My Fairy Ghost 2022 Drama Review

👻 A Touching Supernatural Romance of Love and Healing

🎥 Drama Overview

🎬 Title: My Fairy Ghost (ユーレイの彼女と私の恋)
🌍 Country: 🇯🇵 Japan
🎞️ Genre: Romance / Supernatural / WLW (Women Loving Women)
🗓️ Release: September 2, 2022 – September 29, 2022 (YouTube, 4 episodes)
📺 Platform: YouTube
⏳ Duration: Around 10–15 minutes per episode, short but tightly structured

👩‍❤️‍👩 Main Cast: Makoto Tanaka as Aizawa Riko
Mima Saaya as Hasui Kei

🧩 Story Deep Dive (Spoilers)

🪶 Art and Redemption

The story primarily focuses on the meeting and growth of two women.

• Aizawa Riko: A novelist who has been able to see ghosts since childhood. After a brilliant debut, she falls into a creative slump and fears expressing herself. Through helping Kei, a ghost, she finds a way to break free from her inner confinement.

• Hasui Kei: A genius painter who remains in this world as a ghost due to lingering regrets. After being helped by Riko, she begins living with her to assist in her writing.

Their relationship goes beyond mere romance—it becomes a story of mutual salvation. Kei serves as Riko’s muse, inspiring her to overcome her creative block and face the world again. In turn, Riko helps Kei find peace and let go of her lingering regrets, becoming both her anchor to the living world and her emotional guide. The theme of art (literature vs. painting) acts as a bridge through which the two deeply understand one another.

🏳️‍🌈 Natural Romance and Subtle Sensuality

My Fairy Ghost stands out from mainstream Japanese dramas that often disguise GL (Girls’ Love) stories as “pure friendship.”

• Balanced Representation: This drama avoids two extremes: it’s neither a sanitized “innocent friendship” type of GL series nor a male-gaze-driven, hypersexualized lesbian fantasy. Instead, it maintains a delicate balance between tenderness, romance, and sensual tension, allowing the relationship between the two women to evolve naturally and authentically.

• Excellent On-Screen Chemistry: Despite its short runtime, the chemistry between the two actresses—Makoto Tanaka and Mima Saaya—feels genuine and emotionally grounded. Their connection unfolds without feeling forced or awkward, a rare feat in short-format web dramas.

• Reversal of the “Dead Ghost” Trope: While the supernatural setup implies a potentially tragic ending, the show subverts expectations—Kei turns out to have been in a coma and wakes up in the finale. By doing so, the drama completely overturns the harmful “Bury Your Gays” trope, where queer characters often die or vanish. This hopeful and life-affirming ending makes My Fairy Ghost especially meaningful for queer audiences.

💡 Strengths and Limitations

• Short Format Constraints: As a 4-episode web drama, the story’s pacing is necessarily fast and simple. The show doesn’t fully explore the fantasy elements or the deeper metaphysical meaning of Kei’s existence, which some viewers found lacking.

• Clarity of Message: The creators aim to convey that despite social expectations, family pressures, and personal struggles, love is simply about one person caring for another. The drama seeks to present queer love not as something “special” or “othered,” but as a universal form of human connection.

• High Emotional Immersion: The short format ensures that there’s never a dull moment. Combined with beautiful background music, the show delivers visually and emotionally impactful moments that linger with the viewer.

Despite its brevity, My Fairy Ghost successfully tells a warm and emotionally resonant WLW romance through a fantasy premise about a human in creative despair and a ghost bound by regret. By offering a hopeful queer ending and showcasing the leads’ powerful chemistry, it stands as a hidden gem among modern Japanese web dramas.

🎯 Personal Rating (Based on Taste)

💕 Love Scene Intensity: ♥
⭐ Overall Rating: ★★★