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Review: Your Fukubukuro (你的未來已簽收) (2019)
This was a cute and refreshing drama.
I enjoyed the shorter stories in this anthology drama. As we know, many Cdramas are rather long and draggy, and this was a nice change from that formula. Because the stories were short, the writing was more concise as well.
Most of the actors in this drama were relatively unknown to me, but I felt that most of them did a good job of bringing their characters to life, which I think is part of the actors' skills, and part of the charm of the writing.
I would definitely recommend this drama as kind of a "palette cleanser" drama, something cute and relatively light-hearted.
Spoilers.
Story
The connecting theme for all of the stories in this drama were the lucky bags. These lucky bags helped each of the characters in this drama to understand their lives better, or to give them the courage to do something. All of short stories in this drama took place in a specific apartment complex. Because of this, we had three characters who popped up in several of the stories, including Zhang Dabai (the delivery man), Li Ren (the security guard), and Zhong Suhua (the cleaning lady).
Life Company Unlimited
This story was about Yang Yi, a CEO of a company, and Yang Yi, a worker in his company. Each of them bought lucky bags, which enabled a body swap between the two. Through the body swap, each of these characters understood the struggles of the other.
Yang Yi the CEO realized that his workers were unmotivated at their jobs, and often tasked with lots of unnecessary work that gave them little to no time to enjoy themselves. On the other hand, Yang Yi the worker realized that his boss wasn't just relaxing all the time, and that he had to report to many other people, such as investors and potential customers.
After their body swap, I think our two characters became something like friends, which was good for them, and good for company morale.
The Empty-Nest Youth
In this story, the purchaser of a lucky bag was Guo Chuchu. She was a single woman working as a counsellor at a university. Her lucky bag had a kind of prayer charm that she'd hung up at a temple when her ex-boyfriend had left her to pursue career opportunities elsewhere.
The ex-boyfriend, Wang Haiyang, had returned to the city, and was keen on winning Chuchu back. During this time, Guo Chuchu had to think about how she felt about this ex-boyfriend.
While Guo Chuchu may have looked back fondly on her memories with her ex-boyfriend, as the viewer, I felt that her ex was rather inconsiderate towards her, always putting his own needs first. But Chuchu was rather meek when she was younger, so she probably didn't notice this too.
However, as a single person who'd built her own life and had her own career, Chuchu of now was more confident, and had more independent thoughts on her own.
Her biggest question to her ex, who was trying to win her back, was whether he loved her, and he said some stuff about how love wasn't all that mattered in a successful relationship. In that conversation, Guo Chuchu told Wang Haiyang that whether or not he loved her, she didn't love him anymore, and that she did not wish to pursue a relationship with him.
Through her years of being single, I think Guo Chuchu understood that she could have a perfectly fine life with no significant other, that she didn't need a boyfriend to survive. She had friends and coworkers she got along with, hobbies of her own, etc. She realized that self worth was not based on how her boyfriend treated her, and that she was capable of building the life she wanted. The only thing she would need from a relationship was love, and if Wang Haiyang couldn't give her that, she didn't need this relationship (though she'd already moved on from him anyway).
What's nice was that I liked how Guo Chuchu remained friends with that running friend. It could've been heavily implied that she would date him. But I thought it was a really nice touch to show us that Chuchu doesn't actually need a relationship to enjoy her life.
A Poet of the City
This story focused on Zhong Suhua, the cleaning lady. She had a poetry hobby, which her husband didn't understand at all. She and her husband had been on rocky terms, often arguing about petty things.
In addition, there was a fruit vendor who Zhong Suhua had struck up a friendship with, because he was an artist, and they had a shared appreciation for the arts.
The story escalated to a point where Zhong Suhua was spending time with the fruit vendor to discuss poetry, which got her in trouble with the fruit vendor's wife and her own husband.
Zhong Suhua's husband borrowed an old lucky bag, and put in tickets to a poetry-reading event. He'd secretly organized this event for Zhong Suhua to present her poetry, and invited people from the neighbourhood to come listen.
In this story, Zhong Suhua didn't actually buy a lucky bag, but her husband used this bag to express his love for his wife. It probably annoyed him that he didn't really understand poetry, but he tried to arrange an event so that she could enjoy and appreciate poetry in the open. He didn't want her to go behind his back because she thought that he would ridicule her or yell at her, and his frustration from before was just his inability to relate.
