It’s been awhile since I watched this Jdrama, but since I’ve been mulling over some recent Jdramas (and their complete lack of credible romance stories), I’ve been thinking more and more about Buzzer Beat, and its extremely capable and compelling love story. Yes, you heard it right. This drama brings out all the stops – or at least most of them – with romance, hugging, kissing, cuddling, and a million other “awww”-worthy moments. Also, there’s some basketball. I actually like basketball, so this drama is pretty well set in my books. Minus a few irritations, side characters, and cliché plot holes, Buzzer Beat seems well worth the time. Buzzer Beat stars Yamapi and Shirakawa Riko give this drama its main charm. Both are struggling to stay confident about their sport/art when circumstances throw them together. What follows is a halfway original story of personal growth as the two develop a sincere friendship with one another, and perhaps the chance of something more. Up even past the halfway mark, both the story and the romance (aka ‘Total Cuteness-ity’) are riveting. Unfortunately, the show’s failings lay in the last few episodes, where the writers throw on heavy doses of angst and lost almost all of my attention. I mean, I figured there would be a nice sweet ending, but must it really be necessary to suffer so much to get there? It’s a little sad that a perfectly wonderful show was ruined by Kdrama-esque plot holes and noble idiots pandering about in circles, but overall the strength of the earlier episodes (at least 82% of the drama) were fine and dandy. Buzzer Beat even does a good job at not turning every side character into an exact stereotype, a feat for which I am I always grateful. My vote is that you watch it for the leads, and turn your brain off by episode 9. That should make things all better.