Freespirit1221

Only Japan can make a drama like this. They are best at bringing the most realistic aspects of human life that a lot of people can relate to, at least it's for me, and they do it so naturally. "Quartet" has a similar vibe with one of my other favorite Japanese series “Life’s Punchline”, which is also a great slice of life drama, with a little bit of mystery elements.

I relate to every character and their story. The series has brought to life the real people, without any filter. They are the people we can meet in our real life, with all their strengths and flaws. Four main characters are a group of oddballs with different personalities. Together, they form a found family under the name of a quartet. I really love their bonding. It is just so beautiful. Their daily interactions with a lot of bantering are the light of the whole series.

What I love the most about "Quartet" is its concept of a found family. As someone who grew up in a dysfunctional family, I always find comfort in the concept of a happy family or found family, and I got sick of the typical trope where 'family is family and we should stick together no matter what'. In this series, there are no toxic family members that we have to meet if we don't want to, just because they are blood-related family members and everyone says you should meet or take care of them. This message is directly implied in the conversation between Maki and Suzume at a restaurant near the hospital where Suzume's biological father is. People around Suzume kept telling her to visit her shameless father, while Maki just told Suzume to go home with her after knowing that Suzume didn't want to do that. She also said that the members of the quartet are family because they share the same house, use the same shampoo and wash their clothes in the same washing machine. How beautiful that is!

I think that one of the reasons why the members of the quartet meet each other and form a new found family together is that they all have problematic families, besides being weirdos. Maki and Suzume were also the ones who ran away from their biological families to start a new life. All of them are each other's home. They are the imperfect pieces in an imperfect found family, yet no pieces should be missed out. Just like how a doughnut can't be a doughnut without a hole, Quartet Doughnuts Hole can't exist without the flaws from its members. Their first meeting at the karaoke is really a destiny.

Another thing I love about this drama is that there is no romantic couple between the main characters in the end. Although it's painful to watch their unrequited love fail, I think it's very realistic. It happens in real life. Not everyone can be with the person they love.

I love that music and food are included in this slice of life series. It adds a lot to the story. I enjoyed every piece of music played by the quartet. I love how imperfect it is, as well as how imperfect and weird our characters are. I relate to them a lot, as I'm a weirdo myself and also someone who chose to stop chasing a dream as an artist and kept it as a hobby instead, with a quite similar reason. In my case, I grew up in an Asian household and was forced to study hard in academic stuff. I love painting but haven't had any proper art class. I don't learn any techniques professionally, and I think my paintings are not something people would want to buy. I also realized my love for art quite late and was stuck with regrets for a while, when I wanted to become an artist but also thought I couldn't live on my art skills. I didn't really want to learn properly either, as I love the way I paint. When I decided to keep it as a hobby, my heart became more relieved. I also met a friend with a similar situation, and we often meet and talk about arts and life. I will call her my quartet sister from now on. :)

At the moment I am still trying to figure out what I really want to do and what I can do well. I'm kind of in a career crisis, and I'm not at the position I really want to be. I haven't found my ikigai. I feel I've been stuck in a comfort zone for too long. I want to start over again, and there are a lot of things I want to try. Other people say I'm not that young to keep experiencing things, but I'm not okay with being stuck like this anymore. My quartet sister says I can do it. She also has things she wants to try. I think we will be fine. I think we might do some workshops together in the future.