Atom heart mother

Totally agree with both of you, although I think Sho is very much in love with Naoki. I think you nailed Naoki's characterisation and, given their backstory and the way their relationship is portrayed through the drama, I think Sho would have been the better fit. In my headcanon they're all poly so it's ok 😁, but I felt Naoki's confession to Akane forced and out of character. He behaved like a confident alpha male, for the first and last time in the show, only to kiss her? 🤨 Would have loved to see her with Kazushi.

I totally agree with you. I've rarely been more annoyed by a male lead like with this drama and you've described perfectly what's wrong with his characterisation. Subsequently, the main romance felt flat and boring, relying on overused clichés and the worst tropes (him disappearing, him stalking her, etc).
On the contrary, the second couple had the depth of their shared past and a realistic character development (althoug i would have preferred less realism in the end bc i loved them so much and i wanted them to be haply together 🥺).
The thing i hated the most by far in this drama is the way they used Jun's trauma and death for the sake of the protagonist's manspain. I found Jun's story the most emotionally charged of the whole drama, splendidly portrayed by Jae Wook, and the fact that they simply ignored his mental health issues and killed him off the moment he realized he wanted to live was unnecessary cruel and had the only purpose to make us empathise with poor Gyeom being alone again. Well, it didn't work for me.

Are you... me?!