymore. Koshiro was tricky. He had a good heart, but a jealous one. Much like Ayumi, he also reached out to Zenko and had better luck, from the goodness of his heart, but he also seemed to want attention. We wanted people to like him so he became the top of his class and star athlete, but he wanted the same attention that Kaga had. Kaga, even though wasn't the smartest or most athletic, had the love of his classmates. I think it was because he oozed happiness, which made people gravitate towards him as well as his huge heart. And because of all of this, Zenko was jealous of Ayumi while Koshiro was jealous of Kaga. Two people wishing what their counterpart had, and instead of trying to build themselves up, they wanted a shortcut that the Red Moon could provide.

I loved this drama because no matter how much my roommate who watched this with me says it was over the top and not realistic, I thought there was truth to the story. Yes, it was over the top which paired really well with the supernatural element, but it also showed the darkness in people's hearts when they've hit rock bottom and want an easy release. It was a drama about people who learned from one another's pain and learned to empathize as well as become allies.

And I wanted so badly to give this a 10/10 because it was amazing in every way, but I had to deduct half a point because this jdrama was no different from previous ones. The ending...the final minute or two tore my heart out of my chest. Which I thought was interesting- somewhere in the drama, Kaga had told Ayumi that throughout this whole switching process the two people who got the short end of the stick, were both Koshiro and Zenko. This is true, but by the end of the drama, after seeing Kaga's expression, the audience knew that he was the one who actually suffered the most and it honestly made me dislike Ayumi in that final minute. It made you think about how Koshiro was always so envious of Kaga because of his happiness and how people were drawn to that and how it seemed like he had zero worries in the world, but in that final minute, you see him fighting with himself to be happy even though he was heartbroken. It made me, as a viewer, appreciate him more because just like the other characters, he also wasn't happy as everyone thought he was, and it shows another way the youth handles rejection. We have two people who were envious of the others that they were so desperate to switch lives with them, but then you have Kaga who was breaking on the inside after everything that had happened, but he only wished to be himself and fight through the negative and bring out the positive. They really did us and Kaga dirty with that ending, but it did show strength in his character. #justiceforkaga