lovetune

There's no mountain Maririn can't climb with optimism and friendship by her side. Til the end, it was a feel-good drama with fun characters to carry it. Great finale that stuck to its guns. It's a lot for a fairytale to take on social issues, but I like that it was self-aware enough to approach them from a human level—to think about the individual happy endings rather than the societal ones.

Ikeda Junya's background in theater really comes through here with the staging of scenes, though there's also some inspired moments like that waterbowl scene. I want more! It's a fun concept.

Obviously nowhere near as good as the first season, largely because the first season was already a complete story, but the hijinks this season were gold (possibly even funnier than the first). There were moments were the directors genuinely just let the actors do their thing as the cameras rolled (like that hilarious "slo-mo" bit in the final episode). As a stop-gap release to lead into the movie I honestly think it was still infectious enough to be worth the watch.

Even though Mihoko is portrayed cartoonishly wicked, I like that she's never evil just for the sake of being evil. Even from the first episode, she makes it clear that she does what she does out of survival, because the odds will always be stacked against women. It's one of those touches that modernizes her character. Maneuvering the patriarchy is one of the key themes of this drama so I appreciate that it's got more than just one perspective on how that can be done.

What a great finale. The perfect trio of chapters to finish on.

Honestly, this show is a hidden gem. Funny and heartwarming with some creative twists on the format. Sorimachi giving off best dad vibes taking care of his rowdy kids. There were a few hints at more to come so hopefully we get a second season at some point.

So kind of like Love Kome no Okite, where a woman looking for an ideal romance gets to experience it with a younger guy who's (presumably) got a secret.

I feel like this show gets each better with each episode. It was pretty rough at the start but they've figured out what works pretty quickly, Episodes 5 and 6 got the right balance of try-hard humor and fluffy shoujo material.

There's a ton of silly stuff happening in the background of scenes so it must be a lot of fun to shoot. XD

That's 3 more Kamen Rider alums added to the cast lololol.

After weeks of hardships, it's nice to see things are finally turning up for the Higa family. 🤧

CHAPTER 16 WAS TOO FUNNY. Sorimachi Takashi and Fukuhara Haruka absolutely nailed their acting here. XD

The finale was so touching. Big straightforward emotions. That could be said about the whole series though.

ngl I teared up when Kurokawa introduced the trio to his mom as his friends. In the end, friendship is what saved him from making the same mistakes the chairman committed in his life and I'm glad they stuck the landing with that theme in mind.

Kawahara Eito is such a scene stealer lol.

Episode 6 made me cry so much. The scene of Shirakawa crying over her meal in the bathroom. Her thanking her younger self. The girls' friendship! (Thank you Tsundere Umemeoto for stepping up to the plate.) I seriously love this show.

I love how this highlights the social awkwardness brought about by traditional workplace culture, and does it by showcasing the ridiculous ways we get stuck in our own heads trying to navigate such situations. Just goes to show we're all human, even characters higher up the ladder like Chief Ishizawa and Chief Ebisu struggle with it in the funniest ways lol.

Yes, not all stories are heavy. Episode 2 and 8 deal with some darker subject matter, but the other ones just range from super fluffy to serious coming-of-age romance stories.

Shows that persist on the philosophy that "good food can solve any problem" are lifeblood to me tbh. I save episodes for my mid-week lunch time and I always get enough energy to finish the rest of the week.

Viki has the last 4 episodes.

I had no idea until after I watched. Unsurprisingly, she also directed the 10th episode which I added as one of my favourites.

I've noticed she's been prolific this year. I haven't gotten to watching her 2 dramas yet but I'm looking forward to it!

Yoshine Kyoko's robotic acting is so cute and it makes her small moments of genuine emotion even cuter.