Day 19: A drama that made you laugh. #EYDC2025

#jDrama #cDrama #kDrama #twDrama

Humour is probably the MOST subjective of all genres, and my clear winner, #jDrama #TheHotSpot is one many hated - for reason I totally grok. NONE of the characters were very likable, and the humour was painful at times. Painfully funny, for me.

Honourable mention to #TheDivorceInsurance - I generally find #kDrama comedy less fun than DIY dentistry, but the actor I still know as Giraffe is a comedic gem

Now that I'm several episodes into The Hot Spot 2025 (Hotto Supotto) from Japan on Netflix, I'm even more fascinated by it.

I'd love to know how it's been received in Japan, if anyone has read Japanese reviews.

If you check it out, take time to sit with it until the full weirdness manifests. It's so much more than it seems at the start.

And if you love Roy Andersson's films, The Hot Spot is really worth checking out. 2/n

#TheHotSpot #HottoSupotto #RoyAndersson

It's hard to say no to a wholesome show that's about a 54 year old normal single childless man enjoying his life. I don't think I can think of another off top of my head, but here we go. There are no toxic positivity, nor condenscension. Just, wholesome.

I have completed The Hot Spot. When I say that I don't usually like slice of life, I think what it really is it's that most slice of life completely miss the spot for me. Partly because we are mostly saturated with American shows and America is the ultimate Uncanny Valley for me, where we speak 90% the same language but the general daily lives are just off enough that we can never really get on the same wavelength. Partly because I feel that most of the time it's easier to be overdramatic in a typical soap-like fashion where the shows can be so unintentionally over-the-top that it felt like missed satire.

Azumanga Daioh is one of my I Get It slice of life. So is Australian Utopia, that is just slightly too real at its comical cynicism that if I watched it on a bad day it kinda ruins my day.

Bakarhythm excelled at the other kind. Sure, there's an alien who has special powers, but it's anything but a superheroes show. It's a little town filled with people who just wanted to get on with their lives, and the way they interact with each other is exactly what pleasant daily interaction with coworkers and friends feels like. While Bakarhythm's previous Brushed Up Life is more dramatic, The Hot Spot is just, wholesome slice of life until the last episode, and even then the drama is almost an afterthought to the banter of a group of friends.

I think, the fact that I intuitively know what it feels like watching it, speaks volumes on how lucky I am to be surrounded by the kind of peole that I do.

Based on the audience commentary, the other vibe I'm getting is even the allos are sick of forced romance being shoved into everything. A particular selling point by allos to each other is there are no romance in this entire ten episodes, so.

I can't wait til next Bakarhythm's work.

#TheHotSpot #JDrama #TV Show