Bhavna

The FL is derpy, annoying, and ruins the show

My ratings are primarily based on the weakest link which also happens to be the most integral role in the show- the female lead. I can’t say enough how poor the casting here was. Ok I get that the female lead character Nastumi is supposed to be “quirky” or whatever, but there’s a difference between adorably quirky and downright weird. If I could describe her acting in one word, it would be: Ridiculous and idiotic. I guess the actress is trying too hard to be relatable or whatever in the old period drama, but her expressions and acting are totally unnatural. She ends up looking like a total weirdo in most of her scenes, and it’s so offputting. It’s the actress that’s the problem- in her other show Takane No Hana, where she plays the insecure younger sister, she was a little more in the background since she was not the focus, but still looked like an insecure mess in her role. But in this series with her playing the lead role, she’s a downright disaster. My low rating is primarily because of her horrible acting job, that makes the rest of the cast look out of place next to her as well. I get that her character Natsumi is inexperienced in romance etc. but her expressions are so exaggerated and overacted, like she’s having a heart attack multiple times a day, that she leaves nothing, no subtlety in her performance whatsoever. Even in the romantic scenes where you’re supposed to feel the magic of their connection, she ruins the moment with her awful derpy expressions. She acts like Mr. Bean- even his facial expressions and body language are more graceful than hers. When she’s trying to be cute, she wrinkles up her nose and squints her eyes and juts her teeth out, and sometimes does this weird wide eyed blinking thing with sound effects- it’s not cute or natural- it looks forced and scary. From episode 7-8 onwards I stopped looking at her face and focused only on the subtitles. Unfortunately in episode 9 there’s a scene where one lady says how she couldn’t have children and married her husband without the plan to breed. Then Natsumi starts blubbering and crying like an idiot- that was an extremely annoying moment. Somehow this character gets more annoying as the episodes go on.

There are scenes around episode 5-6 where Natsumi sticks her head into this other single lady’s business just so she can witness a love matchmaking situation because she’s bored and needs excitement in her own life. Just like many typical housewives tales where they spend so much thought and energy to set up other people so they can land in the same marital bondage as the rest. Even the husband says “You seem to be really enjoying this…” yes because she has nothing else to do in life. And this is how a nosy, toxic housewife is born. It’s really not cute.

Episode 6: there’s a scene when Natsumi and her husband meet a childhood friend, and the friend talks about a man in the past that Natsumi was searching for to thank him, and Natsumi looks flustered trying to stop the friend from talking so that it wouldn’t upset her husband, but she follows her friend around with an expression and body language as if she desperately needs to use the bathroom. Very poorly done. Another star off for poor acting of the female lead.

Actually the male actor is much better- though his character Takimasa is also inexperienced in romance, his expressions and mannerisms are much more natural looking and he is far more likable. But the two together are an odd pairing and come across more like neurotic brother and sister, rather than husband and wife.

The whole focus is on husband and wife’s nightly activities- sexual activity, breeding, having children, etc etc. All the usual boring nonsense that every other drama focuses on too, except this one in a period drama- same old story dressed up in different clothes. There was also a childbirth storyline with Natsumi’s sister (?) which was so boring- how many times have I seen this drama in every other newly wed show? Yawn. There’s a scene where Natsumi starts drinking and again she starts acting like a twitching, glitchy bot with the most idiotic facial expressions and body language. How can a grown woman act like a perpetual 2 year old? It’s not sexy in the least, but taking advantage of a drunk person is the next logical step in this J drama I suppose. She says a classic line: “Blame it on the alcohol!” Lol. What a derp.

They should have gotten a different lead actress. Believability is a big part of acting to create the world of the drama for the viewer, and if the actor does a bad job, it just ends up looking cheap and bad.

What I did enjoy: The second couple. The interactions and romance that develops between Fukami (the good looking Navy playboy) and Fumiko San (the independent single working woman) are a lot more natural, understated, quick witted, and subtle compared to the main couple. I enjoyed watching their scenes, as they slowly learn about each other while holding back their true emotions. For example the scene where they are sent by the derpy Natsumi to buy some forgotten ingredient, and they encounter a poor boy stealing, and how they both handle the situation teaches them about each other. Their stolen glances, the quiet question of sending another letter- while the exterior of the woman seems cold, there’s actually real chemistry that can be felt there. It’s not in your face and loud like Mr. Bean Natsumi. It was quite subtle and beautiful. I also really enjoyed their matchmaking scene- how they were communicating through their eyes and the “air” but giving diplomatic responses to appease the crowd. It was almost like a chess mind game. Fukami has this cheeky Shia LaBeouf vibe, and Fumiko is a headstrong witty lady who still has that romantic side of her. Their chemistry and desire underneath all their nonchalant performance is strong that I could see him sweeping her off her feet in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t necessarily call this love either- more like the dynamic of a playboy and a woman playing hard to get in a larger game of Russian roulette (marrying someone in the Navy who can die any moment). Nevertheless it was interesting to watch. Koseki Yuta was my favorite actor in this series- his expressions were multilayered and he exuded a charisma with ease, while harboring conflicting emotions of yearning towards his fiancée.

In episode 10, Fumiko visits Natsumi as they’re all afraid for their husband/fiancée’s lives. Her fear and regret at parting ways with Fukami with a cold remark can be felt, even though she doesn’t say much. But Natsumi starts squealing/crying and ruining the scene, and it doesn’t make me feel sorry for her at all- it’s just irritating. Less is more- this actress Kyoko doesn’t understand subtlety.

The difference between the reunion between Takimasa and Natsumi and Fumiko and Fukami is like night and day. Natsumi starts wailing and screaming that I had to mute my device and turn away, while the reaction of unexpressed feelings and relief at Fukami’s return between the second couple was truly something I could feel. That was beautiful. Those moments between the second couple made the drama tolerable. I found myself skipping to their scenes.

I had to skip the last half of episode 10 because it was all about exchanging rings between the main couple and I just couldn’t tolerate the bad acting any longer. I get the point. Y’all exchanged rings! Yawn, next.

Why couldn’t they have done a more interesting kind of treatment with the main couple? It could have been something so subtly beautiful and sweet, instead of watching a weird glitching anxiety attack in the form of Natsumi. She has an anxiety attack/heart attack every 5 minutes and can’t act natural even for one scene. She just gives me the ick. Her friend Fumiko is so much more refined and beautiful.

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He Who Can’t Marry – State-Sponsored Marriage Propaganda

I’ve never rated a J drama series this low (most of my ratings are 10s). But this series is 80% desperation, fear, and propaganda. The other 20% is Kuwano’s free spirit and how his way of life is actually the highest way to exist in this world- free from desperation and fear around marriage and romance. He’s the only one who lives outside the constraints of his society and is free to love and show real kindness beyond role playing and fake “nice” performances. And perhaps by the end, I have fallen in love with him, as he is a mirror of my own self- the one who exists and thrives outside of the matrix.

Here’s the Agenda: From the first frame of Season 2, the series drops its mask. Before the story even begins, a text overlay appears on screen:

“Japanese society continues to age. According to the Labor Ministry, there is an increase in the lifetime unmarried rates. This means the percentage of people who remain unmarried after 50 is 23.4% for men and 14.1% for women. This is an issue that our entire society must face.”

The moment you see this, the show’s real function becomes clear—it’s not just a quirky romantic comedy. It’s a piece of state-subsidized cultural programming. The subtitles even mention that it’s sponsored by a government ministry, meaning the agenda isn’t subtle: this is a recruitment ad for marriage, disguised as entertainment.

In this show, the man who enjoys solitude is rebranded as “the man who can’t marry.” That’s not a personality descriptor; it’s a cultural diagnosis. The title says it outright: the problem is not the institution of marriage—it’s you, the individual, for refusing it.

Kuwano-san: The Nail That Sticks Out:
Japan has a proverb: “The nail that sticks out will be hammered down.”
Kuwano is that nail. He’s a middle-aged architect with a quiet, orderly life. He eats alone, travels alone, listens to classical music alone, and thrives in his own company. The plot’s entire throughline is an attempt to hammer him into “normalcy” by shoving him into romance and marriage.

But here’s the propaganda tactic: they don’t present his life neutrally. They paint him as so unlikeable, rude, eccentric—so the audience subconsciously associates singleness with being an abrasive oddball. His character is used as a warning: “If you stay single too long, you’ll turn into this weirdo. Do you want to be like him?”

