10 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40

sweet first 7 episodes (watch suggestions)

Overall: the first 7 episodes were sweet and then it all went downhill. 12 episodes about 22 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (not in Thailand, Taiwan, Korea or Japan) https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/5485/ten-things-i-want-to-do-before-i-turn-forty-2025-e01

What I Liked
- their different personalities
- showed how a character is friendly and sweet but also did not act like a child at work
- that they clear up misunderstandings fairly quickly
- supportive sisters
- production value

Watch Suggestions (to focus on the leads being sweet)
- watch episodes 1-7
- skip episode 8 or watch 21 min-end
- episode 9 watch 7:30-15:10
- skip episodes 10 and 11
- start episode 12 at 15 minutes

Room For Improvement
- how Tojo was kind of pressured into it
- episode 8 made no sense that they only had 1 minute of screentime at the end and episode 9 ruined things before they even
- basically became an anthology series where other characters were the focus and they were sidelined
- a pet peeve is a character who supposedly loves another character causing that character immense pain and not listening to what they want, the angst dragged on for too long
- introduced a possible love rival in episode 11 (and I started to want them to be together instead)
- cliche running in the finale
- too many flashback montages in the finale
- (neutral) voicing internal thoughts

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Very strong start but loosing it's way in the second half...

This series started very strong with the vibes of "Cherry Magic" and "Old Fashion Cupcake". It was really cute to watch. In the second half the series lost it's way with the hardcore denial of Suzume to allow him to be happy. The team expanded the manga in a meaningful way and I liked the episode with the co-workers children and the overtime work (because of a mistake of one of the co-workers). But most of the other episodes streched out the story without more substance. It would have been so much better when Suzume & Keishi would have grown naturally into a relationsship without the "denial" of a relationsship. Maybe they liked to be true to this aspect of the manga but for me it felt excessive. Otherwise they made the whole "marketing department" much more realistic and believable compared to the manga.

While they denied us the kiss during the rain they at least did it properly in the finale which is a big plus compared to most other JBLs. The actors were choosen perfectly and I liked their version of Suzume much more. Keishi is more like the manga but more reserved. I don't think there was a problem with their chemistry. It was more mature and respectful. Suzume was acted (& directed) overly shy which irked me a bit, especially because this would not be his first relationsship, so this aspect did not make much sense for me. Considering his age, he should have handled that situation much more mature even when he acts childish in some aspects at his home.

After such a strong start it was a bit disappointing in the end. I wished they would have cut this series to the typical 8 episodes without the dragging out... but on the other hand the extra storylines added personality especially for Suzume and a realistic atmosphere. It has many cute and some fluffy moments and some moments where you might get angry. Production quality was top-notch and overall it was worth watching.

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