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J-Drama "Switched"

Switched is a J-drama consisting of merely 6 episodes, based on Shiki Kawabata's 2014-2015 manga series Sora wo Kakeru Yodaka. This short series premiered on Netflix August 1st 2018.

I've always stuck with Korean dramas and never really given other countries' dramas a chance because I'm so used to K-dramas and am afraid of having too high expectations and being let down if I go out of my comfort zone... and that's exactly what happened with Switched.

 
The plot of this drama revolves around how depressed high-school student Zenko Umine (actress: Miu Tomita) commits suicide, with fellow student Ayumi (actress: Kaya Kiyohara) seeing her fall from the school roof top to her death and then passes out herself. When Ayumi wakes up, she finds herself in Umine's body, while Umine is in Ayumi's body. The story follows the twists and turns of the character Umine and the reasons why she committed suicide, while social anxiety and depression are underlying themes throughout the series.

Like I mentioned, I've only watched K-dramas so when I saw this J-drama on Netflix, I thought to myself, "Why not give it a try? It could be really good!". I'm going to be brutally honest... I was severely disappointed from the first moment, and that disappointment stayed until the last episode. I disliked almost everything and, as I'm writing this and looking back on it, I honestly cannot come up with things I liked about it nor reasons why I would watch it again (or recommend it to anyone, for that matter). It was basically a very cliché drama with many flaws, such as poor sound effects, stereotypical characters and bad music & soundtrack. I've read a few reviews about it, and I did not see one single person who agreed with me that this is a poorly made drama. Many people love Switched, but unfortunately, I cannot tell why or how.
 
Again, I am sorry for being so brutally honest; if you enjoyed the series, good for you. Ofcourse I'll respect and accept opinions different from mine. But if I were to give it an overall rating, it'd be a strong 2/10.
I'm sure there are great Japanese dramas out there: Switched just wasn't my cup of tea. But I will keep searching for masterpieces!
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