From Me To You-2023 (12 episodes) version, adapted from a manga of the same name.

This is an understated ‘coming into yourself’ type of romantic drama. It is a high school story about a naive girl named Sawako learning to love and appreciate herself, and learning how to be loved and appreciated by others. It showcases the trust and communication of friends and family without being too heavy on the sadness, but enough to make you want to cheer for a good outcome for all of the characters. The pacing is just right, the cinematography was good, and the characters were well-acted.

I appreciate that there wasn't a bunch scenes where characters get flustered and start yelling in military fashion, as is common in many of the Japanese manga adaptations. The acting in this drama is much more natural than many Japanese dramas that I've seen. As a matter of fact, there are some characters and scenes in this that I want to label as 'not believable,' but in reality, there is nothing in this drama that couldn't actually happen in the right circumstances.

I gave episode 1 a rating of 10 stars when I started watching, and never had to change my rating for the subsequent episodes because they were all so good. It's not action packed, but the story consistently moves forward without letting you get bored if you are into the school romance genre.