This review may contain spoilers
TW: Violence Against Children
A heartwarming series revolving around a Japanese-American woman learning that despite her racial and ethnic background, culture shapes people far more than anything else, and there's much for her to learn about being Japanese within the context of Japan. My only complaint is how they chose to finish the story, particularly as it resolved the romantic conflict. I'd say the drama was pretty well written up to the moment Sakura's relationship with Robbie ended, though I'd have prefered if she, much like him, also came to the conclusion that her stay in Japan had forever created a rift between them and the break-up didn't look so one-sided.
I appreciated that they gave her a time to mourn, after all she was in a serious relationship for quite some time, which also made her initial hesitation regarding Katsugari make sense. The shift where they understood how they cared for each other was both sweet and comical, everything was going well, and then we got the plot of her returning to the USA. It bothered me how the men, both Sakura's father and Katsugari, took away her autonamy by going behind her back and lying about important feelings, all to push her to accept a job offer far away from Japan. And even though Katsugari eventually was open about his thought procress, I was already far too annoyed that instead of using these final episodes to fully realize their romantic relationship, after Sakura spent more than half of the story with another man, they chose to do this instead, especially as Katsugari at one point used a teacher who liked him to fool Sakura, hurting two women at once.
Truly a shame, because Sakura and Katsugari are now one of my favorite asadora couples, their relationship was so easy-going, you can see how not only they're a couple, but they're true friends and partners, always being there for each other, in sickness and in health, and that's before even a relationship started between them, imagine how lovely they'd be if we had seen them actually together. So that's to say that I'm truly sad their love story wasn't wrapped up in a better way, but I'm still glad I got to see it unfold.
I appreciated that they gave her a time to mourn, after all she was in a serious relationship for quite some time, which also made her initial hesitation regarding Katsugari make sense. The shift where they understood how they cared for each other was both sweet and comical, everything was going well, and then we got the plot of her returning to the USA. It bothered me how the men, both Sakura's father and Katsugari, took away her autonamy by going behind her back and lying about important feelings, all to push her to accept a job offer far away from Japan. And even though Katsugari eventually was open about his thought procress, I was already far too annoyed that instead of using these final episodes to fully realize their romantic relationship, after Sakura spent more than half of the story with another man, they chose to do this instead, especially as Katsugari at one point used a teacher who liked him to fool Sakura, hurting two women at once.
Truly a shame, because Sakura and Katsugari are now one of my favorite asadora couples, their relationship was so easy-going, you can see how not only they're a couple, but they're true friends and partners, always being there for each other, in sickness and in health, and that's before even a relationship started between them, imagine how lovely they'd be if we had seen them actually together. So that's to say that I'm truly sad their love story wasn't wrapped up in a better way, but I'm still glad I got to see it unfold.
Was this review helpful to you?
