I really really really want to like this show more than I do and it pains me to give it a lower score :’( The first episode of this show is amazing and completely sold me on it and our main character Umi. The premise of her figuring out how to love herself and develop self-respect hooked me. It helps that Suzuki Airi is a phenomenal actress, and frankly the best actor in this show period. The first few episodes are good. Sure, Umi is initially set up as an underdog in her workplace with her superior not liking her, and it all gets resolved within like one episode… so it doesn’t really feel deserved, but okay, whatever, it’s a short show, and there’s plenty of good stuff in there anyway. Umi is great because she really is able to connect with others and they admire her and it’s really heartwarming to see! I love her bonding with her coworkers and she’s got some good friends and a sister. There are honestly plenty of heartwarming scenes which I loved. All the friend/co-worker stuff was great. Her scenes with Kazao are pretty good, although I’d say it’s really Suzuki Airi who sells those scenes. Aaaaand this is a good time to mention a certain problem: she’s honestly such a better actor than her two love interests and it can really show in those scenes. The two guys aren’t terrible actors but they can be kinda stiff. And this leads into the next problem: the love triangle. It feels forced, and I think unfortunately takes away time from Umi’s personal growth. Kazao does have good chemistry with Umi and his acting is generally fine so I still enjoyed their scenes. Overall my two main gripes with the show are (1) despite being set up as about Umi’s personal growth, I feel like it didn’t get the time necessary to develop that, so at the end I was a little confused about how she had/hadn’t changed and what she still needed to change, and (2) the love triangle, which feels like a very 2008-era critique but it really did take up so much unnecessary space and was kinda awkward and dumb. Oh and there’s this dumb argument towards the end too and I don’t really get why Umi was mad but whatever. It’s really disappointing because there are some really great scenes and the first few episodes are genuinely very good, but the love triangle dragged it down towards the end. I almost didn’t want to finish the show and I’m glad I did because there are some great scenes in the final episode, but I’m still left feeling pretty dissatisfied.
P.S. I didn’t know where to put this but there are quite a few long takes in the show, oftentimes in Umi’s interactions with others, and they’re all really good. It really helps make the conversations seem like they’re real. Argh, I really want to like this show because it has stuff like this that is so good!! :’(