First of all, here are the winners of Best Couple!
As stated in the voting guidelines, the people being voted for in this category must have a romantic relationship in the drama concerned. Based on the votes received, it does seem like the winning couple was the overwhelming favourite because they got more than double the points as compared to the 2nd-placed couple. It also looks like dramas which were shown more recently tend to do better probably because people remember them more clearly than those shown earlier in 2016.
In case you are wondering, the scoring scheme was as such:
No.1 - 5 points / No.2 - 4 points / No.3 - 3 points / No.4 - 2 points / No.5 - 1 point
Any votes from No.6 onwards would have been disqualified.
There are two couples ranked at No.5 with the same score of 30 points:
Ito Hideaki & Kimura Yoshino in "Boku no Yabai Tsuma"
This couple was my top choice in this category but unfortunately, they were not able to seize the crown. In this drama, Ito and Kimura played a married couple Mochizuki Kohei and Maria who schemed against each other from the start to the very end as they tried to outwit and kill each other. The story's twists and turns offered the couple a lot of room to show off their chemistry and acting chops as we were shown how they progressed from a loving couple initially to two people who were putting on an act in front of each other as they bore evil designs towards their spouse.
Yamazaki Kento & Kiritani Mirei in "Suki na hito ga iru koto"
Much as I didn't really like the predictable story nor the cast of this drama, I actually watched this from start to end because of the shooting location i.e. the Shonan coast and Enoshima. And this is not the first time I've watched something for the sake of the "scenery". ^__^ Although the drama did position Miura Shohei as the nice guy and a potential candidate to win over Kiritani in the drama, we already know that in dramaland logic, the leading lady was going to end up with the obnoxious and not-so-gentle guy played by Yamazaki after all. Apparently, our blog readers here also like this couple well enough to vote them into the top 5.
At No.4 with 44 points is the following couple:
Ohno Satoshi & Haru in "Sekai ichi muzukashii koi"
At the point when the voting was going on, I still haven't finished watching this drama. As such, I didn't vote for them yet since I wasn't sure how the story would develop and if they had enough chemistry going on. Just looking at the first episode, seeing Ohno fumble around his leading lady was hilarious but Haru seemed too subdued and distant in my opinion. Based on the votes received, most of those who voted for this couple actually placed them at No.1 but it was really not enough against the No.1 couple who was leading from the start. I suppose that this couple could have done much better if their drama was shown somewhere later in the year and more people would have remembered them.
At No.3 with 60 points is this couple:
Dean Fujioka & Fukada Kyoko in "Dame na watashi ni koishite kudasai"
This is yet another drama which I did not watch but I did catch glimpses of it while channel-surfing. This drama was one of the key reasons for Dean Fujioka's rise to stardom in Japan but the disadvantage which the couple probably had was that the drama was shown early in the year so people might have forgotten about it by the time we got to the end of the year. One common trait among the top three couples is that the dramas are based on either a manga or a novel which may or may not have been related to their popularity during the voting.
This couple was my top choice in this category but unfortunately, they were not able to seize the crown. In this drama, Ito and Kimura played a married couple Mochizuki Kohei and Maria who schemed against each other from the start to the very end as they tried to outwit and kill each other. The story's twists and turns offered the couple a lot of room to show off their chemistry and acting chops as we were shown how they progressed from a loving couple initially to two people who were putting on an act in front of each other as they bore evil designs towards their spouse.
Much as I didn't really like the predictable story nor the cast of this drama, I actually watched this from start to end because of the shooting location i.e. the Shonan coast and Enoshima. And this is not the first time I've watched something for the sake of the "scenery". ^__^ Although the drama did position Miura Shohei as the nice guy and a potential candidate to win over Kiritani in the drama, we already know that in dramaland logic, the leading lady was going to end up with the obnoxious and not-so-gentle guy played by Yamazaki after all. Apparently, our blog readers here also like this couple well enough to vote them into the top 5.
Ohno Satoshi & Haru in "Sekai ichi muzukashii koi"
At the point when the voting was going on, I still haven't finished watching this drama. As such, I didn't vote for them yet since I wasn't sure how the story would develop and if they had enough chemistry going on. Just looking at the first episode, seeing Ohno fumble around his leading lady was hilarious but Haru seemed too subdued and distant in my opinion. Based on the votes received, most of those who voted for this couple actually placed them at No.1 but it was really not enough against the No.1 couple who was leading from the start. I suppose that this couple could have done much better if their drama was shown somewhere later in the year and more people would have remembered them.
Dean Fujioka & Fukada Kyoko in "Dame na watashi ni koishite kudasai"
This is yet another drama which I did not watch but I did catch glimpses of it while channel-surfing. This drama was one of the key reasons for Dean Fujioka's rise to stardom in Japan but the disadvantage which the couple probably had was that the drama was shown early in the year so people might have forgotten about it by the time we got to the end of the year. One common trait among the top three couples is that the dramas are based on either a manga or a novel which may or may not have been related to their popularity during the voting.
At No.2 with 78 points is this couple:
Suda Masaki & Ishihara Satomi in "Jimi ni sugoi! Kouetsu Girl Kouno Etsuko"
Actually, this couple was on par with the No.1 couple in the first two days of the voting until the latter pulled ahead with great momentum and never looked back. What's also interesting is that those who voted for this couple did not vote for the No.1 couple which could be a coincidence though. As I did not watch this drama, I can't really comment on how likeable this couple is so I'll have to leave it to you guys to tell me why they are so well-liked.
Suda Masaki & Ishihara Satomi in "Jimi ni sugoi! Kouetsu Girl Kouno Etsuko"
Actually, this couple was on par with the No.1 couple in the first two days of the voting until the latter pulled ahead with great momentum and never looked back. What's also interesting is that those who voted for this couple did not vote for the No.1 couple which could be a coincidence though. As I did not watch this drama, I can't really comment on how likeable this couple is so I'll have to leave it to you guys to tell me why they are so well-liked.
And the winner of this category with 180 points is:
Hoshino Gen & Aragaki Yui in "Nigeru wa haji daga yaku ni tatsu"!
This should probably not come as a surprise given how this couple seems to be mentioned everywhere in the press over the last few months due to the popularity of their drama and the theme song as well as its accompanying dance. Especially in the second week of the voting, they received so many No.1 votes that it was impossible for the competition to catch up.
I did watch the digest versions released on the YouTube channel of TBS and do find this couple quite endearing. However, since I've not seen the drama in its entirety, I didn't think that it was appropriate for me to vote for them this time.
So what do you think about the winners in this category? Please share your views in the comments section or via the Facebook fan page!
