Gigi

I sadly felt that it was all very by the books, the challenges that the female experienced to accomplish her dreams were predictable, the mother-in-law was a typical "monster-in-law" and the male lead didn't do enough to step up and create boundaries, and the portrayal of Japan's position in WWII was the same as always.

So I was very disinterested in the story, until the very end. Near the end we see a PTSD plot come to light that I was very excited to dive in, because while I watched dramas that touch on the ramifications of war, it's usually don't in a digestible way, here we see the male lead completely close off in a way that felt natural considering his experience with violence and death. The problem is how fast they wrapped this plot, especially considering how they took more time to develop the past predictable plots. I appreciate the conversation of disability and how it ended with the understanding that parents should make sure their children with disabilities can be independent, and despite being a sucker for happy endings, I liked the female lead's tragic life, because it went against the by the book aspect the asadora had from the beginning to me.

Overall, it was an average watching experience, which is why my rating is a 5.