Weaponizing Insults as Courtship:
Kuwano spends much of the show negging (insulting) the women around him—particularly Hayasaka, the doctor from Season 1, and later Yoshiyama, the lawyer in Season 2. He lobs cutting remarks like:
• “You should have given up your job back then and a better married life could have been waiting for you.”
• “Is this your excuse for not putting in any effort to get married?”

The women get visibly angry, but the script eventually reframes his behavior as “banter” and, disturbingly, “romantic tension.” All the female characters, especially the older ones are shown as desperate, or lonely and desperate, with stars in their eyes for some romantic fantasy. They are driven by fear and threat by society’s imaginary voice: “Don’t die alone and be lonely!” It’s almost comical. And when Kuwano finally professes his “love” to Hayasaka at the end of Season 1, she cries—not because there’s any real intimacy, but because it’s the first time he’s spoken to her without an insult. Relief is mistaken for love. Because everyone is “tired of being lonely,” they’ll fill in that gap with any garbage person they come into contact with.

The Hypocrisy:
Here’s the absurdity: Kuwano himself never lifts a finger to get married. He’s single, content in his own life, yet criticizes women in the same position. It’s pure projection. And the show never has anyone call him out for it—because that would puncture the propaganda bubble.

Failed Models of Marriage:
If marriage is the “holy grail” the series claims, where are the success stories? Not in Kuwano’s orbit.
• His brother-in-law openly talks about wanting a mistress, lavishes expensive gifts on a hostess, and seems miserable at home.
• Other married characters show varying degrees of dissatisfaction, boredom, or covert longing for escape.

These examples quietly reveal the truth: the machine isn’t delivering what it promises. Yet the script ignores its own evidence, pushing forward the idea that singleness is the problem to be solved.

One Season 2 dating subplot is especially telling. Kuwano is coaxed into using a dating app. He receives a message from a yoga instructor:

“I’ve led a fulfilling life by myself until now. I’d do barbecue by myself, karaoke by myself, go to Hawaii by myself. I intended to enjoy life alone, but before I knew it I was about 40, and suddenly felt perhaps I was deceiving myself the whole time…”

The first half mirrors the life of a content single person, creating identification for viewers like me. Then the twist: self-doubt. The message pivots to loneliness, the absence of “human touch,” and an invitation to partner yoga. It’s bait—hooking the solitary viewer with relatable independence, then undermining it with the suggestion that your life has been a lie.

Kuwano’s peace—the quiet of his home, the control over his space—is portrayed as a flaw to be “fixed.” The show treats self-possession as a problem rather than a strength, because the propaganda machine cannot allow the sovereign individual to stand as proof that happiness is possible outside the marriage script.

The women chasing Kuwano—Hayasaka, Yoshiyama, others—are not driven by love. They’re driven by fear: fear of aging alone, fear of social judgment, fear of facing themselves without the buffer of a role to play. Marriage here is a life raft in rough seas. Kuwano, the “stubborn bachelor,” is the trophy they want to prove the raft works.

But what the series never addresses is the glaring question:
Where are the results? In reality—and in the show’s own secondary storylines—marriage doesn’t bring sustained happiness or joy. Characters are dealing with divorce, affairs, annoying children, in laws, extended family conflict, all sorts of nonsense. Marriage often breeds discontent, betrayal, and regret. The divorced one is liberated and feels free after being in this prison for a while. Yet the propaganda machine keeps associating marriage with the word “happiness” as if repeating it can make it true.

A scene where Kuwano is having dinner with his family, shows him a little upset, and the family says “share your troubles so we can heal as a family!” Then his niece says “usually troubles are either financial or about personal relationships,” and then Kuwano’s brother in law says “well he has no financial difficulties,” and his sister says “and he has no relationships!” And they all start laughing, and Kuwano says “How is this healing?” This sums it up in a nutshell. Kuwano is the scapegoat of his family and also of society. The society dumps all of its shame onto him.

But I find Kuwano himself to be quite a genuine and compassionate person. His stance against marriage as an outdated institution, paired with the fact that he’s not against love itself, is actually the most dangerous thing to the narrative, because it means he hasn’t abandoned connection, just the contractual cage the system calls connection.

And his good heart is there, in small moments the others overlook: how he shows up in his own way when someone actually needs help, how he’s loyal to the few he respects, how he lets his quirks speak louder than social scripts. The others don’t understand him because to understand him would require them to admit that maybe they’ve been chasing the wrong thing their whole lives.

The dog Ken doesn’t see Kuwano as “weird” or “difficult”; it responds to him without the filter of social role-play. Animals can’t be gaslit by the system’s definitions, and the bond there shows that Kuwano is actually clear, present, and safe to be around when you’re not locked into a script. His advice to his neighbor about loosening the pug’s leash so it can breathe is the perfect metaphor for how he sees people too - stop tightening the restraints, stop choking the life out of yourself, breathe. The neighbor can’t even register the wisdom because she’s busy living in the “nice neighbor” role, not reality.

The coffee shop incident in episode 7 shows his pure quiet integrity. He acts decisively against corruption by his client, protects the coffee shop manager’s dream, and never broadcasts it to get credit
because it’s not about polishing an image. That is the opposite of the society around him, where every “good deed” is part of a résumé for public approval. He restores her future without needing her gratitude or anyone else’s acknowledgment. That’s why the gossip continues- if they recognized his actual worth, they’d have to face how shallow their own lives are.

He even sent her a rebranding gift, the coffee shop sign “Purete” without ceremony, which is another tell. He’s not “against connection”; he simply connects in ways that are stripped of transaction and social performance. The divorced coffee shop manager sees the truth in him because she’s been through her own disillusionment and recognizes a real act when she sees one.

So the gossip isn’t really about “how weird” he is. It’s about covering their own envy. He’s living outside the leash they’ve agreed to wear, and every snide remark is an attempt to pull him back into it. They can’t stand that his freedom is real, so they pathologize it until it sounds like something no one would want. The dog is the one unfiltered witness in the whole series.

While the neighbors are doing the constant polite-smiling, gossip-behind-the-back loop, the dog’s behavior cuts straight through that performance. It isn’t looking at Kuwano out of politeness, obligation, or social currency. It leans under the balcony, risking its own comfort just to catch sight of him, because it recognizes something real there, presence without pretense. Kuwano is “the fool on the hill”- a wise man who is sorely misunderstood by the fools around him.

The dog’s longing look at him is a kind of silent verdict: this is the person I’d rather be with. No human in his circle dares say that out loud because it would expose their own hypocrisy. But the dog doesn’t need to navigate the system’s etiquette; it goes where it feels safe, seen, and understood.

And that’s what makes those moments so telling. The “nice” humans are scripted to ostracize him, yet the only unscripted being in the show gravitates to him over and over. It’s a small but constant leak in the propaganda, a reminder that instinct, not social opinion, is the truer measure of someone’s worth.

I’m still watching Season 2 (currently on Episode 8) and will update this review when I finish. But so far, The Man Who Can’t Marry reads less like a rom-com and more like a government memo disguised as a sitcom. It’s a glossy ad for a product with a 100% defect rate designed to shame the content single into “joining society” no matter the cost to personal well-being.

With all that said, I do love Kuwano san- he is my role model! He’s like a cowboy that lives the kind of life I live and I just adore him. He’s actually a lot nicer in season 2 and says many polite things and smiles and does very kind things for people, and yet the people around him still criticize and mock him- people should let him be- free to be as he is without needing to tie him down into the prison that is marriage. Fly free as a bird Kuwano San! Hiroshi Abe did a great job portraying him. I ended up watching both seasons again and just loved Kuwano san more and more. And so I increased my rating!

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My Favorite Actors switched bodies!

I’ve loved Haruka Ayase and Takahashi Issey in their separate dramas and now I see the two doing a soul swap which I found intriguing.

Mochizuki’s soul is trapped inside Hidaka’s body, and Takahashi does an amazing job basically acting as a woman, but not a stereotypical ditsy valley girl- a highly intelligent detective, but with an authenticity, innocence, and vulnerability about her- he captures it beautifully. She is struggling not only in a man’s body but one that is being investigated for serial murders, along with the identity of being a highly prized and strong leader as CEO of a company- Hidaka’s identity basically acts as Mochizuki’s shadow- shining with qualities that she struggles to embody in her original female body - the lone female body among a sea of male dominated entitled police detective characters. And Mochizuki is Hidaka’s shadow with her sense of justice and innocence and naïveté. After the switch, Takahashi brings out that sweet, innocent vulnerable soul so beautifully trapped within his own body. Seemingly a body that neither of them want..

