assez

A love story about a romance that has overstayed its welcome. Lovely.

…At the beginning of the last episode, I was questioning why both sides were trying so hard to push them back together. In the middle, I wanted to hit both of the main characters.

And the ending presents us with… well, nicely said, nothing.

I had slightly higher expectations for this, but no. This is just the embodiment of dragged-out nothing. :(

It’s not that this is that bad series. The story isn’t terrible, the characters are cute, the actors are fine, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with the acting or the production. My problem is that the series screams that it has nothing to say beyond:

“I fell in love with you when we were kids. I found you again later. I still loved you. I wanted you. I thought you were never going to be mine. I entertained the idea. I left ("betrayed you"). And now you have trauma and we have to overcome some obstacles.”

Okay. But… what else?

The problem is that the characters are constantly being positioned as a romantic couple, while the series seems terrified of actually showing us what that means (beside waiting foor each other, ok - not presented the best IMeducatedO).

Whenever the story gets anywhere near the dangerous territory of them actually having to behave like a couple, it seems to retreat. One leaves for school, the other works, they come back, they travel, they watch movies, they exist next to each other… and that’s about it.

There is an enormous amount of hesitation about whether they actually want to be together, but almost no romance, attraction, chemistry or meaningful tension to compensate for it. There is chasing, there are obstacles, there is supposed to be emotional turmoil — but very little of it actually feels dramatized.

And yes, you can probably explain some of this through Japanese storytelling conventions and the tendency to leave certain things understated. Fine. But I personally don’t get much pleasure out of watching something that spends this much time telling me that two people love each other without giving me much to actually experience about that love.

The biggest problem is that most of the central conflict could have been solved by communication...

...And communication isn’t just the problem between the characters. It feels like there is a communication problem between the creators and the audience as well.

“I love you, but we’re going to be separated for four years. Actually, six.”

…Why?

This might have worked in a time when the only way to communicate was to send a letter by pigeon. But we have phones. We have messaging. We have video calls. If you genuinely don’t have time to communicate with someone you supposedly love for years, then at some point the problem isn’t the circumstances anymore. You just have other preferences. Period.

I know some people strongly dislike one character because of what he did, said, or failed to do, while others sympathize with him. And honestly? This series has become so bland to me that I don’t even care.

And that, in itself, is a problem.

I have definitely seen worse series. I have seen worse stories, worse characters and worse acting. But I have also seen much, much better — and I genuinely don’t understand why nobody seemed particularly interested in pacing, momentum or dramatic impact here.

Still water can be beautiful, but even that needs to be done properly.

This was supposed to be a drama.

It needed to be dramatized.

“ We love each other, but we’re going to separate for six years” is not, by itself, a compelling dramatic structure (esp. not if you have two uninterested parties in one relationship really). Especially when those six years could have been filled with an actual relationship, actual conflict, actual intimacy, actual growth — literally anything (in their situation, that would be such a beautiful story to watch).

So yes, cute characters. Cute story. Cute actors. Cute series.

And simultaneously, I would still like to hit both main characters over the head with a pan.

I just hope they leave this one alone.

Because, honestly, I have watched worse-rated series that I would rather get a second season than this one.

Please. No second season.

I don’t want to fall into this pit of despair again. Thank you very much.