My Little Lover (Minami-kun no Koibitio) tells the story of a girl named Chiyomi Horikiri (Yamamoto Maika) and her childhood friend Shunichi Minami (Nakagawa Taishi). Despite living in the same neighborhood and attending the same school, the two have barely talked in years.
During a stormy evening, Chiyomi gets into a fight with her parents and then has another fight with Minami. She seeks shelter from the storm in a cave, but when she wakes up the next morning, she finds she has shrunk to only a few inches tall! When Minami finds out she is missing, he goes to look for her and eventually finds her. Because she is afraid to go back home, Minami agrees hide her in his room. And thus our love story is set in motion!
My Little Lover is my very first Japanese drama that I have ever completed. Now I haven’t been avoiding dramas from other countries. I have started tons of Japanese and Taiwanese dramas, but not a single one has clicked with me before. That includes many of the really popular dramas from these countries that come highly recommended.
For whatever reason, I usually find myself bored and unable to connect with the characters in these dramas. But I still find myself trying them out when something sounds interesting. So imagine my surprise when this little drama that I had previously heard nothing about with a ridiculously simple plot draws me in and touches my heart!
Because of a month long break in it’s airing schedule, I actually ended up having success with the Chinese drama Wu Xin: The Monster Killer, and completed it first. But I started My Little Lover well before it, so in many ways it feels like my first successful non-Korean Asian drama.
My Little Lover was such an adorable and heartwarming drama. It also had plenty of cute to keep me entertained. Honestly, the plot of this drama is so simple, but it quickly drew me in with our main couple. I just loved how Minami had to take care of a tiny Chiyomi. It allowed the couple to spend a lot of time together and quickly develop the relationship. You gotta love cohabitation dramas!
Chiyomi is so cheerful and cute. She has missed her friend over the years because he is the one who shut her out. After she becomes small, she gets to enjoys spending time with Minami again. But she does frequently feel like a burden to him, and she wishes were able to help him more.
But for me, Minami was the true joy of the drama. He ended up being surprisingly humorous. At first, he comes off as just the typical cold male lead, but he quickly turns into so much more.
The fact that he cares for Chiyomi is obvious early on. Even though he doesn’t admit his feelings, he does whatever he can to hide and protect her. And the situation results in him being able to slowly peel back the layers of how he feels for Chiyomi. It was all so unbelievably sweet.
And some of the expressions Minami makes absolutely cracked me up. He’s an awkward sort of guy who seems to get into a lot of uncomfortable situations. He’s constantly trying to ward off the suspicions of Chiyomi’s friend, Takagi Riku (Suzuki Mirai), as well as the advances of the popular Nomura (Nakayama Erina) who has a crush on him.
Chiyomi is able to go to school with Minami by hiding in his pocket. Of course, this just opens up the possibility for dangerous encounters. But this allows her to overhear conversations, and she begins to understand why Minami has been so distant from her for all of these years.
SPOILERS BELOW
Minami and Chiyomi grow closer, and they blossom into the sweetest little couple. I loved every moment they were on screen. And Minami truly does develop into Chiyomi’s knight in shining armor.
When finally faced with his feelings, Minami surprised me with the intensity and sincerity of his confession of love for Chiyomi. It took him awhile to embrace his feelings, but when he did, he really did. And that allowed our two lovebirds to be closer than ever. They had some pretty romantic moments even with the extreme height difference!
My Little Lover is only 10 episodes long, but those last couple episodes were pure joy. There were so many cute couple moments, and I was so touched by Minami’s devotion to Chiyomi. Even when faced with the prospect of her being stuck small forever, Minami was willing to stay with her no matter what.
Because she cared for him so much, Chiyomi was ready to give up Minami for his own good, but an accident puts everything into perspective. When things aren’t looking good, Chiyomi is finally the one who is able to help bring Minami out of him coma.
And what a surprise when it really was our prince’s kiss that was all that was needed to return to Chiyomi to her normal size. It certainly was like a fairy tale. They then are able to finally have a full relationship.
We even get blessed with a wonderful wedding! They both looked gorgeous together, and there were happy endings all round. Minami and Chiyomi were madly in love, and would always remember what they had been through together.
I looked forward to each and every episode of My Little Lover. There really is nothing extraordinary about it. The plot is simple, the characters are simple, and it really has all been done before. I’m sure many people might not seeing anything special about it.
But for me, this drama excelled at delivering the sweet heartfelt moments that just make you crave more. It was full of cute, and I just felt so comfortable and at ease watching each episode. It was a little world that I didn’t want to leave.
It truly is wonderful to discover a drama like this that simply clicks. My Little Lover left me with all kinds of happy feelings and the belief that true love is possible no matter what.
My Rating: 8/10
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