Kaguya hime

As a huge Ryoma fan, I agree with everything you said.

It tried to be a childhood trauma thing, kinda like Byakuyakou, and failed spectacularly. Makiko's incident/trauma got glossed over in 10 mins. She "chose to move on". Oh, okayyyy, so other victims of the same type of incident don't, they just "choose to dwell" on it. That, was a total joke.

The relationships are a lot more complicated than I initially thought. It's very intriguing, still.

Makiko seems to be very manipulative or at the very least super insecure and still clings to this image of Junichi in the past. And maybe he does, too. The scene where she begs him to come and he initially wanted to then resisted the temptation might have been the best scene in the entire drama, so far, and the convo between Naoto and Junichi is the next best one.

To be very honest I thought there's a chance Naoto is actually in love with Junichi, not Makiko. LOL.

Unlikely. TBS tends to put their Sunday theater dramas (Sunday at 9pm) on Netflix (and even that's not guaranteed as I haven't heard of this season's Sunday drama Reboot being on NF either), but other shows are less likely. Last season, the same time slot as this drama, which was Jaa anta ga tsukutte miro yo was never on NF only Viki.

This is a TV Asahi drama, not Netflix, NF only acquired the right to broadcast but isn't involved in production. Japanese dramas are shown weekly and NF is showing it real time (about a 2 hour delay from Japan broadcasting time).

It's only available on Viki. I'm in North America and it works for me. Hope you can make it work with VPN, it's truly an excellent drama and though Ryoma does elevate his character a lot, on its own the drama has so much merit it deserves to be praised way more.

This drama and Ryoma have also been trending in Japan - it's way less well-known outside of Japan though and we need to change that!

The ending was certainly very brave. "They're the two main leads. Of course they'll get back together". Said all of us, yet the writer stuck to her gun and appeased no one. Makes it one of the best dramas ever for me.

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Someone else definitely would have a much harder time selling the character. He reminds me of Nodame, though not quite anything similar, someone else not Ueno Juri could have made the character super irritating. Usually I'd say script is more important than cast, but in cases where characters are potentially unlikeable, the casting is equally as important. I didn't know who he was before this and now I'm a solid fan.

Yeah I agree with you. I love them as a couple and honestly would be okay with them being back together. And that doesn't rule out them being together in the future. But for now this is the best.

A lot of people know Jdramas through live action (comedies/adventures type) and the acting is exaggerated intentionally, but I'm a fan of slice of life and family type of dramas, so I've rarely ever experienced overacting in Jdramas. Welcome to the club, hope to stay for a long time <3

I could do with either ending but honestly, after 6 (?) yrs of living together and not understanding each other AT ALL, getting back together after a couple months is a recipe for disaster.

We could see that Katsuo immediately relapsed into wanting to do everything, taking charge of Ayumi's business calculations. Given their personalities it would take a long time to get to where they can live with each other while being honest and transparent (Ayumi's end) / not pushy and respectful of boundaries (Katsuo's side).

Yes they are both loving people who share similar lifestyles/interest, and that doesn't mean they can't get back together in the future. But for now this is the best ending

Ps: there's a rumor TBS may make a special episode in 2027 ;) ;)

Pairings are nice for viewers but the purpose of the drama is finding one's self. Getting yourself into a relationship immediately after ending a long-term one is almost always a bad idea and defeats the purpose of "self-discovery"/"self-liberation".

I still hope there will be an SP in 2027 (this is the rumor) and hopefully that will be where we can see more romantic content bc this has, like, none. LOL.

Haha that's a fabulous point. You remind me about how Ayumi briefly turned it on and was like, not this crap 🤣

Lollllll I love how ridiculous it is. Like it's one thing if they just tried to do a normal melo 80s style drama, but the Mari's ex wearing seaweed rising from the sea and Shunpei rising from the dead thanks to Mari's onigiri just about had me dead.

All of your criticisms are valid.

First, I don't think this was meant to be a super realistic show about a relationship, bc if it was there would be a lot more dark moments, fighting and such, as is natural in a relationship. I don't think that was their aim. Their aim was a comedy that showcased certain reasons why people go their separate way. It's not necessarily about their past relationship, it's about moving on.

Your criticism of Ayumi is valid. Unfortunately she is a very real character and people remain married to each other for 30+ yrs without knowing each other. This is a realistic character and she's not necessarily likeable.

The being detached after losing her savings should have been handled better. Again, I think they try to avoid too many emotional/dramatic moments to keep the drama still fairly lighthearted. But yeah after losing 1 mil yen people do not act like that.

The onihara was definitely an exaggeration trying to make the point that anything can become harassment these days, it's hyperbolic. He also wasn't fired, he was just put on administrative leave.

I like reading all your comments bc they challenge my own thoughts on the drama, which I absolutely love but nothing is ever without flaws.

Yeah the rating isn't positive. It seems like you're still watching. What's your thought on it so far? I'm tempted to give it a watch but have so many things on my list right now I have to vet carefully.

The cast is incredible, I didn't think Fuji could pull that off tbh lol.

I think PP is referencing comparing other dramas of this season? Truly, with this type of cast, I expected more buzz. Compared to something like Jaa, anta ga tsukutte miro yo, Chotto dake ESPers, Chosen Home etc (the ones I've looked on MDL), this has way, way less discussion, AND it's on NF which usually facilitates more viewers.

I was curious about it too being written by Mitani Koki, and Nikaido Fumi is one of my favs, but so far the reviews I'm seeing aren't positive.

The best possible ending, not catering to anyone's wishes and feelings, and staying true to the core message. <3

Just finished watching the drama on TVer (has J-sub) and I have to say, I am entirely satisfied. It is the best possible ending.
It's exciting to guess who they end up with, but that defeats the entire point of the drama, which is people learning more about themselves, those around them, building friendships instead of (just) romantic relationship, and learning to be alone.

It has the best ending possible IMO, and a very brave ending that doesn't cater to a subset of audience just to please them. It's not an easy ending, but it is very, very brave, and very true to the essence of the work.

He's so great, thanks to Anta I've "discovered" him and now he's one of my all-time favorites.

Tsubaki has helped him a lot, but it's a team effort. The drama is trying to show that everyone he comes across - his coworkers (especially Minamikawa), Tsubaki, heck even Minato, and his siblings - are changing him for the better. She is an important person, but she is clearly not the only.

Also to note, I'm not really for or against any couple, and IMO that's what makes this drama so great. You could literally put anyone together with anyone and I'd be happy.

Ayumi still doesn't have the story she should have, though. As much as I love the drama and Kaho, she's a very under-developed FL, and we only have 2 more eps to go.