Hey Teacher, Don’t You Know? Review: Takes The Myth of A ‘Perfect Boyfriend’ A Notch Higher

 

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You see this meme above? It is what this drama somewhat deals with. An impossible boyfriend. I picked ‘Hey Teacher, Don’t You Know?’ because it had only 6 episodes. Also, the drama is about a manga writer so I was even more interested in watching it. Sadly, the drama is not what I wanted it to be. I went in with only one expectation that is to see something different. I have hardly seen dramas with career-oriented women so that was what I wanted to see. Though it did deal a lot with the female lead’s commitment to work it still is not very impressive.

Hey Teacher, Don’t You Know? (Nee Sensei, Shiranai No?) (2019) (6 Episodes)

Hanai Aoi (Baba Fumika) is a female manga writer and artist who specializes in romance. She is addicted to her work and has no social life whatsoever. One day she visits a salon to cut her hair when she meets hairstylist Kido Riichi (Akaso Eiji). Riichi falls for Hanai almost instantly and asks her out straight away. They start dating but because of Hanai’s dedication to work are often unable to meet or even talk like regular couples. But a dedicated hairstylist Riichi sees himself in Hanai and is determined to make this relationship work.

Let’s weigh the love story of this unlikely couple on our drama beam balance and see how it fares.

Good Weights

I enjoyed watching Hey Teacher, Don’t You Know? because…

…I liked Hanai Sensei. Be it in dramas or movies we often see the male characters shown as workaholics who have no time for love. In this dorama, though both our lead characters are addicted to their work it is the female lead who is more of a workaholic than the male lead. What makes it more interesting is that she is a romance manga writer but has absolutely no time for romance in her real life. She is not your typical anime female character who will leave everything just to be with her man. She worships her job and that is what’s on the mind 24/7. In fact, even when she is not working, she records real-life experiences to be able to use it in her stories. Such is her dedication to work. I like such characters who have a purpose in life. I like it when the life of a female character is not just about winning over the male lead but a lot more than that.     

Bad Weights

I did NOT LIKE Hey Teacher, Don’t You Know? because…

…I loathed the character of Riichi. I understand female viewers like to see the leading man adoring his woman but this guy was a little too much. He is the epitome of an unrealistic character.

Now Riichi here is a good-looking guy and has probably been hit on by all kinds of pretty women. But he falls for the unkempt, ungroomed Hanai. This is fine because maybe he is tired of seeing pretty women and Hanai was clearly out of the ordinary. But if you tell me that Hanai almost always ignores Riichi’s texts, prioritizes work over him, cancels plans at the last minute to be able to take up new work, falls asleep when he’s about to make love to her, and Riichi still finds her ‘cute’ then I’m not believing this.

When the beautiful actress Nanase throws herself at him he politely pushes her away. This is cool because he takes his relationship with Hanai seriously and is not a cheater. But when he shows Nanase Hanai’s picture and gushes about how ‘pure’ his girlfriend is and how lucky he feels to be with her I’m not buying it. What is so great about a girl who has absolutely no time for you? Relationships don’t work like that.

Guys are not even close to being like Riichi then why create such a fake character? I hope the young girls reading this manga or watching the dorama are sensible enough to know that men are not really like that.     

 

…the drama episodes were divided into POV’s of the main characters. So, in a 30-minutes episode, you see the 20-minutes of the same incident from two different perspectives of the leads. This repetition of scenes can cause a loss of interest. But since it is only 30-minutes you can manage to go on to see it to its end.  

 

The drama beam balance is heavy with some serious bad weights which means this drama is not one that I would recommend for a watch.

I give Hey Teacher, Don’t You Know? 2 out of 5 rating. It is a short drama that you can enjoy if you want to watch something simple and romantic. Just do not expect too much from this dorama. In fact, don’t expect anything from this drama.

 

Image Courtesy: MBS

 

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