Review: Zettai Kareshi Special

Warning: This review contains spoilers for those who haven’t watched the Zettai Kareshi drama series.

Summary
Alternative Title: Absolute Boyfriend, 絶対彼氏。
Genre: romance
Broadcast: Mar. 2009
Starring:

• Hayami Mokomichi as Tenjo Night
• Mizushima Hiro as Asamoto Soshi
• Aibu Saki as Izawa Riiko

It’s been 3 years since the events of the last episode of the drama. Riiko has returned from Paris, successfully completing her patissier training. She is hired by Asamoto’s business to create a new pastry and Night is mysteriously revived by a Kronos Heaven employee.

Pros

Acting remains somewhat solid: Just like in the drama, I thought Hayami Mokomichi does a good job playing a robot and Aibu Saki is pretty good as well.

Continues the Zettai Kareshi “saga”: This isn’t really a “pro”. It just that there isn’t really nothing that I enjoyed in this special, but at least they made a continuation of the drama series, which ended abruptly.

Cons

More like a retelling of the original series: My biggest dislike for this special is the story. There are several things that I thought were done poorly (which I described below). But my biggest upset was how the story is very similar to that of the drama. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I’ll just say that you’ll get a lot of déjà vu when you watch this special.

No scenes showing Riiko’s patissier (pastry chef) training: As you might have remembered, at the end of the series, Riiko went to Paris to train to be a patissier. I thought the special would show how Riiko goes through her training. The whole patissier thing was pretty important in the drama series, but in the special, it’s very insignificant. The special just fast forwards 3 years when Riiko returns from her training.

Ending was unsatisfying: The ending left a lot to be desired. It doesn’t quite finish up the storylines that were introduced in the drama and in this special. For example, the special doesn’t explain if Soshi’s pastry business goes well. Plus, there’s a bunch of other things that go unfinished.

That American company was a huge gimmick: The makers obviously wanted this special to be more attractive by randomly adding this top secret US organization to the story. In the end, it actually made the overall story even worse. It seemed like it was supposed to be a main part of the story, but the organization is quickly introduced and eliminated. In addition, the story doesn’t do a good job of explaining this secret organization, leaving you with a plot hole.

Bad special effects: Not a significant dislike for me since there wasn’t too much special effects. But the special effects were absolutely terrible, just like in the drama series.

Recommendation: I only recommend this special to those who watched the series and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I think you’ll be disappointed.

Rating: 5/10

Video Preview
Here’s the first 5 min. of the special.


Related Reviews
Zettai Kareshi