Rinko-san Wants To Try Review: An Average “Friends With Benefits” Affair

Rinko-san Wants To Try….what? Well, looking at the drama poster what comes to your mind is what Rinko wants to try. Rinko is a 27-year-old virgin and wants to lose her virginity as soon as she can. So, the show is about her losing her V-card and then slowly falling in love with the one who helped her with “the deed”.

This drama is short and fun to watch. It does not give you a deep, meaningful storyline but instead a titillating romance with a decent amount of skinship and a sexy, responsible couple. It is not some sleazy drama filled with only sexy scenes. In fact, the intimate scenes are quite mild and moderate. It is mostly suggestive and barely explicit.

I watched this show because bite-sized dramas are my thing. At least for now. With 8 episodes of 24 minutes each, this dorama had to be my pick for a quick watch.  

 

Rinko-san Wants To Try (Rinko-san wa Shite Mitai) (2021) (8 Episodes)

Rinko Amaki (Kaho Takada) is a 27-years-old woman working as a chief wedding planner for a big company. She is good at her work and is recognized for her great leadership qualities. But Rinko lacks love life. In her bid to become a successful woman, she never took interest in matters of love, and now in her late twenties, love is all that she seeks for herself.

When she hears her juniors at work talk about their exciting love life, Rinko’s FOMO kicks in and she becomes desperate to lose her virgin status. She goes on a group date with her friends but is left disappointed as no one interests her. On her way back home, she bumps into her co-worker Gen Kamisaka (Shota Totsuka) at a bar and learns that he is too is a virgin. She then proposes the idea of sleeping with him so that they can both lose their virginity to each other.

Rinko and Gen then make a pact to keep sleeping with each other until they feel confident enough to sleep with other people.

I enjoyed watching ‘Rinko-san Wants To Try’ because…

…it was an average drama decent enough to watch when you are short on time. This dorama starts with Rinko Amaki who is a successful wedding planner admired by her juniors and loved by her clients. At the age of 27, she has managed to achieve success in her career but is lacking love in life.

Rinko is beautiful, intelligent, and successful. Then why is she still single? Well, the problem lies with Rinko herself.

In her teens, Rinko was picky and wanted only an “amazing” man for herself and was averse to settling for anyone less. In her early 20s, Rinko was focused on herself and her career leaving no scope for love and romance. Now in her late twenties, Rinko has three conditions for a man first is that her guy should not make fun of her virgin status, the second is that the man should not look down on virgins, and the third is that the man should be discreet and not a blabbermouth.

Considering her high standards and rigid conditions finding love is difficult for her. Even when she goes on a group date with her friends, the other two girls manage to get a date for themselves but Rinko is the only one left behind as does not feel interested in any guy.

She then heads alone to a bar where she sees her co-worker Gen Kamisaki drinking by himself. She joins him at the bar and through the bartender, she comes to know that Gen is a virgin. The bartender then jokingly suggests Rinko take Gen’s virginity and she seizes the opportunity with both hands.

Rinko feels that being a virgin himself, Gen fulfills all her criteria i.e. he won’t mock her virgin status, nor will he look down on her for it, and he won’t even discuss it with anyone.

Rinko and Gen then head to a “love motel” where she proposes a “Deflowering Partnership Agreement” (Eewwkkss….whatever that means) under which they are to be together only until they lose their virginity. Gen agrees to it and they both are able to make love on their second try.

Gen is extremely considerate of the fact that it is Rinko’s first time and is sensitive and careful during their lovemaking. His caring nature moves Rinko and she inevitably falls for him. Gen too starts to feel something for Rinko.

So they make another pact under which they will continue sleeping with one another until they are confident enough to sleep with other people.

Rinko is a confident young woman but her inexperience in matters of love makes her nervous in bed. She is soft-hearted so when she sees Gen’s kind side, she falls for him instantly. To everyone else, she is a strong, independent woman but with Gen, she inadvertently exposes her vulnerable side which appeals to Gen the most.

Gen is like Rinko. He too is good at his work but lacking in love. Unlike Rinko, he manages to hide his inexperience in bed and confidently makes it worthwhile for the nervous Rinko. He too falls for her hard but an unrequited love in the past keeps him from confessing his true feelings.

Through the course of the show, we see how the couple keeps battling minor obstacles and grows close to each other until they express their feelings for one another.

Lead actress Kaho Takada was delightful to watch on-screen. Rinko appears sophisticated and confident but in reality, she too has her own insecurities that bother her. Kaho does a good job at maintaining a calm and composed posture even when dealing with a difficult character. She looks absolutely gorgeous in maxi dresses and I loved watching her on-screen.

I personally felt that actor Shota Totsuka kind of paled in front of Kaho. The character of Gen is supposed to be pensive and serious. However, Gen lacked conviction. But surprisingly he shared decent chemistry with Kaho. The show has some really sweet moments between our leads and that’s how I managed to finish the show.

The best part about the show is an episode dedicated to showing Gen’s point of view on everything that happened in the story until that episode.

 

I did NOT LIKE ‘Rinko-san Wants To Try’ because…

…I could not understand the need for a “friends-with-benefits” concept in Rinko and Gen’s story. It’s okay that the show started with a pact between the two leads. But by episode 4, it is clear that both our main characters like each other. So then why go on with the pact? Why can’t they simply date each other?

The writer kept adding unnecessary conflicts to keep our leads away to drag the show on for a couple of more episodes. These conflicts were so forced and feeble that it made me roll my eyes in despair.

 

Rinko-san Wants To Try is a forgettable, average dorama. Keep it an option for days when you have absolutely nothing to watch and want to try something decently sexy. However, do not have your hopes too high as the sexy scenes are highly mediocre and tepid.    

I give ‘Rinko-san Wants To Try’ 2.5 out of 5 rating. Pick this dorama only when you are in the mood to experiment with Japanese shows.

 

Image Courtesy: Viki.com

 

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