This story was an interesting use of the lucky bag.
Grandma and the Sea
This story was about a model, Dafan, and her grandmother Zhang Shengnan, or Ms. Zhang, as Dafan liked to call her. As is the relation between young(er) people and their older relatives, there was an issue of privacy, as Dafan hated her grandmother going into her mail or going into her room, etc. Ms. Zhang had her friend purchase a lucky bag for Dafan.
Dafan had a boyfriend, but the boyfriend actually had a family, so Dafan was the third person. The way the drama was directed misled us into thinking that Dafan was pregnant and she was upset about it because her boyfriend wasn't reliable.
In actuality, the pregnancy test was negative. While in the washroom, Dafan had opened her lucky bag, which showed her grandmother's medical report that showed that she had a terminal illnes. So us thinking that Dafan was upset over her pregnancy was actually her being upset over her grandmother leaving her so soon.
We got some backstory for Dafan too. Her mother had remarried and gone overseas. Her mother was actually prepared to take her with her as well, but as a child, Dafan refused to leave, and that's why she was left in China with her grandmother.
This story was rather moving, as it pushed Dafan to realize that the things her grandmother did for her were out of love, even if Dafan was annoyed with her mending her ripped jeans and such. As well, it encouraged Dafan to spend the time that she had with her grandmother. She took time off of work to spend more time with her grandmother, possibly putting her career in jeopardy, and she bought tickets to a cruise for her.
The story ended with Dafan living in her apartment alone, implying that her grandmother had passed, but I think she cherishes their memories togther.
The Secret in the Blacklist
This story was that of Zhou Xiaobao, a young woman looking for love. She'd gone on many dates, and her mom was also setting her up with her friends' sons.
Xiaobao met Shu Ke, who was kind of nerdy, and their awkward date led to Xiaobao blacklisting Shu Ke (something akin to blocking his number). Xiaobao was also crushing on Eric, an employee at her company.
Xiaobao bought a lucky bag, and her gift was a question-answering service. She had 11 chances to ask a question, and this secret AI (or whatever it was), would answer her question. Sometimes these answers were correct, sometimes they were ambiguous, and sometimes, they were meant to make Xiaobao think and confront her own thoughts.
Over the course of the story, Xiaobao and Shu Ke got to know each other better. Xiaobao also started to notice that Eric was not a particularly sincere man, jumping from woman to woman, whomever he felt was doing well at the company.
Xiaobao had asked the service where her true love was, and it answered that true love was in her blacklist, which was why she went on an un-blocking spree and met up with all of the men she'd spoken to before. Unfortunately, she'd missed Shu Ke, who she'd been friendly with the whole time.
Eric had asked Xiaobao to transfer with him to another branch. He'd asked her out so that they could discuss it once more. Xiaobao had asked the messaging service was, and it answered with the agreed upon time and place that she was supposed to meet Eric at. That forced Xiaobao to confront whether she actually liked Eric that way anymore, and she left her date, instead catching up with Shu Ke, implying that she is now willing to try things out with Shu Ke.
Side note, if I was Shu Ke, I probably would've given up on Xiaobai far earlier than he had. Xiaobao had always ignored him, and hadn't even considered Shu Ke as dating material even when she was unblocking people from her blacklist. Basically, he was waiting for Xiaobao to change her mind and notice him whereas I proably wouldn't have had the patience. I don't think Xiaobao is a bad person, as all people have fantasies about dating, but I just felt bad for Shu Ke pining so much over someone who didn't realize until much later that he liked her and cared for her.
Paper Wedding
This was one of the two more sad stories. The story was of Guan Youran and her husband Li Zhuo. They were in an unhappy marriage, where Youran thought her husband was always busy at work and never had time for her, and Li Zhuo thought his wife was always shopping.
Youran ordered a lucky bag that showed a picture of her in the future, doing a heart pose with another man (implying that she would be dating that man in the future).
Much of the story covered Youran and Li Zhuo's past, how they'd fallen in love and dated long distance.
