First Impressions: Grand Princess on Top cdrama and Bad Girl: Glass Ceiling Crushers jdrama

The princess is notorious for having guards as concubines and for her corruption. The emperor sends a spy to gather evidence against her.

It is very short with less than 3 minutes for each episode. And so instead of watching the usual three episodes for the first impressions, let's go with six episodes. The premise is five flowers (see Levels of Reverse Harem, the heroine is intentionally creating a harem of her own) but just like in Crazy Queen, the men fade in as nameless, unimportant background characters except for the main guy and the second guy. I'm hoping there will still be a third guy to seal the deal. With the length of the drama and the chemistry between the two good-looking leads, this one is easy to finish.

For five flowers, the heroines are always portrayed as strong and confident women. Now when can we get one where the heroine is shy but very willing to have a harem of concubines. And she has to start from zero. (Lol) Also check out the post, Stages of Reverse Harem (How To Build Your Own Reverse Harem).

Maririn starts her first day literally at the bottom of the company, in the dark sub-basement reserved for the supplies team. But slowly she works her way up the corporate ladder and crushes the glass ceiling in the process. 

I'm a few days old since I learned about glass ceiling. It is an invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from rising to senior-level positions. If I have known then I would probably have enjoyed it more. It easily became one of the favorites for the year right from the first episode but the succeeding episodes became formulaic with featuring a female employee on each episode.  It's all on me too because whenever there's a reverse harem lead I watch it without bothering the plot sometimes. I just want to be surprised. And boy, I got surprised alright. But later on, I realized how they tackled real issues female employees face at work. It represented the multifaceted women in the workforce.

The story is refreshing and I really love Mirarin. She never runs out of energy which is also contagious and she thinks outside the box. This is something you can watch if you feel like stuck in a rut with your work. This will cheer you up and reinvigorate you. Mirarin works on her way up but unbeknownst to her someone is pulling her strings. I'm enjoying her relationship with her mentor and the friends she meets along the way. But by episode 4 it kinda felt long. The first episode briefly showed all the women to be featured so I'm guessing the real power struggle will start now at episode 5 and veer away with the formula perhaps? 

Of course, the only reason we are is for the reverse harem. But along the way, I forgot my purpose and just cheered on Mirarin and the other women.  It's all about her and female empowerment. The reverse harem is just being established but hopefully, we get to see more of it progress in the next episodes.  For one of the guys (Mukai Osamu of Atashinchi no Danshi), it's actually Mirarin chasing him and we have no idea if the feeling will be mutual. Does it still count as reverse harem if it turns out he's not into her? Then there's the seemingly main lead guy (Suzuki Nobuyuki of Prince of Legend) with whom she is always at odds on. And there's the cute part-time student maintenance guy who looks at her meaningfully. The last hug scene with one of the guys is unexpected and sweet! 

Based on a manga that won the 15th Kodansha Manga Award in 1991. And a trivia, there was already Waru TV adaptation in 1992 and the actress who played the lead is the same actress who played the head HR in this remake.  

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There's so much resistance in me to write the first impressions. I decided to follow with what I was in the mood to write for and unintentionally paired up the two with both strong female characters and weird drama titles. Let me know your thoughts on these two reverse harem dramas.