Noriko

I honestly almost didn't watch it because of the age gap. But after seeing so many good reviews, I caved in and watched it. And honestly? It's such an underrated gem.

Personally, I don't think that it's a romance-focused dorama, but shows more the struggles of being a woman in that time period (which is set after WWII in Japan). It shows how a woman, despite her skills, is often doubted and looked down on just because of her gender. Because of this culture being ingrained in the FL (Ichika), even she thought that her dreams must have limits. However, with the encouragement and support (+ a little bit of force) that she got from Amane, she begins to see that she has a place in the culinary world. With this, she begins to inspire other women around her as well.

However, it does have elements of romance. While the age gap did bother me, I can see that both Ichika and Amane went into the marriage fully aware that it is simply out of obligation. Both of them pulled their own weight in the relationship and didn't have power-imbalances that are prominent in age gap relationships. But with time and after seeing each other's strengths and weakness, the romance started to develop. However, I do think that the progression of their relationship wasn't clearly shown well. To an extent I can get how Amane's feelings developed, but with Ichika it was less convincing because she was more dismissive of such feelings (which I get, because she thinks she's hindering Amane from realizing his own future and tries to ignore any developing feelings for Amane's sake). I guess that if it had more eps, they could explore the relationship further.

Production wise, it is SO GOOD.

Would personally recommend!