I didn't super understand this story and had to read up on an explanation, but basically, it was revealed that Youran had never actually married Li Zhuo. They were supposed to meet up at the airport after Li Zhuo returned from his job abroad, and that was what kickstarted their relationship anew, except in reality, Li Zhuo never made it to the agreed upon time and place, and so they never got together.
What confused me was who actually bought the lucky bag. Was it alternate timeline Youran, or was it Youran of now? Probably alternate timeline Youran, since she was confused about the photo, but how would that have happened? I think the story could've handled the logistics of that better.
The story ended with Youran understanding that a relationship is what you make of it. She was probably wishing that she'd restarted her relationship with Li Zhuo, but I think the point was that even if she was dating Li Zhuo, it wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows, and that even if he was her dream man, they still each had to put in the work to have a successful relationship.
Anywhere But Here
This was the second of the more sad stories. This was about Philip Lin and Wang Youyou, two employees that had been transferred from different branches of a company to branch in Daocheng.
Youyou was very cold to Philip at first. She thought that he was way too friendly and not professional enough. Over the course of them working together, Youyou warmed up. Now, both Philip and Youyou had significant others, but they were accustomed to always travelling for their work.
Basically, Youyou and Philip started having feelings for each other, and by the time they were finished their stint at the Daocheng branch, they had to decide how to move forward.
Youyou and Philip received lucky bags, and in them were mementos that they had offered to each other, being returned back to them. Youyou had a Bulgaria Airlines being returned t oher, and Philip had a Zimbabwe currency bill being returned to him.
Youyou was going to the airport, and Philip made the decision that if all of the lights were green on Maosen Road (on the way to the airport), that would mean they were meant to be. All the lights were green, and Philip arrived at the airport and saw Youyou, but at that moment, his girlfriend had arrived at the airport, attempting to surprise him, and stopping Philip from reconciling with Youyou (who had seen him arrive).
I think the point that the lucky bags wanted to make was that their relationship was not meant to be (thus returning their gifts to each other). At the end of the story, Youyou and Philip were back with their significant others. I think the reason why these relationships worked was because their significant others were used to Philip and Youyou always being on the go, whereas Philip and Youyou themselves were always used to having significant others to return home to. So while Philip and Youyou were in love with each other, maybe they didn't have lifestyles that were compatible with each other.
Midnight Fairytale
This story focused on Zhang Dabai, our delivery man. He was crushing on Wang Xiaoman, a lady living at the apartment complex who ran an online store. He would bend over backwards to fulfill her shipping orders, and go above and beyond.
Dabai got a lucky bag for himself, and in it was a car key that could unlock any car.
At one point, Xiaoman had to leave Daocheng, so Dabai tried to get a fancy car to impress Xiaoman as they went on a drive. It was disastrous since he didn't know what any of the buttons on the car meant, but Xiaoman didn't think poorly of him.
Later, it was revealed that Xiaoman was not Xiaoman. Her actual name was Chunyan, and Wang Xiaoman was her cousin's name. She was housesitting for her cousin and helping her with her business.
So basically, Dabai and Chunyan were both pretending to be other people in order to impress those around them. Chunyan knew that Dabai wasn't used to driving such cars, and it wasn't because of his car that Chunyan struck up a friendship with him anyway. As for Dabai, knowing that Chunyan was actually pretending as well actually helped him loosen up and be less nervous when speaking with her and getting to know her.
The ending of this story was so cute. Chunyan was working at a clothing store, and Dabai picked her up in his humble little three-wheeled bike, and they drove off home. Their banter was so cute too! :3
Production
I remember hearing from the Youtuber AvenueX that the director of this series had attended film school in the States, and she'd praised this director. I think that the director of Your Fukubukuro definitely brought a story telling style that was different from what we see in most Cdramas. It isn't always about telling a story literally. What's unique about visual story telling is that information can be conveyed without it being said outright, and I liked that this drama used a variety of ways to explain the story, but also left room for the audience to interpret the story and the characters' thoughts in a way that made sense to them.
While set and costumes were relatively simple, I felt that they were more than enough in building an immersive atmosphere. I was successfully convinced that I was in this cute little city of Daocheng. I think the lighting and camera work also helped a lot in terms of making the surroundings tasteful. So many Cdramas have the problem of poor lighting and poor camerawork so that no matter how expensive the clothes and designs are, the set still looks kind of cheap. This was not the case in Your Fukubukuro.