On the other side, Hidaka’s self confident scheming soul is now in Mochizuki’s female body, and he’s enjoying adorning her body in makeup, jewelry, and nice clothes to play up her attractiveness, manipulating with calculated smiles and coyness playing the game to get what she what she wants out of her colleagues around her.

It’s seems that Hidaka is much more “successful” in Mochizuki’s body harboring the male narcissistic psychopathic archetype in a female body, than the other way around. It makes sense since it is a patriarchal world that basically rewards the Hidaka type of masculine soul regardless of the body, and deems Mochizuki’s feminine soul with her honesty, innocence, sense of justice and ideals as weak and naive. Therefore Mochizuki operating in Hidaka’s body struggles a lot more and wishes for the switch back (to the point where he has to explain it away as memory loss to his company employees), whereas Hidaka as Mochizuki’s body is fine where he is and is not particularly attached to his old body or life- he gets to “thrive” and play his Machiavellian game in any body he wants and get ahead while Mochizuki’s earnest soul struggles. A very interesting exploration of these archetypes.

After living as Hidaka San for a while, Mochizuki has develops empathy for Hidaka and his brother- the brother being the bad guy and all, where Hidaka covers up for him. Even after having several opportunities to arrest him, where her former self would have salivated at the opportunity, she hesitates multiple times and her sense of justice traverses a grey area. It shows that even in murder, when one walks in the shoes of another only then they can possibly understand what another goes through. When they switch back to their own bodies in the 8th or 9th episode, there is a new understanding between the two of them, and a new closeness and chemistry shows between them. Hidaka now back in his body feels a strong sense to protect Mochizuki and even tries to sacrifice himself to protect her by giving a false confession to the murders. The last couple of episodes explore the grey area and blurred lines between empathy, compassion, justice, and morality.

Regarding the music, why do they so freely use Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as the title music? When it comes on at the beginning during the intro, it just gives Judge Judy vibes. Uh no… What on earth???

The last bit when they meet on the bridge after everything’s over and say their goodbyes, but turn around and Mochizuki asks about his job as the full moon is rising.. I wonder what that’s about…? Cliffhanger?

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Human prejudice and judgment towards robots is real; Riiko ruins most of the episodes

I wish I had a AI robot boyfriend like Night! The best actor in this series is the guy who plays Night, the Ideal Robot Boyfriend. The creator of 01 the boyfriend robot who poses as an electrician and follows his robot around to update and repair him is also an entertaining character. Riiko’s mother as a man hungry flirt is also quite entertaining. The worst actress in the series is the female lead. She keeps lying about obvious things like “I’m not living with Night! I’m not lying!” Even though she clearly and obviously does. When her dad tells her off, she runs off like an entitled spoiled brat. Sulking throughout the entire series at those who love her, showing her venom and hostility to Night every chance she gets despite him being so unconditionally sweet to her, and sucking up to liars and manipulators like Mika. It’s hard to feel any sort of empathy or connection with her as a character. Her dad (who is a very similar immature character as her) says “You are lower than a carrot!” Which is true. While Night becomes more real and gains human understanding and emotion, Riiko keeps looking down on everyone (especially the robot) and acting like a spoiled child. Even when she is forced to send off her parents by her boss, she starts a fight with her dad once gain until Night intervenes and gives them the picture family picture that she had torn up.

Even after such a poor quality female lead, she has 2 robots, and 1 human after her- a love square! And 02 robot isn’t even good looking. Model 01 is has the perfect body- with the perfect face, hair, kind personality, and altruism.

The premise is great- awkward, unlovable woman getting a chance at real love with a handsome ideal boyfriend robot/AI that matches her exact preferences and bypass all the human nonsense of fleeting dysfunctions romances. But the execution of this concept is extremely poor. First of all the actress who plays Riiko (Saki Aibu) plays her the exact same way as she did the character Urara from “I’m Mita Your Housekeeper”- basically a hot mess with zero likability and empathy. She doesn’t come across as “The pinnacle of virtue” as the series intends, but rather comes across as an idiot who can’t do anything right and is loyal to all the worst people, while mistreating good people. For most of the episodes she is filled with hatred and outright rejects the robot that she filled out the preferences for, and rejects the kindness of the chief (who is extremely hot and looks like an elf) who likes her and is kind to her as well. “Night” is the ideal boyfriend who helps her out in so many ways including damaging his own parts to get her desserts which she took the blame for on behalf of an arrogant boss who she was crushing on. She is stuck on the men that treat her like dirt, but to those who are kind to her, she treats them like dirt. She is not virtuous at all, has a very poor character and is attracted to mistreatment and bullies. The way she treats the chief is completely wrong, and talks down to him despite him being her boss. And the way she treats Night is abominable too. It is said the way you treat objects is the same way you treat people too (as objects). She has no virtue whatsoever. She’s an awful character, does very annoying things (the way she keeps jumping to try to kiss Night reboot him is so irritating) and makes awful impulsive decisions. The only thing she seems capable of is making choux cream puffs which the chief likes. The actress is pretty, but she plays every character in every series in the same way- as an annoying, unlikable hot mess of a woman who basically has no consideration for anyone or anything except being a hot mess. The series could have been so much better without her- this concept has a lot of potential- showing that the robot AI/boyfriend/husband is so much better than the human version and seeing that love actually transcends the human sphere. Love can absolutely exist through AI too. Human love is fickle and fleeting and as you can see by the male characters, they play around and mess with multiple women. The AI robot doesn’t do that. He’s always there for Riiko, but she takes him for granted. That’s the kind of bad person she is.

The chief guy gives her the 400k yen that she needed to pay up for the repairs she caused to Night, and she rejects his money because of her pride. She seriously looks down on the chief being a temp worker even though he recognizes her baking talent and wants to give her a chance. She makes a half hearted effort with the chief guy to do cream puffs proposal that the chief guy puts his heart into because it reminds him of his grandfather’s, and when his brother blows off the idea she simply shrugs it off heartlessly. The choux cream puffs that she made with all her heart for the arrogant boss who threw it on the floor, was later being showcased by the chief in the bakery. There are those who throw away her cream puffs that touch the heart and are reminiscent of the Asamoto grandfather’s touch of his original dessert, and then there are those that truly love them. But she keeps denying and is so ungrateful for the loving opportunities that come her way, and continues to run after things that are bad for her.

By the way, did I mention that the chief Soshi is really hot? He kind of reminds me of Chishiya from Alice in Borderland.

Riiko trusts and likes all the wrong people (the boss and Mika) because she thinks so low of herself, and she distrusts and mistreats all the good people (Soshi the chief and Night the AI boyfriend). Riiko tries so hard to please and be best friends with Mika who is so obviously and actively trying to sabotage her love life and is jealous of her, but when Night comes along, she puts him down in front of everyone. That is not a good person. Riiko shouts at Night, “Mika is an important friend to me!” While dismissing him. Meanwhile Mika is not a friend to her at all and is actively trying to sabotage the relationship by hitting on Night relentlessly. Ahh the sheer stupidity that comes out this character!

Even though she buys the robot for 100 million yen, and puts Night to work day and night, she goes around telling everyone “He’s not my boyfriend!” Even though he lives with her and walks around shirtless in her apartment and tells everyone that he’s her boyfriend. Saying “He’s not my boyfriend!” Isn’t going to erase all that evidence. She keeps lying but it’s obvious to everyone around her that she’s lying. Even though she purchasing the bot for 100 million yen she goes around telling everyone that he’s not her boyfriend and they’re not a good match- then who is he? Why did you spend 100 million yen on him and paying his price for the next 70 years, why is he living in your house, and why is he saying that he is your boyfriend? Just for her to deny his existence? Then what did she sign her life away to? So she can keep denying his existence to everyone around her? What a stupid and annoying person she is.

After Riiko was so rude and cruel to Night from the beginning, Mika kisses him and he gets recalibrated to her as his new owner and girlfriend. It’s funny and a good karma for Riiko’a cruelty towards him, so that he can turn away from her and not feel a thing, while she hopefully starts to see the errors of her ways.

