Season: Summer 2022
Broadcast by: TBS
Rating: 5 / 10
Recommended for: fans of the cast or those who want to have a basic understanding of IT start-ups
Liked:
- Kotorin & President Haneda i.e. Nishijima Hidetoshi & Hirosue Ryoko. It was just a pity though that their subplot wasn't explored in greater detail but the ending suggested that they have the potential to become an item.
- Hirosue Ryoko's weekly show - except for one outfit which I thought looked quite odd for a CEO, the others were very nice to look at. She certainly looked the part as a charismatic CEO but her airtime was really limited.
Disliked:
- A story which doesn't really fit the title. To begin with, there wasn't a lot of emphasis nor indication that Dream Pony was to become a unicorn company or was actually working towards this goal. Coupled with the fact that its status at the end of the drama was a subsidiary of a listed/major company, that sort of deviated from the title's essence. However, if the title was meant to show that people with nothing to their name due to their backgrounds and lack of resources are very unlikely to achieve success like how elusive the unicorn is, Sana's state at the end of the drama would mean that she had defied the odds to become successful in both her career and love life.
- The lacklustre romance. Although it was implied that there might be a love triangle, it didn't really happen except for a brief period when Sana wondered if she liked Kotori romantically. And Kotori certainly didn't see Sana in the romantic sense other than being kind towards her. On the other hand, things between Sana and Kou were so bland and hardly engaging for viewers unlike some of the more successful love stories shown in this particular timeslot. A love story that doesn't make the viewers excited nor squeal in delight or wish for the couple to be together certainly cannot be considered as one which qualifies as a good romance story. I must say, I couldn't care less for what happened between Sana and Kou but I certainly was rooting for something to happen between Kotori and Haneda.
- In the early stages of watching this drama, I felt that it was quite similar to the Korean drama "Start Up" in terms of its vibe (youngsters trying to realise their dream against the odds with romance on the sidelines) but somehow, the passion and enthusiasm about starting one's business and working hard to make it in the industry was lost on me in this drama. And it certainly didn't help that the story sort of simplified many things in business and adopted a touch-and-go approach when it came to depicting challenges faced by Dream Pony. It was as if, a problem cropped up, they were troubled about it for a brief moment and someone came to save them like a fairy godmother without them actually doing much to save themselves. For example, the patent filing by a rival company was settled so easily through external help that it seemed nothing more like a slight dent to Dream Pony's journey. However, that certainly could have become a major issue which could cripple the company and I felt that Dream Pony didn't really learn from that episode. Likewise, until Kotori joined the company, it felt as if the company operated on a system of "do-it-as-you-like" to foster creativity and promote freedom etc. but basic business decorum (sending Oseibo and Ochuugen gifts to your associates and clients) and dressing appropriately for a business meeting (tattered jeans and a T-shirt, seriously?) were clearly not on their minds. Makes me wonder how the company could survive in the Japanese corporate world for 3 years? I know people tend to be a bit more lenient towards start-ups but they aren't in the creative field to begin with.
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