All of the actors did a great job in their roles. As I mentioned, most of these actors were unknown to me, but they carried out their roles well. Part of it was the writing and dialogue, part of it was the actors' own skills, and I think part of it was the camera work, knowing how much to show us so that the character seemed believable.
Characters
Other than the characters in each of the individual story lines, we had three recurring characters which were Dabai, Li Ren, and Auntie Zhong. I thought they were such a cute trio, keeping an eye out on what was going on in the apartment complex and gossiping with each other.
Otherwise, I did really like the characters in the short stories. I thought they were fleshed out enough. And the fact that they were played by actors I didn't know allowed me not to focus on who was playing them, but whether they were playing the characters in a way that was convincing. For example, I wouldn't associate Philip's actor with someone who played a super confident businessman, but he won me over as I saw him more in his role.
Themes
As I mentioned, the lucky bags were often to help people accept the goings-on in their life.
Sometimes, the lucky bags gave the characters new information, such as the two Yang Yis in Life Company Unlimited, or the Grandma and the Sea. They learned that the people around them were dealing with problems of their own, and the lucky bag gave them a wake up call that they needed to empathize with others.
Sometimes, the lucky bags pushed the characters to accept something about themselves. Guo Chuchu in Empty-Nest Youth came to terms with the fact that her ex-boyfriend wasn't all that great, and in Paper Wedding, Youran had to accept that the past was the past.
And sometimes, the lucky bags purposely pushed characters to do something they were uncomfortable with to come to terms with who they were. Xiaobao in the Secret in the Blacklist realized that Eric wasn't her dream man after all, and that she was putting too much weight in a man's looks and not his personality. In Midnight Fairytale, Dabai realized that there was no use in trying to be someone he wasn't, because he was the best at being the humble friendly Dabai that we know and love.
Overall
This series was just so wholesome. Yes, even including the sad stories haha. This was a really good change of pace.
And this drama shows that you don't need a huge budget with big names to make an enjoyable drama! All you need are directors, writers, actors, and crew members who approach their work with care, and not with dollar signs in their eyes.
I enjoyed the shorter stories in this anthology drama. As we know, many Cdramas are rather long and draggy, and this was a nice change from that formula. Because the stories were short, the writing was more concise as well.
Most of the actors in this drama were relatively unknown to me, but I felt that most of them did a good job of bringing their characters to life, which I think is part of the actors' skills, and part of the charm of the writing.
I would definitely recommend this drama as kind of a "palette cleanser" drama, something cute and relatively light-hearted.
Spoilers.
Story
The connecting theme for all of the stories in this drama were the lucky bags. These lucky bags helped each of the characters in this drama to understand their lives better, or to give them the courage to do something. All of short stories in this drama took place in a specific apartment complex. Because of this, we had three characters who popped up in several of the stories, including Zhang Dabai (the delivery man), Li Ren (the security guard), and Zhong Suhua (the cleaning lady).
Life Company Unlimited
This story was about Yang Yi, a CEO of a company, and Yang Yi, a worker in his company. Each of them bought lucky bags, which enabled a body swap between the two. Through the body swap, each of these characters understood the struggles of the other.
Yang Yi the CEO realized that his workers were unmotivated at their jobs, and often tasked with lots of unnecessary work that gave them little to no time to enjoy themselves. On the other hand, Yang Yi the worker realized that his boss wasn't just relaxing all the time, and that he had to report to many other people, such as investors and potential customers.
After their body swap, I think our two characters became something like friends, which was good for them, and good for company morale.
The Empty-Nest Youth
In this story, the purchaser of a lucky bag was Guo Chuchu. She was a single woman working as a counsellor at a university. Her lucky bag had a kind of prayer charm that she'd hung up at a temple when her ex-boyfriend had left her to pursue career opportunities elsewhere.
The ex-boyfriend, Wang Haiyang, had returned to the city, and was keen on winning Chuchu back. During this time, Guo Chuchu had to think about how she felt about this ex-boyfriend.
While Guo Chuchu may have looked back fondly on her memories with her ex-boyfriend, as the viewer, I felt that her ex was rather inconsiderate towards her, always putting his own needs first. But Chuchu was rather meek when she was younger, so she probably didn't notice this too.
