merie

Started great, then fell off.

I was mostly through this series after highly enjoying it... Until the whole kidnapping ordeal with the brother really left a bad taste for me. I literally thought it was a fever dream scene at first because of how out of place it felt with the rest of the series. The whiplash from happy-cheery family redemption time to that hot mess was crazy. I wish this series just stuck more to cooking and leaning into the slice of life/rom-com aspect, which I thought was this series' strong suit. To me, both ML and FL became irredeemable after that incident because of how they handled it. The FL and ML, who were originally super charming to me, became increasingly unbearable to watch because of how repeatedly stubborn and childishly upset they get. If I were to watch this again, I'd stop at the mark where Du Kai Chi and Ah Jie go on their aquarium date. That would've been the best place to end this series and I don't understand why they decided to drag it on in such a weird direction.

My least favorite character was Cheng Le Xuan at the start because of her competitive streak with FL, but she actually turned out to be my favorite by the end. She's such a refreshing character who shows a lot of growth and is a genuine sweetheart through and through (she was also done so dirty in the kidnapping situation, ugh).

Overall, I did enjoy the acting. I originally watched this for Puff Kuo and I was impressed by how she was able to so naturally convey the difficult, Du Kai Chi; a character whose personality seems better suited for animation because of how exaggerated and repetitive her grouchy mannerisms can be. Jasper Liu came off as a bit awkward at times, but I do give him credit because his character had to say a ton of cornball romance lines.

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It was sweet overall and the actors really sold it

Okay, I really loved this more than I thought I would!! The start was a bit slow for me, I initially wasn't really clicking with the FL, and ML's personality was too prickly. Storywise, it made me feel iffy that ML is so chronically in love with another woman, which seemed impossible to transform and justify into a believable love story between the FL and ML. I honestly almost dropped it after the first episode, but I'm glad I didn't! I actually came to really like the FL, she felt like a realistic character. For instance, I liked how the production decorated her room to reflect her personality, with all the little gacha toys, books, and trinkets. A working woman juggling responsibilities and having hobbies on top of her love life, very relatable and we love to see it!

I think this is my first time seeing Okado Akiha, and I enjoyed her acting! Takemura Kentaro is always perfect at playing the heartthrob in romances and he definitely didn't disappoint here. I think his character really played into his charms as an actor with the puppy dog personality, haha!

There were some oddities like the whole influencer twin thing, which I didn't think contributed much toward progressing the story. I also have a weird feeling about Miharu the whole time because she repeatedly did things and made comments to suggest that she had ulterior motives. On the other hand, I wish certain aspects were explored more, such as more backstory on why Shu fell so hard for Miharu and their high school days. Also, what made Shouko (she was so funny) have a change of heart about wanting to be with Shu later on? Overall, I highly enjoyed this series and the ending episodes got me blushing and kicking my feet. Good feels and a good time. For that, I give it a 8.5/10.

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