Debu to Love to Ayamachi to! (2022)

A cute rom-com with important themes!

I saw this drama being recommended as "a drama with a plus-sized FL who isn't wearing a body suit and who doesn't lose weight at any point of the story". I can confirm that it fits this description, and I'm so happy it was produced! I really hope to see more stories like this one in the future.

- The main character is just SO lovable. She immediately caught my heart with her enthusiasm and overflowing positivity! For the entire story I wanted to root for her and found myself wishing I had a crumb of her optimism. On top of this, she is also a more complex character than it looks on the surface, and she has actual flaws rather than being 100% perfect, which made the story feel more complete.
- All the roles felt distinct and important in their own way: beside a few on/off appearances, I never felt like any of the secondary characters were irrelevant. The dynamics between different characters also felt fresh and interesting.
- The over-the-top moments here and there were very fitting, actually! They made each episode more entertaining.
- The secondary female characters had varied roles and weren't used as mere tools for jealousy/rivalry arcs. There's a lot of positive feminine energy in this story and I loved it.
- The story tackles multiple themes like self love, self image, and mental health. I never felt like any of these were taken lightly: they were able to talk about them with a good balance, never turning any of the episodes into a lecture and never feeling like they were thrown in "just because".

I wanted to keep this review vague because it's just 8 episodes of about 25 minutes each and I don't want to spoil too much to anyone interested in watching. All I want to say is that, as soon as I finished it, I immediately forced my mother to watch it with me one more time - it's cute and fun, and made me feel full of energy after each episode. Recommended!

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