I’m Your Destiny Review: A Good Cast Let Down By A Disappointing Script And Half-baked Characters

J-Drama ‘I’m Your Destiny’ is a story in which God descends from heaven to personally ensure that two people fall in love and get married because their child is destined to save the Earth in the future.

It is a rom-com with a good cast but staggers because of slack writing and uninteresting characters. The show is slow-paced and tends to drag conflicts a little too long than required. It is because of this that even 10 episodes feel really long for such a thin plot.

The show is not completely meh but it lacks grip. Read on as I tell you what went right and what went south for this dorama.

I’m Your Destiny (Boku, Unmei no Hito desu) (2017) (10 Episodes)

Masaki Makoto (Kamenashi Kazuya) is a 29-year-old salesman working for a water purifier company. He is extremely hard-working and is successful at his job. However, his love life seems hopeless as he is unable to sustain relationships for too long. His luck in love has been the worst as despite accepting his lovers as they are, he eventually gets dumped by them.

One day, when he returns home from work, he is shocked to see a stranger sitting on his couch. This stranger (Yamashita Tomohisa) introduces himself as Kamisama i.e. God and wastes no time in telling Masaki that the reason he has still not found love is that he has been ignoring his soulmate all this while.

According to the mysterious stranger or Kamisama, Kogetsu Haruko (Kimura Fumino) is Makoto’s soulmate and he has to marry her in the next few months so that they have a baby the next year. This baby of theirs is destined to become a scientist who will one day save the Earth by diverting the orbit of a meteorite heading towards our planet.

Makoto then directly approaches Haruko and tells her that they are soulmates and that they should start seeing each other. Haruko is creeped out by Makoto’s sudden proposal and she starts maintaining distance from him.

But Makoto cannot afford to lose time so the mysterious stranger steps up to help Makoto win Haruto’s heart as soon as he can.

I enjoyed watching ‘I’m Your Destiny’ because…

…I liked its sincere cast.

Let’s start with Kame who plays Makoto. Makoto works for a water purifying company and is often teased by his colleagues for his rotten luck in love.

His first girlfriend gained 25 kgs in 5 months because of overeating while his second girlfriend would steal money from his wallet. Sadly, both his relationships ended with Makoto getting dumped by his girlfriend. His current girlfriend too turns out to be a fraud who gets arrested before she could con Makoto like many of her other victims.

One evening, a mysterious stranger calling himself ‘God’ appears before Makoto and tells him that the reason why his past relationships failed is because he was with the wrong partners and that they were not his soulmates.

He says that Makoto’s soulmate is Haruko Kogetsu who sits right behind him i.e. on the opposite side of the wall as she works for another company. To prove his point the mysterious stranger shows Makoto a childhood picture of his in which a 5-year-old Makoto is posing at a beach with Haruko after making a sandcastle.

He then gives Makoto one more picture in which Makoto is posing with his friends while Haruto is unintentionally photobombing them. The stranger goes on to remind Makoto of more instances in which he has met Haruko in the past.

Slowly everything that the stranger says starts making sense to Makoto who is able see how Haruto and he crossed paths in the past but never acknowledged each other. Fully convinced of the mysterious stranger’s theory, Makoto then sets out to talk to Haruto.

Just like Makoto, Haruto too has had it tough in love. Her past boyfriends broke her heart by betraying her, which turned her into a cynic.

When Makoto boldly approaches Haruto saying that they are soulmates, she dismisses him as some crazy guy and walks away from him. Thereafter, destiny constantly keeps bringing them in front of one another.

But the more Haruto bumps into Makoto, the more she finds him crazy. Even the proof of photos and memory of the times they spoke to each other in the past does not make her comfortable with Makoto. She continues to eye him suspiciously for a while.

The show, basically wants you to wonder what would have happened had Beethoven’s or Albert Einstein’s parents not met? It is the love story of two destined lovers who are to give birth to a future genius. But in this show the two lovers waste their time and energy pursuing the wrong people which is why God has to intervene to give them the right direction and some guidance.

Makoto takes his task seriously and pursues Haruto wholeheartedly. Even the presence of a strong rival, who is a lot more attractive, popular, and successful than Makoto, does not deter him from going after the love of his life.

Actor Kamenashi Kazuya was the reason why I picked this show. I have watched his doramas and movies in the past and I have liked him in most of them. And he lived up to my expectations in this show too.

He is sincere not only in his pursuit of making his love like him back but also as an actor. He outshines everyone in most scenes.

Coming to Haruto, I found her character extremely dull and exasperating. Haruto wants love in life but she does not do anything to achieve the same.

First, she prays to God to help her find her soulmate and get married the same year. When God sends her two eligible men, one of whom is her soulmate, she rudely rejects them both and then sighs about being single.

When Makoto brazenly calls himself her “destiny” it is natural for her to feel flabbergasted. Her dismissal of Makoto is also justified. However, her character seems to get annoying when she shows no interest in either of the two potential lovers.     

Apart from Makoto, there is another character named Sadaoka Mitsukuni who is Haruto’s childhood friend and is also quite interested in her.

Mitsukuni is a tough rival for Makoto because he works in a reputed firm and is also very popular amongst women. Mitsukuni is not shy and often expresses his interest in Haruto directly or indirectly. But sadly, she thwarts his advances with her blatant disinterest. What’s worse is that she ends up laughing when he proposes to her.

As a viewer, when you see Makoto and Mitsukuni struggle hard for Haruto’s attention and when you see that she couldn’t care less, it gets on your nerves. You wonder what exactly she wants.

The reason behind her attitude and behavior is explained in episode 4 but even after knowing why she feels the way she feels, one still cannot come to like her easily. Her confusion and inability to make up her mind are frustrating.

Even when Makoto feels he is finally making some progress she quashes his hopes by sending her friend to tell him that she is not interested in him. Argh!!! Her indecisiveness is blamed on her fear of making a mistake by settling for the wrong person. But c’mon at least give him a chance to woo you.

I feel so bad for actress Kimura Fumino who had to play this role. I started disliking her only because she played the fickle-minded Haruto and it had nothing to do with her acting skills. In fact, she played her part well.   

The only exciting part of the show was Makoto’s discussions with Kamisama or God. Actors Kame and Yamapi have shared screen space many years before and that show of their catapulted them to fame. In this show, I felt Kame showed better chemistry with Yamapi than his female lead.

I loved the moments when Yamapi would sing or rap. It was so cute to see Kamisama in such a unique avatar.

Sadly, the mysterious stranger or Kamisama has a relatively shorter role but whatever little that we get to see of the two together were a relief from the otherwise uninteresting drama.   

 

I did NOT LIKE ‘I’m Your Destiny’ because…

…even if the premise was nice I did not connect with the characters, especially the female lead. From the synopsis, you may expect the show to be an out-and-out rom-com. Though comedy is present in reasonable doses I felt the romance was lacking heavily.

Romance between Makoto and Haruto starts building post episode 6 but you need to have patience and tremendous faith in the show to be able to stick around until that episode. Even then the supposed “romance” may not necessarily live up to your expectations considering the lack of chemistry between our leads.

The efforts at writing a good drama with real-life lessons were evident but I felt that the execution was faulty.

 

I’m Your Destiny is one of those dramas that look good on paper but disappoint on-screen. Even with such a good cast, it could never pique my interest or even keep me engaged for too long.

I give ‘I’m Your Destiny’ 2 out of 5 rating. Extra 0.5 is for Kame and Yamapi’s funny encounters. You either like the show a lot or don’t like it at all. Give it a try to see which side you fall on.  

 

Image Courtesy: NTV

 

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