However, as a single person who'd built her own life and had her own career, Chuchu of now was more confident, and had more independent thoughts on her own.
Her biggest question to her ex, who was trying to win her back, was whether he loved her, and he said some stuff about how love wasn't all that mattered in a successful relationship. In that conversation, Guo Chuchu told Wang Haiyang that whether or not he loved her, she didn't love him anymore, and that she did not wish to pursue a relationship with him.
Through her years of being single, I think Guo Chuchu understood that she could have a perfectly fine life with no significant other, that she didn't need a boyfriend to survive. She had friends and coworkers she got along with, hobbies of her own, etc. She realized that self worth was not based on how her boyfriend treated her, and that she was capable of building the life she wanted. The only thing she would need from a relationship was love, and if Wang Haiyang couldn't give her that, she didn't need this relationship (though she'd already moved on from him anyway).
What's nice was that I liked how Guo Chuchu remained friends with that running friend. It could've been heavily implied that she would date him. But I thought it was a really nice touch to show us that Chuchu doesn't actually need a relationship to enjoy her life.
A Poet of the City
This story focused on Zhong Suhua, the cleaning lady. She had a poetry hobby, which her husband didn't understand at all. She and her husband had been on rocky terms, often arguing about petty things.
In addition, there was a fruit vendor who Zhong Suhua had struck up a friendship with, because he was an artist, and they had a shared appreciation for the arts.
The story escalated to a point where Zhong Suhua was spending time with the fruit vendor to discuss poetry, which got her in trouble with the fruit vendor's wife and her own husband.
Zhong Suhua's husband borrowed an old lucky bag, and put in tickets to a poetry-reading event. He'd secretly organized this event for Zhong Suhua to present her poetry, and invited people from the neighbourhood to come listen.
In this story, Zhong Suhua didn't actually buy a lucky bag, but her husband used this bag to express his love for his wife. It probably annoyed him that he didn't really understand poetry, but he tried to arrange an event so that she could enjoy and appreciate poetry in the open. He didn't want her to go behind his back because she thought that he would ridicule her or yell at her, and his frustration from before was just his inability to relate.
This story was an interesting use of the lucky bag.
Grandma and the Sea
This story was about a model, Dafan, and her grandmother Zhang Shengnan, or Ms. Zhang, as Dafan liked to call her. As is the relation between young(er) people and their older relatives, there was an issue of privacy, as Dafan hated her grandmother going into her mail or going into her room, etc. Ms. Zhang had her friend purchase a lucky bag for Dafan.
Dafan had a boyfriend, but the boyfriend actually had a family, so Dafan was the third person. The way the drama was directed misled us into thinking that Dafan was pregnant and she was upset about it because her boyfriend wasn't reliable.
In actuality, the pregnancy test was negative. While in the washroom, Dafan had opened her lucky bag, which showed her grandmother's medical report that showed that she had a terminal illnes. So us thinking that Dafan was upset over her pregnancy was actually her being upset over her grandmother leaving her so soon.
We got some backstory for Dafan too. Her mother had remarried and gone overseas. Her mother was actually prepared to take her with her as well, but as a child, Dafan refused to leave, and that's why she was left in China with her grandmother.
This story was rather moving, as it pushed Dafan to realize that the things her grandmother did for her were out of love, even if Dafan was annoyed with her mending her ripped jeans and such. As well, it encouraged Dafan to spend the time that she had with her grandmother. She took time off of work to spend more time with her grandmother, possibly putting her career in jeopardy, and she bought tickets to a cruise for her.
The story ended with Dafan living in her apartment alone, implying that her grandmother had passed, but I think she cherishes their memories togther.
The Secret in the Blacklist
This story was that of Zhou Xiaobao, a young woman looking for love. She'd gone on many dates, and her mom was also setting her up with her friends' sons.
Xiaobao met Shu Ke, who was kind of nerdy, and their awkward date led to Xiaobao blacklisting Shu Ke (something akin to blocking his number). Xiaobao was also crushing on Eric, an employee at her company.