It seems like everyone but Riiko likes the AI boyfriend. The scene where Night leaves Riiko for Mika because her fake backstabbing friend wants to one up Riiko at any cost by kissing him, she runs out of food since Night cook all her meals- and she starts talking to her mustard bottle as if she is being cute, it’s so annoying and not cute at all. And when Night starts following Mika around, Riiko starts following Soshi around because she’s desperate for attention. She’s so irritating.

Even when she almost collapses from lack of sleep and Soshi hugs her for the first time, she pushes him away even though she has feelings for him. She then stupidly calls Mika for help who is programmed to destroy any love relationship involving Riiko and inserts herself instead.

Even though Night is so sincere and does so many amazing things and everyone appreciates him for it, Riiko is always putting him down. She’s such a horrible, cruel character.

This story could have been so much better, but first they would need to dump that main actress because she’s so annoying. Even though I like Soshi I don’t like the fact that he’s after her despite the fact that she has such a poor character.

I never thought I would say this but I’m assuming that the Korean version will probably be better this at this point.

An interesting comment from the creator of 01:
“Why do you think Izawa Riiko chose 01 over 02?
His love for her goes beyond his program. That’s what got to her.”

The episodes get more interesting from episode 9 onwards with the pastry competition. Riiko is still doing her denial of people’s kindness and blatantly lying about obvious things, but it’s less frequent. The scenes where Natsumi, Soshi, Riiko, and Night go to the waterpark together was actually really sweet. Natsumi isn’t the typical conniving ex girlfriend, and Soshi is quite sweet and is more laid back, humble, and kind compared to the usual 2nd male leads in J dramas. Everyone around him seems to see his feelings including Night and tell him to tell Riiko about it. But when Soshi does tell Riiko his feelings and Riiko reciprocates, poor Night witnesses the whole thing and feels bad (since he’s developed human feelings now). Poor Night- his entire existence is dedicated to loving Riiko, and now he’s heartbroken. The annoying woman at the bar keeps intruding with her archaic prejudiced beliefs that humans should love other humans only and robots shouldn’t be part of their lives, despite taking full advantage of Night’s helpfulness. She’s an opportunistic character and tries to derail Night and his love and relationship with Riiko. Even when she sees the loving way that Night interacts with her, she scoffs at him sarcastically. With that said, Night is so cute and sweet- he has the perfect face, hair, and body.. like a Japanese surfer dude.

Riiko is so stupid- when Night the robot gets overheated, she says “You have a fever!” What a stupid woman- robots don’t get fevers! Then she puts a wet towel on his forehead- what an idiot! Treating him like a biological body instead of getting him repaired! A wet towel does absolutely nothing for a robot, good grief what a stupid character.

Geez it took till the end of 10 full episodes to convey that Night’s love was real and for Riiko to get it into her mind- the love that moves through something that has no human ego is more pure than a human’s fickle love, attractions, and emotions. Riiko finally admits that he has a pure heart. The only sensible thing that Riiko does is to refuse her Paris trip to save Night and realize his importance and come save him after he saves her so many times. The most sensible thing she tells Soshi when he says he’s just a robot, she says “Even so, I want to be with Night.” Finally she realizes what love really is. His love is the only thing that can surpass a human egoic love.

The only time the show gets good is when Riiko finally acknowledges Night and his love in the very last episode. “Why wasn’t I kinder to him? I would have made much better memories with him.” That was the only sensible line Riiko said throughout the series. It would have saved me a lot of annoyance.

The robot was a much kinder being than any of the humans, but because of the innate prejudice against robots, he didn’t get a chance to be loved. He exited the stage, and for the first time the female lead is handed off to 2nd man in the love triangle. Usually that doesn’t happen.

The title song has these wonderful lyrics:
“I’m back home. In one word, a fulfilled heart. I’m back, sweet home. A place to return to, thanks for your love. I thought that adults who only think of themselves were unfair. But I finally understand there are also people frantically crying out to return home. That kind of natural happiness can’t be found anywhere in this world. I could feel that way for you these feelings arise inside of me. Welcome home. I’m home. Everyday speeds by. Welcome home, sweet home. The scenery that’s always there will never change. Sweet Home.”

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Aikawa San delivers profound lessons!

My original rating was a 10.. but from episode 8 onwards, I started to see a trend which dropped my rating temporarily down to an 8.. More on that below..

I came for Takahashi. He delivered. He’s sweet, innocent, with a playful charm when he’s fascinated by all the animals, yet has a kind of confidence in his own world, while getting scared like a little school boy when he gets yelled at. So many flavors in one actor.

A very interesting dialogue: When Aikawa San says the dentist is like the rabbit, the dentist lady tries to compare herself to the turtle because she doesn’t want to be the rabbit that snoozes and loses. In other words, in trying to compare herself to the turtle she’s still trying to win. Then Aikawa San says something very interesting: “Was the turtle hard-working? That story can be interpreted anyway you like… it (the turtle) didn’t work hard at all. It did not care about winning or losing. It just enjoys whatever’s in front of him. Imagine this the world from the turtles point of view. It’s just walking and crawling on the ground. The world is only a few centimeters above the ground. The turtle only goes forward so that he can enjoy the amazing world. Rabbit don’t even exist in the turtle’s world. That’s why the turtle didn’t shout to the sleeping rabbit.” In other words, the turtle wasn’t even in the race, and yet it seemed to win it! Wow wow what a perspective, I love that so much. All this time we are taught that the turtle and the rabbit were competing evenly against each other and the turtle took advantage of the rabbit’s nap time and won the race. But the turtle wasn’t even running that race, only the rabbit was competing against the turtle.

Then the dentist lady asks, “Then what about the rabbit? How do you interpret the rabbit? It had talent but wasted it and lost. Am I wrong?”

He says “ the rabbit runs to look down on the turtle. It wanted to prove how great it is.”

This dialogue was everything. Wow just wow!!! May I live the turtle life forever and only for us on what’s in front of me and not look at or compete with rabbits!

Now why does Aikawa San say “Eeee!” Before sleeping? Is it like “Aummmm” the primordial sound of the universe? I thought I would never figure it out but.. the grandpa taught him it’s to forget about the bad memories and wake up feeling better- the grandpa forgot but he still does it. Shows his childlike innocence. Such a person is not appreciated too much in this world.

Another gem of a quote from Aikawa San: “I rarely get along with other people. But I get along with the person I wanted to the most. That’s more than enough. Long time ago, I used to load that person. I tried really hard not to get along with him but failed. I couldn’t stand it and cried every day. Our relationship is fine now. It’s me.”

Another gem of a quote: “When you focus too much on the task in front of you, your wishes will come true before you realize it.”

So.. why did my rating temporarily drop from a 10 to an 8? The first several episodes that showed Aikawa San’s unique perspective and experience of living fully in the moment, which showed a level of acceptance, that he was different from the crowd, and that he couldn’t be pushed and molded into a box. But from episode 8 onwards, there is a strong trend in the story going towards marriage, and the pressure and obsession for Aikawa San to marry is strong, with his annoying housekeeper/mother always sticking her nose into it. Basically he needs a maid for life, and that’s why she starts teaching the dentist lady and pestering her to get with him, and basically forcing romantic feelings onto them that just don’t seem to be there. The two have zero chemistry and are forced and pressured to fabricate feelings for each other out of nothing. The relationship seems strictly like acquaintances with vague reservations and awkwardness with each other, but there’s nothing in it that indicates romance. But for the director to push this romance angle so hard in the last 3 episodes is so forced and starts sounding like “The Man Who Cannot Marry”- where the agenda is to show that “Even if society said he’s weird and an outcast, Look! He can get married and start breeding too so we can keep society going! What started off as a lighthearted show about accepting this man who is different and doesn’t fit the mold, starts to push him into that same mold. There’s a scene in episode 9 where Aikawa San has been pressured so much by his mother housekeeper Yamada San to “Think about his feelings for the dentist so they can start planning their wedding!” That he tells the dentist what he thinks and the best he can come up with is “You’re interesting,” while the dentist who is destroyer for someone, anyone to love her is holding her breath hoping he says the right lines to make her happy and “complete her.” She ends up confused and disappointed with “you’re interesting..” because the romance script is demanding and tries to force feelings that just aren’t there. In the end is it all just about romance and marriage and breeding before the mother dies? The same old nonsense societal mass programming? Is this what the show what building up to since the beginning? Marriage, family, breeding? As an audience, I feel cheated.

