I Will Be Your Bloom Season 1 Review – J-Pop series springs up on Netflix

Season 1

Episode Guide

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10

 

Released on TBS in Japan from October-December 2022, I Will Be Your Bloom (Kimi no Hana ni Naru) is a Japanese drama about a J-pop boy band on their way out. They’ve already lost one member to the pressure and the remaining seven are falling apart.

As the clock ticks toward an inevitable appointment with their company CEO, they’re given a lifeline when their manager brings in a new ‘housemother’ to look after them. She convinces them to fight on before their contract expires in six months.

Like many Japanese dramas, it’s not particularly polished and spends less time on musical performances than you may imagine. It’s more about the inner-workings of the group and how they subtly influence each other and are encouraged by the new ‘adult’ on the scene.

While it’s not over-produced, it’s also not over-glamorized. From what we’ve seen in recent world news, the life of a popstar is probably a lot more difficult and restrictive than this. And the ‘adults’ as they’re referred to, a whole lot more controlling.

But this is about a group on its way out, so part of the story is that they receive little attention. And it shows in the absence of both opportunity and direction.

The new housemother, Asuka, is anything but harsh. As a former schoolteacher who even taught one of the group members, she offers kind wisdom to each individual, reminiscent of her school counselling days. Eventually we get into why she’s no longer a teacher – she’d flunked out.

Spending all her time helping other teachers keen to push off workload as well as helping students on an individual level, she gets caught out when she drops a ball, coupled with a parent’s complaint and eventually exits in disgrace.

Now, more than a year later, she applies for a well-paying job that includes room and board – a too-good-to-be-true offer that lands her with a bunch of discouraged young men, including a familiar face who’d witnessed her previous failure, plus a huge mess of a dormitory. As she sets things to rights, they each start to build confidence.

It’s the song-writer Dan who’d been inspired and then disappointed by Asuka as a teacher. In episode 1 we witness how she’d encouraged him to do something with his music-centered dream. And eventually how betrayed he’d felt when she suddenly disappears from school.

Honda Tsubasa plays the housemother. The group are played by young actors, but some of them may be familiar, including Takahashi Fumiya from the Kamen Rider series reboot, who plays Dan.

The first episode is a little dry, but several 45-minute episodes in and you start to see something materialize as each character gains hope. And by the last several chapters, you’re as sucked in as their fanbase of Bloomys.

The story covers everything from the stress of song-writing and leadership across to fans, super-fans and anti-fans, betrayals and giving up on personal interests for the betterment of the group. There’s a flash of romance and an interesting CEO (you can tell it’s a female scriptwriter) but it’s mostly an ensemble piece.

It doesn’t end exactly as you guess it will. But it’s also a satisfying end. If you’re not bothered about HD quality and interested in the inner-workings of the pop industry, it’s a fun and emotional watch accompanied by cheerful J-pop sounds and modicum of youthful angst.  Catch the full series on Netflix or Bilibili with subtitles.

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