Xiaobao bought a lucky bag, and her gift was a question-answering service. She had 11 chances to ask a question, and this secret AI (or whatever it was), would answer her question. Sometimes these answers were correct, sometimes they were ambiguous, and sometimes, they were meant to make Xiaobao think and confront her own thoughts.
Over the course of the story, Xiaobao and Shu Ke got to know each other better. Xiaobao also started to notice that Eric was not a particularly sincere man, jumping from woman to woman, whomever he felt was doing well at the company.
Xiaobao had asked the service where her true love was, and it answered that true love was in her blacklist, which was why she went on an un-blocking spree and met up with all of the men she'd spoken to before. Unfortunately, she'd missed Shu Ke, who she'd been friendly with the whole time.
Eric had asked Xiaobao to transfer with him to another branch. He'd asked her out so that they could discuss it once more. Xiaobao had asked the messaging service was, and it answered with the agreed upon time and place that she was supposed to meet Eric at. That forced Xiaobao to confront whether she actually liked Eric that way anymore, and she left her date, instead catching up with Shu Ke, implying that she is now willing to try things out with Shu Ke.
Side note, if I was Shu Ke, I probably would've given up on Xiaobai far earlier than he had. Xiaobao had always ignored him, and hadn't even considered Shu Ke as dating material even when she was unblocking people from her blacklist. Basically, he was waiting for Xiaobao to change her mind and notice him whereas I proably wouldn't have had the patience. I don't think Xiaobao is a bad person, as all people have fantasies about dating, but I just felt bad for Shu Ke pining so much over someone who didn't realize until much later that he liked her and cared for her.
Paper Wedding
This was one of the two more sad stories. The story was of Guan Youran and her husband Li Zhuo. They were in an unhappy marriage, where Youran thought her husband was always busy at work and never had time for her, and Li Zhuo thought his wife was always shopping.
Youran ordered a lucky bag that showed a picture of her in the future, doing a heart pose with another man (implying that she would be dating that man in the future).
Much of the story covered Youran and Li Zhuo's past, how they'd fallen in love and dated long distance.
I didn't super understand this story and had to read up on an explanation, but basically, it was revealed that Youran had never actually married Li Zhuo. They were supposed to meet up at the airport after Li Zhuo returned from his job abroad, and that was what kickstarted their relationship anew, except in reality, Li Zhuo never made it to the agreed upon time and place, and so they never got together.
What confused me was who actually bought the lucky bag. Was it alternate timeline Youran, or was it Youran of now? Probably alternate timeline Youran, since she was confused about the photo, but how would that have happened? I think the story could've handled the logistics of that better.
The story ended with Youran understanding that a relationship is what you make of it. She was probably wishing that she'd restarted her relationship with Li Zhuo, but I think the point was that even if she was dating Li Zhuo, it wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows, and that even if he was her dream man, they still each had to put in the work to have a successful relationship.
Anywhere But Here
This was the second of the more sad stories. This was about Philip Lin and Wang Youyou, two employees that had been transferred from different branches of a company to branch in Daocheng.
Youyou was very cold to Philip at first. She thought that he was way too friendly and not professional enough. Over the course of them working together, Youyou warmed up. Now, both Philip and Youyou had significant others, but they were accustomed to always travelling for their work.
Basically, Youyou and Philip started having feelings for each other, and by the time they were finished their stint at the Daocheng branch, they had to decide how to move forward.
Youyou and Philip received lucky bags, and in them were mementos that they had offered to each other, being returned back to them. Youyou had a Bulgaria Airlines being returned t oher, and Philip had a Zimbabwe currency bill being returned to him.
Youyou was going to the airport, and Philip made the decision that if all of the lights were green on Maosen Road (on the way to the airport), that would mean they were meant to be. All the lights were green, and Philip arrived at the airport and saw Youyou, but at that moment, his girlfriend had arrived at the airport, attempting to surprise him, and stopping Philip from reconciling with Youyou (who had seen him arrive).
I think the point that the lucky bags wanted to make was that their relationship was not meant to be (thus returning their gifts to each other). At the end of the story, Youyou and Philip were back with their significant others. I think the reason why these relationships worked was because their significant others were used to Philip and Youyou always being on the go, whereas Philip and Youyou themselves were always used to having significant others to return home to. So while Philip and Youyou were in love with each other, maybe they didn't have lifestyles that were compatible with each other.