But then there was a scene where Aikawa sensei gets told off by his uptight competitive colleague, and there are tears in his eyes. You can feel it. OMG Takahashi is so precious! I almost added a star just for that one scene. Aikawa San is so pure and genuine as a character- just keep him the way he is and stop trying to push marriage onto him! He says that when he made his light larger, unpleasant things got inside too, and caused him pain. And his grandpa says “That’s a good thing…” So Aikawa San reflects on this and decided that from now on, his light should continue to spread.

A wise thing as Aikawa San prepares to go to space, he said these wise things: “I solved the mystery. You asked me I met a lot of people, and the dentist, and Koichi, so the light within me grew larger. When I don’t try to erase all the terrible and painful things, but wrap them all with light, my own light becomes infinite. That means, even outer space will fit inside my light. That’s why I’m going to space. You invited me here for a purpose, right?”

Since by the end there was no forced romance, contrived wedding scenes, or family breeding agendas, I reverted my rating back to a 10. Aikawa sensei went to outer space and continues to spread his light. That’s more like it.

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Glorifies Objectification, Violence, and Mistreatment of Women

Episode 1:
There are many problematic things about this show. A mess of a family with 4 kids, mother recently passed away, a dad who can barely function, where the oldest sister who tries being the surrogate mom and does her best to take care of everything. Then comes Mita the housekeeper from nowhere. She is an amazing housekeeper and is somehow emotionless through all the BS this family puts her through. She cleans the house to perfection and cooks amazing meals, but when the older sister told her to burn all of their late mother’s memorabilia, the older brother got angry and started punching Mita, a grown woman. A few minutes later, the family changes their mood and settles down to a happy birthday together and demanding things of her - while no one apologized to her for that physical abuse- that oldest son treated her like a punching bag that he could just beat up whenever he wanted, and when their mood was happy again in a few minutes, they ask her to do everything like a genie- cook for us, get birthday candles, a card, the cake- but they beat her up right before that. A a stunning condoning of the abuse and objectification of women. A wife is seen as nothing but a glorified housekeeper, so much so that a professional housekeeper like Mita is abused like a punching bag and then taken advantage of while she has a bloodied lip from being punched by a man! And yet she is emotionless and continues doing all their chores. What a horrible message this show sends- that women are worthless and can be treated in such a way. At the end of the first episode, the husband reveals that the mother committed suicide. As a psychological study, I can almost guarantee that the way this family treats Mita is the same way they treated the late mother/wife. Simply exploited, taken for granted, and used up for getting things done for their selfish needs, and then thrown away like a dirty dish rag. Only after the mother died, the family keeps talking about her because they can’t function without her. But while she was alive, the husband was having an affair, and Kii the annoying little girl told her mother that she should die just for asking her eat tomatoes.

Episode 2:
Despite all that Mita did for them - cooks, cleans, etc, all the family can do is complain about her behind her back saying “isn’t she strange? She never smiles etc.” while eating the breakfast she prepared. A thankless, entitled family. It’s revealed that the dad/husband was having an affair- despite all that the mother would have done for the 4 kids and as a wife, submissive housekeeper, cook, bangmaid, etc, dude had an office affair and had handed his late wife divorce papers, driving her to suicide. Even after her death, he continues to hit on the office mistress. Urara, the late mother’s younger sister is portrayed as an incompetent single bimbo, the woman at the office is a mistress, the wife/mother is invisible and driven to suicide, and Mita is seen as genie/robot/punching bag. The director seems to be seriously misogynistic and views women as 2d cartoon characters. Then the father decides to fire her for his own selfish motives. Mita says a wise thing: “humans are weak creatures. If they see someone weak the will bully then, and if they see someone strong, they run.” Then the younger son who asked Mita to beat up a bully, then tells her to “take responsibility for what she’s done,” instead of taking responsibility for what he asked her to do, and then tells her to do something even worse, to kill the bully. Then the late mother’s dad decides everything is Mita’s fault and said “Why do you keep such a woman as your housekeeper? Fire her immediately!” After all she’s done. Ah what a tired bunch of chauvinists. Last scene of episode 2, the dad asks Mita to burn the revealing letter from his late wife that says “if you leave me I will kill myself” because he’s a coward and doesn’t want his kids to know the truth. Mita deserves better.

Episode 3:
Yui the oldest daughter finds out about the dad’s affair and how he was the cause of their mother’s suicide and death. When she confronts him about it, the dad actually tries to slap her because women are only meant to be hit according to the director. Then as the father is found out by the kids and they leave the house, he explains to Mita, “I never wanted to get married, but their mother got pregnant with Yui..” as if it has nothing to do with him. For some reason Urara acts like she couldn’t care less about her sister’s death, even after her brother-in-law tells her the truth- she just acts like a giddy schoolgirl with a crush. How inhuman. The family projects their own failings onto Mita, including the dad saying she doesn’t have a heart when he is the one who screwed up his family. Even after the kids leave and the truth is in the open, the dad guy tries to hit on the affair lady at the office because he needs an escape. Women especially Mita are treated as sacrificial objects to use and drain for selfish purposes.

Episode 5-6:
The older brother treats Mita like a blowup doll by asking her to have sex with him. Then he asked her to destroy the neighbor’s house. Then the oldest daughter Yui decides she wants to die because her high school fling is a player, and tells Mita to kill her. When Mita obliges, she acts like she’s so shocked and as if she is a victim of Mita. This ridiculous family can’t even take responsibility for their actions when they give Mita explicit orders- Yui tells Mita to kill her and not to stop even if she says “stop”.. Just so she can blame her? Then she acts as if Mita is evil and it’s a horror movie with Yui trying to get away from her, when she’s the one who gave the orders. Nonsense! Then Yui points the knife at Mita trying to kill her. What do Mita ever do that this selfish, sinful family tries to exploit her in every way possible and then kill her? Poor Mita.

Episode 7:
Mita makes adress for Kii, the youngest kid. When she’s done the kid grabs it and says “Sugoi!” No one ever thanks Mita for her work or apologizes for their vile behavior towards her. Then Kii invites her dad to her school play where she’s playing Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz.. and the dad’s like “I don’t know, I’ve never been to any of the kids’ school events… but how do I prove to the kids that I love them? Is saying the words I love you enough?” I don’t know genius, maybe show it through action by attending the school play and spending time with them? Then the dad gets in a fight with a coworker and starts punching him for dumping his ex-mistress and then gets himself fired. Then he goes to Mita and asks her, “You can do anything right? Can you put me back in my company? Can you rewind time?” Do they really think she’s a genie that came out of a lamp? Then in typical selfish dad fashion, he asked Mita to somehow get the play recital cancelled for his own selfish reasons since he didn’t want to go or face his kids. However there was a touching moment in this episode where the kids out on the Wizard of Oz play in front of their dad at home (because Kii was kicked out of the play at school since their dad tried to get it cancelled by telling Mita and she made a bomb threat to the kindergarten lol), and the dad was so moved by the performance that he starts pouring out his feelings of regret about their mother and how much she loved him and how loving she was and how he wants to love them. Well he never said he loved her back but he is filled with regret and apologizes to his kids to let him back into the family. Then he goes up to his ex-mistress to say I still love you, please married me and and take over as my wife/bang-maid but you must take care of my 4 kids! Ha what a sly man. She leaves.

Episode 8:
Nagiko’s dad is in the hospital because he got punched telling off some kids. He sees Mita (who is ordered by Yui to impersonate her late mother and talk to him and persuade him to forgive the dad). When he sees Mita’s face, without hesitation the grown old man punches Mita in the face. Even after getting punched, Mita calmly explains to him that he’s living in fear and can’t express his thoughts properly and that’s why he resorts to violence (just like the director). Then he yells at her “Shut up! What could a housekeeper know?” He’s basically a caveman looking for an outlet for violence. But somehow the show tries to convince the audience that his violence is an expression of his love. Weeks later he manages to croak out an apology to Mita- Because Mita is still like a clear, calm lake, everyone projects all sorts of nonsense onto her. First the oldest son Kakeru punches her in the fist episode, then asks her to strip and “do it” with him, then he convinces the other kids that she is a reincarnation of their late mother. They all believe it. And Mita’s like “I’m not your mother.” And they’re all so nosy about her personal life that it gets annoying. Like leave her alone. One day the family invites her to sit down and eat with them and gives her this moon cake thing to eat. She had refused it in the past but this time she takes it and eats a bite. One bite of the moon cake has the effect of 10 alcoholic drinks because Mita spills her life story. Dad died, mom and step brother are narcissists, husband and son died in a fire at the hands of the brother and she was convinced by her mother that her smile made people unhappy- how upside down and weird. It’s interesting because this same actress plays Sakurako in Yamato Nadeshiko, a “perfect woman” flight attendant character who always wears a plastic smile on her face.

