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Nagumo Shoma looked aptly cast as the hot, rich biker/mechanic in the trailer for Japanese series “Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan”, which is an adaptation of the 2022 Thai series of the same name. And I am willing to bet that a lot of viewers saw the show for the good-looking Nagumo Shoma. Guilty as charged. Although the biggest salient feature about this Japanese adaptation is the fact that it’s only eight episodes long, with about 26-30 minute long episodes, while the original packed 13 episodes that were almost hour long in duration.
Directed by Tomori Atsuki, “Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan” follows the chaotic, steamy romantic lives of architecture students Rei (Hamaya Takuto) and Kai (Nagatsuma Reo), who fall for flambyouyant biker-boys Arashi (Nagumo Shoma) and Fuma (Suzuki Asahi). Rei is a childlike, energetic, impish college student, whose romance with Arashi, a popular alumni from the same faculty, starts off on the wrong foot. Meanwhile, Rei’s friend Kai is shy, quiet, with a dark traumatic past, and even though he isn’t interested in a relationship, he is strongly pursued by Arashi’s biker friend Fuma.
The first 2-3 episodes of “Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan” were kind of entertaining, the makers of-course make a few tweaks to adjust the story to the Japanese settings, however, as the plot progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to be invested in the show. Nagatsuma Reo who plays Kai, is not convincing as a college student at all, and looks the oldest of the four lead actors. In-fact, in real life, he is the same age as actor Suzuki Asahi, who plays his romantic interest Fuma. I usually try to ignore such superficial details (of whether an actor looks the age of their character), however, it was hard to do so while watching this show.
Hamaya Takuto’s performance as Rei fluctuated between being endearingly cutesy and downright annoying, but that’s more a reflection of how the character is written. In fact, the actor Takuto, who is in his mid-twenties, looked more like a high school boy than a university student. Nagumo Shoma as Arashi does what his brief asks him to do – be the sexy, broody, intimidating, dominant boyfriend to the puppy-like Rei. Their chemistry is debatable: it’s hot and cold, they are cute sometimes, and cringe-y other times.
The collision of Rei and Kai’s straightforward college lives with the adrenaline-fueled world of bike racing, illegal gambling, and intense rivalries surrounding Rei and Fuma initially proves to be fun, but quickly runs out of steam. The antagonists of “Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan” are very exaggerated and caricature like, almost like they are starring in a parody of some sorts. Fuma’s evil, abusive ex-boyfriend looks alarmingly older, and looks like a bad adult comic-book villain. The abuse sub-plot seemed unrealistic, and felt forced into the plot so that a primary character could have some serious trauma and trust issues.
I kind of lost interest in the series midway and resumed watching the remaining after weeks only to see what happens in the end. There’s not a lot of fresh material in terms of plot: two hot men fall for “damsel-in-distress” sort of younger college kids. Things work out in the end, and there are some steamy scenes in between. I wouldn’t recommend the show, but go ahead and give it a chance if it sounds like the kind of romantic series you wouldn’t mind watching when you have some free time on your hands.
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