First drama completed in 2024! And what a fabulous start it was until it got ruined by a cliched ending. The first 7 episodes were a solid 9 for me, but sadly, the last few episodes took a turn in favour of unnecessary dramatic flair, making me lower my rating.

Pros:
- I really liked the main characters here! Ayaka was such a refreshing character (especially in the beginning) and I think the actress did really well in her role. Let's talk about the ML, I absolutely loved Togo, esp his hilarious expressions and the sound effects for him. Loved his character development. They were both pretty realistic and relatable, for the most part. They had "hidden caring personalities" but were jerks on the outside until they slowly grew to let the world see it. It was also nice to see the FL fight back with the same indifference/attitude as the ML in the beginning. They had good chemistry and I liked them together. Togo falls first and he falls hard lol I absolutely loved the slow mo "oh" moments when they realize they liked the other.
- There were some very funny parts that made me laugh out loud (during these parts you can tell Yamada was breaking character due to sheer ridiculousness of the scenes but those were my absolute favourites!).
- I liked how there were no second pair to distract us from their development and how they grew to trust and forgive each other realistically. Even the love triangle wasn't really a thing. I'm glad they also choose to focus on the family angle. There was some very interesting dynamics within the family that surprised me because it was different/not what I expected. I did love their families (minus the wacko mother-in-law, everyone else was wonderful). Plus the doggo! That was one hella well trained pupper and his development with Togo was so cute loll
- The attention to detail in the sets was fabulous, especially in Ayaka's home, like that place genuinely looked like it was actively being lived in by a large family with its ghibli-esque clutter. Also loved the growing collection of their pictures in their own home!
- I was really hoping/knew they were building up to planning a same-sex marriage so I was glad they did. I think they brought that in at the perfect time after establishing the importance of accepting all different types of marriages in the previous episodes.
- This was my first Yamada drama and oh boy did he grow on me so much omg I'm excited to see him in his upcoming movie Silent Love! It was already on my list of movies to look forward to and now even more reason to watch it! I did spiral into Hey! Say! JUMP after this and its safe to say I'm a goner. Seeing him dance in "Ready to Jump"??!! excuse me?? NO don't do this to me Yamada TT I was not ready for that
- This was one of the first jdramas I completed after my recent trip to Japan and it was so nice to see all the areas I recognized! I miss it so muchhh! Esp not my guy Togo looking absolutely gutted in front of a spectacularly clear view of Mt. Fuji TT

Cons:
- How did they think they'll get away with not living together tho?? that's wack
- Spoiler alert: Evil mother-in-law is eviling, I don;t understand why no one was stopping her.
- The conflict with Kamiyama unsettled me, like I understand the position he was in but I still think what he did was too extreme for them to forgive so easily? esp when after he did what he did, he literally went and told such a brazen disgusting lie to Togo's FACE??!! I was shook. I really liked him before but this made me see him differently the rest of the drama
- There was a lot of miscommunication or just lack of communication in the last few episodes between literally everyone which was wild
- they really did what I was hoping they wouldn't and had the useless breakup trope, LIKE WHYYYYYY when the evil mil thing started I knew it was leading to this "I'll break up with her to protect her" trope, TELL ME WHYyyyyy, aint nothin but a heartache TELL ME WHY, why they have to have the break-up then the time skip trope TELL ME WHy why couldn't they have had this talk 10 months ago and have saved everyone the painnnnnn, and this intervention with the mother should have happened long ago, I don't understand why they let it go on for as long as it did...like her behaviour? what a slap in the face for Arata
- sighssssss, I'll have to settle for a 8.5 for all this crazy mil/breakup business even tho I was enjoying it so much.

tags/tropes:
Evil mother-in-law, blackmail, lack of communication (in the last couple episodes), contract marriage, ML falls first, break-up, time jump

(Completed Jan 2024)