Midnight Fairytale
This story focused on Zhang Dabai, our delivery man. He was crushing on Wang Xiaoman, a lady living at the apartment complex who ran an online store. He would bend over backwards to fulfill her shipping orders, and go above and beyond.
Dabai got a lucky bag for himself, and in it was a car key that could unlock any car.
At one point, Xiaoman had to leave Daocheng, so Dabai tried to get a fancy car to impress Xiaoman as they went on a drive. It was disastrous since he didn't know what any of the buttons on the car meant, but Xiaoman didn't think poorly of him.
Later, it was revealed that Xiaoman was not Xiaoman. Her actual name was Chunyan, and Wang Xiaoman was her cousin's name. She was housesitting for her cousin and helping her with her business.
So basically, Dabai and Chunyan were both pretending to be other people in order to impress those around them. Chunyan knew that Dabai wasn't used to driving such cars, and it wasn't because of his car that Chunyan struck up a friendship with him anyway. As for Dabai, knowing that Chunyan was actually pretending as well actually helped him loosen up and be less nervous when speaking with her and getting to know her.
The ending of this story was so cute. Chunyan was working at a clothing store, and Dabai picked her up in his humble little three-wheeled bike, and they drove off home. Their banter was so cute too! :3
Production
I remember hearing from the Youtuber AvenueX that the director of this series had attended film school in the States, and she'd praised this director. I think that the director of Your Fukubukuro definitely brought a story telling style that was different from what we see in most Cdramas. It isn't always about telling a story literally. What's unique about visual story telling is that information can be conveyed without it being said outright, and I liked that this drama used a variety of ways to explain the story, but also left room for the audience to interpret the story and the characters' thoughts in a way that made sense to them.
While set and costumes were relatively simple, I felt that they were more than enough in building an immersive atmosphere. I was successfully convinced that I was in this cute little city of Daocheng. I think the lighting and camera work also helped a lot in terms of making the surroundings tasteful. So many Cdramas have the problem of poor lighting and poor camerawork so that no matter how expensive the clothes and designs are, the set still looks kind of cheap. This was not the case in Your Fukubukuro.
All of the actors did a great job in their roles. As I mentioned, most of these actors were unknown to me, but they carried out their roles well. Part of it was the writing and dialogue, part of it was the actors' own skills, and I think part of it was the camera work, knowing how much to show us so that the character seemed believable.
Characters
Other than the characters in each of the individual story lines, we had three recurring characters which were Dabai, Li Ren, and Auntie Zhong. I thought they were such a cute trio, keeping an eye out on what was going on in the apartment complex and gossiping with each other.
Otherwise, I did really like the characters in the short stories. I thought they were fleshed out enough. And the fact that they were played by actors I didn't know allowed me not to focus on who was playing them, but whether they were playing the characters in a way that was convincing. For example, I wouldn't associate Philip's actor with someone who played a super confident businessman, but he won me over as I saw him more in his role.
Themes
As I mentioned, the lucky bags were often to help people accept the goings-on in their life.
Sometimes, the lucky bags gave the characters new information, such as the two Yang Yis in Life Company Unlimited, or the Grandma and the Sea. They learned that the people around them were dealing with problems of their own, and the lucky bag gave them a wake up call that they needed to empathize with others.
Sometimes, the lucky bags pushed the characters to accept something about themselves. Guo Chuchu in Empty-Nest Youth came to terms with the fact that her ex-boyfriend wasn't all that great, and in Paper Wedding, Youran had to accept that the past was the past.
And sometimes, the lucky bags purposely pushed characters to do something they were uncomfortable with to come to terms with who they were. Xiaobao in the Secret in the Blacklist realized that Eric wasn't her dream man after all, and that she was putting too much weight in a man's looks and not his personality. In Midnight Fairytale, Dabai realized that there was no use in trying to be someone he wasn't, because he was the best at being the humble friendly Dabai that we know and love.
Overall
This series was just so wholesome. Yes, even including the sad stories haha. This was a really good change of pace.
And this drama shows that you don't need a huge budget with big names to make an enjoyable drama! All you need are directors, writers, actors, and crew members who approach their work with care, and not with dollar signs in their eyes.