Adult Age Gap Dramas/Movies
I've got two rules:
- Both parties have to be consenting adults, as in, over 20. Otherwise, NOPE.
- I hate infidelity, so none of that between the actual couple.
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1. Kono Koi Atatamemasu ka
Japanese Drama - 2020, 10 episodes
A refreshingly sweet and clean cooking/business drama with a slow-burn relationship between the leads. They take their sweet time getting anywhere, but it's also an interesting and fun story, so it doesn't matter that it takes them forever. This is a successful version of a business age-gap romance, unlike Sapuri which failed in every way possible.
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2. Your Eyes Tell
Japanese Movie - 2020
The film moves a little too quickly in some places, but overall, a terrific story. Love the combo of a sports drama, an age-gap romance, and a disability. Great casting choices all around, and absolute favorite now.
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3. Marry Me!
Japanese Drama - 2020, 10 episodes
This story deeply moved me, plus, it had the bonus of it being a "marry first, fall in love later" story that I'm crazy about it. He's probably 7 years older, maybe a tad more. It's also the best drama series I've seen with episodes under 30 minutes. It still manages to fully flesh out the main characters, the secondary and tertiary characters, and the story itself. Very clean, not much skinship, but extremely precious.
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4. Kimi wa Petto
Japanese Drama - 2017, 16 episodes
Tops in my book. The sparks just flew between the leads and the filming style is so pretty. It does get bogged down in all of the extra relational stuff that I just can't stand, but oh well. I usually just watch the scenes with the main leads anyway and skip the others that annoy me.
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5. Around 40
Japanese Drama - 2008, 11 episodes
A low-key, soothing drama that just let the story unfold and didn't need the popular tropes to help tell it. Satoko and Keitaro are now favorites of mine simply because they felt like real people instead of fiction. Loved it so much.
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6. Ato 3-kai, Kimi ni aeru
Japanese Special - 2020, 1 episode
A beautiful star-crossed love story about destiny and a finite number of times we're destined to see the people around us.
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7. Tokyo Tarareba Musume
Japanese Drama - 2017, 10 episodes
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8. Second Love
Japanese Drama - 2015, 7 episodes
Mmm, steamy, yes, that's the word. It's fun, not a whole lot of depth, and not really an example of a healthy way to start a relationship. But I still watched and enjoyed it. It's a guilty pleasure.
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9. Run On
Korean Drama - 2020, 16 episodes
The secondary couple is an age gap. I like them, but I also see the toxicity. When he said "if you follow me, I'll kill myself," well, that's a red flag in my book. They are cute, just messed up, each in their own way.
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10. Sapuri
Japanese Drama - 2006, 11 episodes
I wish this had been better, but the leads had literally no chemistry in the romance department. Which I would have thought impossible for Kamenashi, but there you go. This is essentially the failed version of Kono Koi Atatamemasu ka.
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11. Love Kome no Okite: Kojirase Joshi to Toshishita Danshi
Japanese Drama - 2021, 12 episodes
Liked it about as well as Sapuri. The ML ends up being sexually demanding and obsessive which threw me off the series. It's delightful through episode 5 and then things started going downhill. It's pretty, but that's about all.