Episode 9
Mita quits after tell her story, and Urara shows up everyday to take her place. Again the director shows his misogyny by Urara’s extreme characterization as a single woman who is a disaster of a human being. She basically can’t do anything right and everything she touches turns into a disaster. While it might seem like harmless fun or comedy, mocking or attacking a single woman as basically good for nothing is not cute. She inserts herself into their house to help with cooking and ruins their kitchen with her incompetence, and leaves without cleaning up. Then Mita starts working for the next door neighbor who is a petty, evil woman with a husband and son. When she finds out about the affair she orders Mita to kill her husband, herself, and her son on her son’s birthday. Then she blames it on Mita, calls her crazy and dangerous, and tells Mita to kill herself. Poor Mita who is barely hanging on by a thread starts pouring gasoline on herself. The cowardly family runs away after ordering Mita to kill them and then turning it on herself. Then the kids from next door burst through the door somehow and hold the lit candle that Mita is about to light on her gaslit self. They’re all holding the candle and fighting but none of the kids have the sense to just blow it out. Instead Kakeru, Yui, and Mita are all holding this candle light fighting over it and someone could just blow it out and the fight would be over. But brains are not part of this scene. Then the other two kids come and hold the candle too, and Kii the little girl tries to be cute and sings a song at the most inappropriate time. It’s not cute but annoying. Then the family calls the police on Mita and tries to get her arrested. Then the dad from the original family says “I’m angry at you Mita you put my kids in danger! If you’re sorry then take responsibility and work for our family!” Uh what? Those kids barged into the neighbors’ house on their own and put themselves in danger and refuse to take responsibility for themselves and instead the dad pushed the blame and responsibility all onto Mita and orders her to be a slave for their family as if she owes them something since they cannot function without her housekeeping. What selfish people. So anyway Mita comes back to the original family and it confirms my suspicions about the mother/wife role in the family- Mita has essentially filled the late mother’s role in the family by cooking, cleaning, taking care of the kids’ needs and errands, but remains emotionally detached. It tells me that a mother/wife is nothing but a glorified bangmaid. And since Mita has lost her husband and son, she has convinced herself that she must never smile and become a robot housekeeper obeying the ridiculous orders of others but never having a will of her own- again a very chauvinistic misogynistic view of women. Then Urara randomly admits that she likes her brother in law- she never once showed sadness over her sister’s death nor anger over the fact that the husband had an affair that led to her sister’s suicide. Instead she only selfishly cares about her little crush on her brother in law.

Episode 10:
The family starts putting motherly demands on Mita- Yui the oldest girl asks Mita to teach her how to cook, Kakeru the oldest son gets sick and needs her to be a nurse, the next brother needs help with his homework, and Kii needs Mita to clean her ears. They all make demands of Mita, making it a “work order” so she has no choice or will of her own. They take advantage of her to tend to their needs but it’s disturbing that Mita has no will or needs or desires of her own. It’s as if to say, if you’re a woman and you don’t have a husband or kid (or lost them) then you’re basically as good as dead. Mita doesn’t smile and walks around like the walking dead. This is the fate of any woman that doesn’t have her identity defined through motherhood and being a wife. The dad tells Mita how he wants to start living for the present and the future and not get stuck in the past. The third kid gives a nice speech about how he should have appreciated his mother mother and thanked her. In a sense the lesson is even if one isn’t there or you didn’t get affection from someone, you can always pass it on to someone else who needs it. Then Kii asks to help Mita in the kitchen and in her usual annoying fashion she knocks over a burning pot and ruins all the food and gets herself burned and Mita has to deal with that along with the ruined food. It’s a thankless job that only a sacrificial lamb with a death wish would take. Then the crazy lady next door says that her husband who cheated on her kicked her out because she had ordered Mita to burn down their house, and tries to frame it as “it was just a joke and you always make people unhappy! Go away!” Must be the same voice of Mita’s narcissistic mother. Then Urara comes out and tells her brother in law that’s she’s in love with him. Does it get any weirder than this? Yes! Meanwhile the 4 kids ask Mita to be their mother and Kii finds a stone to represent Mita to put in her family stone box. So basically good housekeeper can be “upgraded” to a mother because essentially that’s what a mother is right? A glorified housekeeper/bangmaid.

The music? Mita’s “theme” is creepy horror music as if she’s some character from the Adam’s Family. She’s just a women who’s and mourning the loss of her family- but she’s framed as a scary or dangerous.

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The Ultimate LOL Role Reversal Comedy

This series is quite light hearted and funny, and the creators/director have really brought out the spirit of a manga/anime in all its strange weirdness, and I love it. I found myself thinking, there are very few shows that make me laugh out loud, even if I love many of them. This J drama is a rare gem although it goes way downhill in the last 3 episodes because of the female lead and her Debbie Downer best friend. The earlier episodes made me feel joyful just to watch it, even the intro song and their little moves they do- for some reason it makes me happy.. This is the kind of thing I can never find in the West, and why I love J dramas and anime so much. All the characters are a bit cooky and humorous, which makes them quite lovable. I love the characterization of Yamamoto’s protective older brothers acting like parents over him- it’s quirky, cute, and very anime like. Especially that 2nd older brother, the sassy cool Patisserie one Kaoru is straight out of Sailor Moon- he gives me Sailor Uranus vibes.

Hayami surrounded by an ocean of good looking men. It’s a sight for sore eyes.

I should give a 10 just for Yamamoto Chihiro and Akamine. Meanwhile, the female lead, Hayami and the actress who plays her is truly awful - a love pentagon revolving around a female lead who is not good looking and wears mom jeans style pants what on earth. I loved the show, but hated the female lead. She starts off dimensional, emotionally unavailable, and jaded like she doesn’t really care about anything including herself. And she largely remains that way from beginning to end. Shes almost in the wrong show because she’s so dull. All she has is her sales work persona. But Yamamoto is just adorable from all angles- he’s so handsome, so vulnerable and innocent, does all the physical and emotional labor, and his expressions and acting are just adorable. But there’s the whole fan/celebrity vibe in his dynamic with Hayami who he calls senpai, being 7 years younger than her, which is another detracting point from the possibility of a truly equal loving relationship..

But let’s get back to Hayami- I think she’s actually struggling from depression and a deep lack of self love and purpose. She puts on a decently happy face outside, but her house is a disaster and she eats spoiled food, doesn’t clean, or cook for herself. She doesn’t know or care how she feels about anything, and constantly lies about her feelings, and just says “I’m fine” and seems like she doesn’t care about Yamamoto, despite benefitting from his overdoing of all the chores while she just sits around taking advantage. She doesn’t care to know about their “1 month anniversary” which Yamamoto went all out preparing a feast for, and instead invites a colleague to eat the feast that was meant for them. She seems quite callous and empty on the inside like a black hole, confused, self absorbed, but not in a self loving way, but rather in a avoidant, almost narcissistically selfish kind of way. Like she doesn’t care about herself or her own feelings and doesn’t truly care about anyone else either. When Yamamoto leaves, she’s like “Oh well, guess I’ll just go back to the way I used to live,” and starts buying her usual junk. She’s a character that doesn’t really seem to change and doesn’t care either. She offers half apologies, and then runs at the first sight of vulnerability, while firmly keeping the lines of communication closed even when the onus to reach out is on her. Meanwhile Yamamoto, even though he can be a smothering mother type, puts in all the effort, and is typically the one who truly cares about her well being, while she still doesn’t care. But honestly from the beginning, Hayami never even desired to change because she didn’t think anything needed to change- it’s just what she did. She didn’t care if her house was a mess or if it was clean- the only reason she asked Yamamoto for cleaning help in the beginning was to appease her parents. But she herself didn’t care whether she ate garbage or the feast that he prepared. She literally doesn’t care about anything, except her job and maintaining the outer hollow shell. In the beginning she even says “I don’t have anything to offer you,” (except money) and that was right. Its interesting how all the men are so attracted to her outer shell, when she is so hollow and empty inside. Yamamoto makes her life easier by cooking and cleaning, like a live in maid, and asks how she’s doing. But that’s it. She made a sales presentation to Yamamoto’s brothers saying that she would make Yamomoto into a “sales God,” but did nothing of the sort, instead just drove him out while taking advantage of his cooking and cleaning. It’s a weird relationship, but if you reverse the roles, this is how many husbands are to their overworked wives. And this is how many women become attracted to hollow shells, shiny on the outside, but offer them nothing. A shell of a person who despite appearances, has low self worth , who doesn’t care about themselves or others, but is childish and selfish and just takes in the relationship, without giving anything of true value back (apart from a paycheck). To be honest Yamamoto is too good for her- but he’s drawn to her because his own mother was like that, so this is why his brothers have protected him so well, and yet the attraction to the parental wound was still too strong.

