Kalen Anzai cast as Ayu in the drama adaptation of "M 愛すべき人がいて"

[natalaxie]

Originally Posted by sxesven

Would you recommend watching it in the end?

Hmmm, personally, as a drama in and of itself, it was crappy and not particularly worth watching (the 'comedy' was not funny, the character development was not great for most characters, ridiculous bits were just cringe), but as a fan I'm glad I watched it, a) out of curiosity, given the subject matter, and b) because it got me more interested in Ayu's early days, and prompted me to look up more TV performances and things from that time and think about what sort of headspace Ayu was in when she debuted, when she wrote those first lyrics, etc.

[ayu_fantasy]

Ya I agree ayu is immature during 1998-2003… but she’s have so much charisma and potential when she sings and perform on stage. Nothing like what Kalen Anzai portrayed

[SKYia]

For Reika fans:

https://qjweb.jp/column/25133/
https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articl...2/news026.html

I've watched the show and now I want to read the book but can't find it anywhere, is there even English version or translation or everyone here who said they read it had read it in Japanese?

[tokyoxjapanxfan]

I believe 3 additional episodes were scrapped because of COVID restrictions and the constant delays of the filming, so that’s kind of unfortunate. I feel like it ended up being even worse because they didn’t even have the planned amount of episodes to finish lol.

I actually never ended up watching it until the end. I blame the wigs.

[Evolution7/4]

I never got around to finishing this either. But that bit where the music teacher dumps a gigantic bucket of water on Ayu was hilarious. Had fun talking about that scene with my Japanese friends lol

[oaristos]

I don't think the additional episodes would have been enough to save the show. I watched the whole thing and enjoyed it as a guilty pleasure, but the writing, the acting, and the CGI were all atrocious. But it's not because the story was bad; it was just executed in the cheapest, most cringe-worthy way possible.

I wish it had helped Kalen's career, though. She has some really good songs, and I was expecting at least a small boost in her popularity.

[reixminako]

I haven't been on AHS in forever, so I'm surprised people are still talking about this lol.

But, in retrospect, I don't think Kalen was right for this role. She embodied the sort of innocent demeanor that Ayu had back in the day, but she doesn't really do Ayu's strong and fearless side convincingly well. I wish Kalen the best in her career, of course.

Shohei did a good job as Max, although I doubt the real Max was anywhere near that gorgeous lol. But that's okay -- shows are bound to take that kind of liberty. If they were going to do that, though, I wish they would've given Ayu more autonomy. It felt like all of her decisions were done for Max's sake, often to her own detriment. I was proud of her in the show for dumping him, but again, I wish Kalen had done it more convincingly.

I agree with those who've said that this adaptation is a guilty pleasure more than anything. It's cute if you're an Ayu Stan, but otherwise it really isn't saying anything. What's the message? That it's okay to fall in love with someone who was basically grooming you? Shoutout to the crazy obsessed assistant, though. Her actress really played up that role and I appreciate that lol. Anyway...good to see that the forum is still lively.