Hard Nut ~ Suugaku Girl no Koisuru Jikenbo (Review)

Oh gosh. This drama was the best. I don't even know how I am going to start this review because I literally just finished it a minute ago and I'm still screaming inside. Let me just start by telling you because of this drama, Hashimoto Ai and Kora Kengo are now one of my ultimate OTP's and all time biases. THIS DRAMA IS SO GOOD ARE YOU KIDDING ME, WORLD?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Synopsis

I'm sorry. I tried to keep calm in the intro but I kind of lost it at the end. GAH! I'm sorry guys, this probably won't even be a review, it'll just be me wailing. Okay, lemme give you a quick synopsis:

• Namba Kurumi is a mathematics genius and a first-year Tokyo University student studying under Professor Morisaki. She believes that mathematical formulas govern everything in this world. Her personality is odd and she is poor at communication, but she can solve difficult cases in flashes of genius. Tomoda Tasuhiko is a young detective of Hatsune Police Precinct. He brings a message that needs to be deciphered to Professor Morisaki, only to find him away on a business trip. And so Kurumi helps him decipher the message. They then take on difficult cases together, but their friendship is shrouded in darkness. 

OKAY! That was just a really bad synopsis put together by me from Asianwiki. I say this in every drama review and I'll say it again, but you CANNOT, ABSOLUTELY CANNOT decide whether or not to watch a drama based on the quality of the synopsis. Got that? K cool.


Cast & Characters

Hashimoto Ai plays Namba Kurumi. Kurumi is quite the oddball and really can't read social situations sometimes. She is a mathematics genius who never seems to attend class in the drama lol. Oh well, that's probably because she's studying under a professor and doesn't need to go to classes. But then, her professor is away on a business trip for the entire drama lol. Anyways, she hangs out in this office type room, which is where most of the drama takes place at. She does have a secret that is put off until the last few episodes. Her parents both died when she was a child and she chose to pursue mathematics to seek revenge against the big corporation that caused their deaths. There isn't much information about her secret in the beginning, but it does all get revealed in the end. Despite her past, she is still optimistic about life. I really really like this character and Hashimoto Ai's brilliant performance makes me love this character even more. I first saw Hashimoto Ai in Kokuhaku (an amazing movie, BTW, one of my favourites) and she was just the cute little girl who got killed, lol. I have to say that she has changed and grown so much since that movie! She looks totally mature and even cuter in this drama!

Kora Kengo plays Tomoda Tatsuhiko, a detective. He set a record for uncovering firearms so he got selected for the Criminal Affairs Division at the Hatsune Police Precinct. His character is pretty normal compared to Kurumi, but he also has a secret past. He used to be part of the a gang! Right away in the first episode, you will see that he's not what he seems, despite being a police detective. Although he does believe in justice pretty strongly so he's not completely an antihero. Anyways! I've always known Kora Kengo, but this is the very first time I've watched anything with him in it. I absolutely fell in love with him. HE IS SO CUTE. His gaze is so intense and I love him. He really did great in playing this character and had a nice contrast as opposed to the oddball that is Hashimoto Ai's character.


Review & Thoughts

I really enjoyed this drama, from the colouring and settings to the storyline and character development. This is another typical Japanese detective drama, which I love, and the cases are pretty good! It makes me super sad that this drama only had 8 episodes. Like SERIOUSLY?!?! I'm praying for a second season, even though this drama didn't even air in primetime. It plays on NHK BS premium. I'm not sure what that means but its different from normal NHK so I'm guessing maybe you have to pay for it? Whatever, I just wish they'd make a second season.

I put this drama on my watchlist as "Hard Nut (pretty people)" lol. I was going to watch it only because both the leads were pretty. So when I watched the first episode and realized the storyline was also strong, I was floating on heaven. TWO GOODLOOKING PEOPLE WHO HAVE GREAT CHEMISTRY IN A DRAMA WHERE THE STORYLINE IS GOOD AS WELL??!?!?! IMPOSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIIBLE. But it was possible with this drama, which is why I highly recommend it to everyone who loves Japanese detective dramas.

Okay, I have to tell you guys something, though. I just watched the ending and it wasn't super good. HEAR ME OUT before you close this page and go like "blech, I hate horrible endings, I'm not watching this drama!" This ending was satisfying, and there was a little bit of OTP development so I was completely happy, EXCEPT, there was kinda sorta an open ending element that made me wonder if there's going to be a second season. So if there's not going to be a second season then I will be pissed on so many levels.

OST (Soundtrack)

The background music in this drama is amazing! There's this piano one that plays whenever Kurumi fantasizes about her and Tomoda lol. Since the drama just ended like yesterday, I don't think the BGM has been released yet. I really hope they do release one, though. Also, the ending theme is called "Answer" by Tohoshinki (TVXQ/DBSK) and it is AMAZING!! I only like one song from TVXQ and its called "She" so I was surprised to find another great song from them. It also hasn't been released yet, so I'm just waiting patiently. The ending of each episode always feels super epic because of that song! Here is a snippet of the song in the drama preview, its around the end!

OTP

BEST OTP EVARRRR. They are definitely now on my OTP list. I'm pretty pissed that there wasn't a lot of romance in this drama, DESPITE the title meaning "Math Girl's Case Files of Love." Oh well, I'm not super mad because this is a Jdrama so I dived into it knowing that romance would not be the central theme to it. Anyways, Kora Kengo and Hashimoto Ai have loads of chemistry. And it's not just because they are both ultra good-looking. As evident by Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye both being gorgeous but not having an ounce of chemistry in The Heirs. Anyways, back to this drama! The relationship between Kurumi and Tomoda is pretty hard to explain. Are they friends? They came together because of a case and work on cases together, but can they be classified as friends? In my opinion, they are more than that. With both of them having lived alone since childhood, they have this weird kind of relationship. It kind of feels like they both don't have many close friends then eachother. Well Tomoda has his gangster friends but they don't count because they don't interact on a deeper level.

Anyways, I love their relationship despite the fact that they might not even have a relationship? It is evident that they care about eachother a lot by the end of the drama, though. And even though Kurumi is the only one that is obvious to her feelings, I STILL BELIEVE that Tomoda does like Kurumi back. In the last episode, he called her name! Her first name! Which is like huge in Japan. Kurumi has had countless fantasies where he calls her by her first name lol. Even though they didn't officially get together, I kinda preferred the ending they had because it was subtle but very sweet. Okay, I'm not gonna say anymore or else I'm just gonna vomit out the whole entire drama. SO WATCH IT!!!!

CUTEST SCENES <3

This scene is so cute. Kurumi was fantasizing about her and Tomoda lol and then she woke up to his face.

LOL she's eating a fish

This scene was so cuteeeee, Kurumi was hungry and Tomoda told her he'll take her to go eat something. And Kurumi was so surprised it was soooo CUTE


TON OF SCREENCAPS (IMAGE HEAVY)

THEY HAVE SO MUCH CHEMISTRY

HES SO CUTE

Kurumi reading a book. SHE IS SO PRETTY

lol her wide eyed look is really cute

HOTTEST SIDE PROFILE EVAAR

HANDSOME

Cute Namba

Lol she was doing this weird leg thing when Tomoda came

Mass, velocity, force, pain lol

SKINSHIPPP

This scene was just so beautiful

cute bomb scene

so pretty

cute cute cute OTP

Namba's knowing face :>

lol she thought boys were fawning over her

spidery hands

HIS GAZE AT KURUMI

KURUMIS BEAUTIFUL SMILE BACK