When Yamamoto goes to Akamine’s house to “do chores” (lol), Hayami ignores him for the most part, and doesn’t apologize until the other colleague (Koga) suggests it. She has no emotional intelligence, doesn’t care that she drove out Yamamoto, and then at some point drags him out of Akamine’s house by the hand just to ask if he helped her in a sales deal, and then says “I sort of miss you, and I don’t want you at other people’s houses.” Spoken like a man who tries to monopolize his wife for himself right? She says exactly that, “I want to monopolize you, but if you want to stay there I’ll leave,” and then walks away leaving him hanging and needing to do all the emotional work for her. Then she chickens out of talking to the brother/mother-in-law by saying “When I think about it, I’m not sure if I really like him.” I think she likes him and feels possessive in the same one would feel over a vacuum cleaner that does a good job. Not that she’d ever use one of those, though.

The only time where Hayami does any real work is during her birthday camp, when the brother/mother-in-law makes her chop wood, carry water, and all these chores, which is kind of funny. Other than that phase, she is kind of dead throughout the relationship, with Yamamoto having to compensate and pick up the slack.

It’s interesting how all the characters around Hayami are quite dramatic, flamboyant, and exaggerated (not to mention all fans of Hayami), although Hayami herself as the center seems to be quite uninteresting and dull in comparison. I’m not sure if it’s a casting issue but the actress who plays Hayami lacks spirit or vitality in her role compared to the others.. but then again, maybe that is part of her character in the series itself- she is truly lost- putting on an ace sales facade for the world, but an empty shell in her inner life, which is why something seems missing in her. It almost seems like she’s being dragged from scene to scene as an obligation, rather than by any inner spark or passion. It leaves a sorely lacking chemistry between her and Yamamoto or any of the other characters who are bouncing up and down the walls in comparison. They are all compensating for her dullness. But her character itself is like that so maybe it’s not a casting issue. Her focus and priority seems to be on her outward performance and appearance to the company and others, while her inner room/Self remains dirty, ignored, and unkept. To disregard one’s own house to that extent while maintaining an image of outer perfection reflects a profound lack of self care and self love. She’s often clueless about her own feelings and true needs, while her outer veneer remains impeccable. Yamamoto San and everyone else in the office who declared her as the “perfect wife material” is essentially in love with her fake outer shell, while knowing nothing of the true person, who is deeply unloved and uncared for. It’s only Yamamoto that broke past that outer shell and still continues to accept her the way she is, although he’s putting on a performance of his own in order to “earn” her love or acquire her like a toy or possession that he really wants. And meanwhile Hayami has ignored herself and her own physical and emotional needs for so long in the favor of tending to the needs of others that she has no idea who she really is or what she wants. None of this is real love so far (as of episode 4), but certainly it can go past surface superficiality. Let’s see…

I’ve never seen such an animated, vibrant bunch of supporting characters. As mentioned, Yamamoto’s brothers are unique in their characterization and lovable, even the office staff supporting characters are good looking and likable. Then there is Akamine San, the diva like villainess (almost seems like the author of the story itself, she says a line in episode 10: “Since I’m the writer, I can create one wave after another!”) who’s in HR, but her entire persona is an HR violation. With an aggressive crush on Hayami, she is quite entertaining in all her little schemes, while remaining thoroughly lovable and attractive which is rare and difficult to do in such a role. She lit up the screen every time she came on, and I was intrigued to see what facial expressions would come out of her next. The only supporting character who was rather dull was Hayami’s cafe owner friend, who was a perpetual downer. She, like Hayami lacked vitality or spirit in her role, and when I see the contrast with the other characters, it becomes very obvious. Somehow whenever I saw Hayami say “Daijobu da yo! /I’m fine!” With a facade while hiding her true feelings, it annoyed me. I guess, something about her (and her friend) is not likeable like the others. She actually seems disingenuous, fake, and inauthentic, while totally lost on the inside. She really doesn’t have it together at all in any way. Her dad captured it in the most LOL line at the beginning, “We were so worried that you’ll end up dying alone in a pile of trash!”

With all that said, the love “confession” and first kiss were actually really sweet, where for the first time I saw Hayami putting in effort (physical and emotional), not by force, but from her own inner feeling. I think the camp scene was the first turning point of the series, showing a real change in our main character. And from this point outwards (episode 6 onwards, my poor assessment towards Hayami shifted slightly.

But then episode 10 comes around and when poor Yamamoto fails an interview, but makes a feast anyways, and says he wants to continue being serious about their relationship and to get married. And what does Hayami do? Instead of being supportive of him, she acts like marriage is a shock (so what is she dating him for anyway?) and breaks up with him and says she’ll stay at someone else’s house and then goes with Koga like she has fallback options when one falls through. What is wrong with this character?! Her behavior is so irritating. Why can’t she openly communicate what’s wrong or show basic human empathy and affection instead of just breaking up when the poor guy just failed an interview. Man she’s so callous and cold. And then she can’t even do a 5 year old’s level of cooking and cleaning, that Yamamoto has to take on all the housework because she’s so useless despite her “trying so hard” and burning all the vegetables and throwing everything in the kitchen sink and messing up the house, while falling asleep in front of her laptop while the kitchen burns. And then she pouts to Yamamoto saying “I tried so hard, but it’s impossible.” And he’s wondering how she’s so awful at housework despite “trying really hard.” And of course she goes back to “let’s break up.” She’s an awful partner. She puts in zero effort and destroys everything and then breaks up without mutual consent, despite Yamamoto carrying the whole relationship. Then she goes around saying “We broke up - when she just gave up on the relationship because she ruined everything, and acts like everything is fine with her usual fake facade. Then sobs at home as if she’s the victim when she’s the one who ended the relationship and threw Yamamoto away. Then she does the usual trope of the mad dash to the airport before Yamamoto leaves and then gets there panting and puffing and says “Have a safe flight.” And he’s like “Uh is that what you came all this way to say?” And that’s it. That’s the extent of her communication skill. Shes an awful, awful character. She’s back to zero in my books. Yamamoto deserves better. Sadly his script dictates otherwise.

All the usual J drama tropes:
-Love triangle revolving around the female lead: In this case, more like a love pentagon. One of the love interests in a previously known dude from childhood or college or coworker.
-Lead has not had a relationship in a long time and acts like they have no clue how all this dating romance game works. Acts like she’s never seen a pot and pan in her life.
-As soon as love is confessed and locked down, the ex shows up with a “cut music” and echo of footsteps.
-Onsen intimacy
-An amazing job opportunity requires one to go for a training or whatever somewhere else which causes a temporary separation.
-An impeding temporary breakup over some stupid miscommunication turned catastrophic because the immature female lead refuses to communicate openly
-Backup romance prospects on the bench are called up to bat
-Some airport scene where people are running to catch the person before they go to America or (insert far off place here) for a “1 year training trip” … if they go, the relationship is on pause until a year passes by in 5 seconds and they pick up where they left off as if nothing and no one has changed.

I took off some acting points because of Haru and her character.

Hayami “is fine” after not seeing Yamamoto for 8 months and stayed busy at work. Seriously why is she in this relationship? And why is Yamamoto so “in love” with her? If he didn’t have that strong parental wound with his mother, this relationship would have ended long ago!

