I don't know if I've watched any other collaborations between countries aside from this one. If I have, it's not coming to mind, so I will assume this is my first one. I liked it. The story was enjoyable, the leads were cute together, and this series made me really hungry. I liked seeing the sharing of culture and language. Also, I am a huge otter fan, too...very relatable.

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● SHORT REVIEW
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LIKES:
--I enjoyed the chemistry and cuteness of the main couple
--The second male lead was also very likable. Genuinely good guy. Adorable how easily he gets drunk
--The dynamic between Mahiro the chef and Gaku the researcher guy was fun and cute to watch as they developed.
-I enjoyed the cinematography of the bubbles and the rooftop scenes.


DISLIKES:
--For a researcher, I felt like the professor's concern for Tae Oh lacked any real scientific foundation. Maybe it's the illogical part of a parent's fear kicking in, but wanting to break up a couple based on just a children's book and one person's experience is extreme for me.
--Not enough otters

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● IN-DEPT REVIEW
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[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]

There was a lot of things in this series that I enjoyed and found really cute, otters aside. Our female lead gets hangry whenever she is hungry, which I found cute. It was also cute when our male lead was internally deciding if she was angry with him or not when snapped at him due to being hungry. Our male lead's thoughts and behavior was very cute in general. Very golden retriever energy. I enjoyed the pair's chemistry. From him sharing his food suggestions to their interactions, it was all very cute. The second male lead who got drunk super easily was also cute and funny. I loved the dynamic between the baker and the researcher guy.

Story-wise, my only real criticism is that plot with the storybook. While I understand that parents worry about their kids and that Tae Oh is like a son to the professor, the professor trying to break up the couple due to a storybook is very unlikely/unrealistic behavior. Idk, I guess I just feel like he's a researcher and would want more scientific evidence than one person's experience.

Other than that, I think everything else was either fine or cute. I saw a lot of criticism about the female lead's character but I didn't think she was frustrating at all. Yes, she is hesitant, shy, awkward, indecisive but it didn't really annoy me. A lot of the time, I understood her concerns. Plus, when you have an ability like hers to read mines upon eye contact, it can be scary. It's already scary enough to put your heart out there without the ability, reading thoughts makes it harder. And much more when suddenly, you can't read someone's thoughts because he's thinking in another language. Personally, female lead was very cute and considerate.

[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]

So the over-the-top anime dramatic acting style in romcom is actually pretty common in Japanese series, but it's also present in other countries' romcoms too. Some people like it and some people don't. I don't mind it, but maybe because I am use to seeing it. I don't look at that and think it's bad acting. That's usually a director's choice, usually for dramatics or comedy. So with that said, I very much enjoy the lead actors. They were both very cute. Both also very pretty people. I also enjoyed their chemistry and interactions. The supporting actors also did a good job.


[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]

Not sure if there were other songs, but the only song that I remember is "Omoinotake", which I liked. There really wasn't any scene where I felt any of the music was out of place or anything like that so the only thing I can really say is that there is at least one song that stood out to me, which I just mentioned. Is it something I would add to my own playlist though, not really.

[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]

I wouldn't rewatch the entire series but I would probably watch like the few beginning episodes again for their cute interactions.

[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]

I hope to see more collaborative works in the future and there may be some already out there I need to check out. I came in not really knowing what to expect and while it didn't blow me away, I still enjoyed the journey. I would say to give this a try. You may like it, you may not. I fall into the group that liked it. Overall, very cute, very funny, very sincere.

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● NOTE
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I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.

♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