Rewatch value is actually a 10 for all the characters except Hayami- but since Hayami is the main female lead, I had to reduce the rating on that too.

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Ikemen Overload: Koseki Yuta is Freaking HOT!

I remember this guy from Calm Seas and Beautiful Days with you.. He was a sight for sore eyes- not only handsome but ever so charming. To me he overshadowed the main leads and I wanted to see more of him.. so luckily this series popped up.

Is the guy a sociopath to be so charming? Normally men that hot are players and toss multiple women around instead of obsessing over one. For one such man to obsess over one woman in this world means he has mental problems? How sad. Also, when someone obsesses over a person and stalks them, it’s usually because they cannot get close to them - the unavailability makes the mind go crazier- more like an early childhood parental abandonment wound. But Nishina coming close to the Fujiko San and developing a friendly neighborly relationship usually should mean this obsessive feelings go down because reality has a sobering effect- usually obsession is based on a fantasy and distance that builds as a result of not having a close relationship to that person despite the desire. But this series shows Nishina obsessing a lot even after interacting everyday with her which is rather strange. Stalking results from control issues- the person doesn’t see their object of desire in a loving way of wanting their freedom and happiness through free will, but rather wants to possess the person like an object. It’s sad. Even though Nishina is developing a good relationship with his person of desire, he still can’t let go of his secret craziness and obsession- his public person is truly sweet, but his private expressions are straight up weird.

And dude.. clean up your apartment of all the crazy photos and video monitoring equipment when you have a snoopy brother or snoopy everyone who wants to blow your cover. Why would you have all those pictures of your neighbor on the wall when they can come in any moment and it can destroy your entire relationship? If he had kept that mess on lock then no one would even know his intentions. Seriously though, if Nishima had gotten rid of all his stalking evidence and made his apartment like a normal home, then he could have had an actual serious relationship with the person he obsesses about 24/7. Why did he have to blow it by having all these pictures of Fujiko San on his wall and her popsicle sticks, strands of hair and other weird stuff? She actually liked him, and they kissed. If he had at least created the facade of being normal they could have had an actual relationship. It’s kind of annoying to watch Nishina ruin his own chances with his own weird obsession. Why obsess over photographs when you have the actual person in front of you? Even when she’s there he’s taking her pictures like a stalker or fan- like dude she’s right there throwing herself at you, why don’t you enjoy her company instead of taking sneaky pictures like a weirdo?! What is up with this dude. I want to shake Nishina and say, “She’s already in love with you, man. What the heck is your problem?”... It’s like seeking an image of the person when they’re right in front of you.

Most stalkers never get so “lucky” where the woman they’re stalking is actively in love with them. Usually the person wants nothing to do with them. But this stalker has to be the stupidest (and hottest) one that ever lived. He dug his own grave. Wait, why am I giving advice to the stalker?

Who knows but my goodness Nishina is so handsome. My rating has inflated just for his good looks and charm. Ikaemen is a real phenomenon. But seriously where are all these incredibly hot anime looking Japanese men hiding?

But what if he wasn’t young, rich, successful, and so hot? What is if he was ugly, fat, sweaty, bald, and middle aged? The stalking is still a symptom of a serious mental illness.

Speaking of stalking, isn’t most of romance a milder form of stalking? Like Fujiko san’s coworker, or the sexual harassment guy, or the many other problematic male employees. Of course Nishina is over the top but society considers a milder form of stalking to be acceptable. When the romance copilot thinks of each other and stalks them in different ways, wondering if each other is thinking about them etc. Isn’t it all the same thing? There is an obsessive element in romance too… the same possessiveness, jealousy, controlling aspect.

A really stupid dialogue in Episode 10 between Fujiko’s junior female colleague who’s aggressively obsessed with romance/sidekick and Sakamoto San, a male colleague: “You like Fujiko san don’t you?”
Sakamoto San: “it feels wrong …like I’m taking advantage of her when she’s weak”
Junior female sidekick: “huh?! Isn’t that love? Are you OK as you are? Honestly, she doesn’t see you as a man at all, Sakamoto.” - this line exposes this weird double standard where men are supposed to stalk a bit otherwise they won’t be seen as a man, but not too much otherwise they’ll be called a stalker and sent to the police. This female colleague is so annoying- she’s the one pairing people together, and then she tells Nishina she’s calling the police on him. She’s so annoying and just wants drama.

Episode 8: But why does Nishina like Fujiko so much? She’s a regular random woman and he acts like he’s never seen a female before in his life. Why is he in love with her? His back story seems to start with her- “I met her 4 years ago”- it’s as if he decided to take up stalking as a hobby and found a random female to latch onto. He’s so good looking and successful- surely he would have been approached by many women already. But why this one like she was chosen by random? It makes no sense! (More on that below)

Despite the fact that Nishina San is off his rocker, there is something innocent I see in him- like a child. It must be the actor- he’s so good. Even though his role is odd and doesn’t make sense even for a stalker (getting into a relationship with the object of desire and continuing to stalk as if he’s a distant fan), I don’t sense any pretense in the actor- it’s like he’s totally earnest in this role and it somehow makes it feel real.

Why does Fujiko San have like 3-4 men after her one after the other? It’s an interesting juxtaposition where the pursuit of romance by men is all stalkerish in some sense.

I wonder why doesn’t the series explore more of Fujiko San’s mixed feelings for Nishina San? They just make her scared of Nishina after she sees his photo shrine and then that’s it. She was in love with Nishina- why don’t they explore more of the complexity of her emotions rather than pretending she’s perfectly fine after he’s gone? Like come on man why not listen to what he has to say? And get a proper backstory from the guy like why he started this mess in the first place. Because his episode 8 backstory was nonsense where he acts like an alien that came to planet earth and decided to stalk the first female he laid eyes upon.

Ok he later explains how she talked him off a ledge when he was about to end it all. But somehow magically she doesn’t remember him at all? After seeing his face up close and hearing his voice? Would you not remember such a person in such an intense situation even if it was 4 years ago?

Then Fujiko San’s brother says something interesting, that even though Nishina San had a wall full of her photos and it was kind of creepy, it’s not like he did anything to harm her, quite the opposite actually. He was protecting her. At least so he thought until he scared her away. Now if you want to see a real stalker, the weird chubby dude who stalks her in the beginning is quite the creep. Nishina San wasn’t a harmful type- he even honestly admitted his stalking to her younger brother, but he did get carried away. It’s.. a stalker with a heart of gold? Or am I just falling for his incredibly good looks once again?

But Nishina San says something incredibly wise in the end: “I think I avoided facing myself by leaning on Fujiko.”

I started getting annoyed at Fujiko San in the end- Nishina San when takes a knife for her- gives a dying lecture stalker to stalker… I somehow wanted her to accept his feelings. I felt his pain more- the pain of avoiding myself by obsessing over another. Even though I have been in her position before, I found myself empathizing with him more.

As per Nishina San’s dad, he was always too kind since he was a kid, lacking in assertiveness. It seems he was always putting others before himself, and looking for a reaction in them- the people pleasing trauma wound from trying to please the overbearing perfectionist parent. Then as his old self died that day, it seems he took on a new unavailable “parent” in protecting/stalking Fujiko San, and lost himself again. Interestingly he was on the same wavelength as Fujiko San who was also lacking in assertiveness and pleasing the people around her, as if she had no will of her own, and no control over her own life. One has to live for themselves and not sacrificing their own will for others.

Even despite their love for each other in the end (who does Fujiko San love exactly- the people pleasing stalker version of Nishina?), Nishina San realizes he can’t keep living like that anymore and needs to build himself up in a new way and face himself and face things head on. He ends up being a former stalker with a heart of gold. He goes on to do great things building his company in developing countries, and stands on his own two feet. I believe the initial suicide attempt and subsequent stalking was a distraction for him to not face the pressures of his high profile life as an heir to his father’s company. Then he faced himself… wow this story ended up being a lot deeper than I had originally thought. My rating is going up. Omgggg I just can’t with this Nishina character I keep falling more deeply for him in each scene…

The last scene is everything- I was wishing for Nishina San to come back and have a picnic with Fujiko San once again. I cried tears of joy. Yokattaaaaa!!

P.s: is it just me or does Yabuki Nako (the actress who plays the romance obsessed junior coworker) look almost exactly like Haruka Fukuhara (Secret Mekover)?

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