i'm a big fan of the manga, and the jdrama was a surprise; albeit a pleasant one. the casting for the characters were perfect even though a lot of characters in the manga weren't included, but the chemistry between kotaro and asako was as sweet and genuine as it is in the manga. at first i was apprehensive to the weird/wacky vibe they were taking when it came to portraying kotaro's scent fetish (the sniffing was so loud lmao), asako's sweating (so much steam/smoke), and the bizzare sex scenes, but after the first few episodes i embraced the wackiness for what it was and found myself cracking up at how bizzare those moments were.

my main disappointment is how short the episodes/drama is overall because the story ended up being so rushed, but towards the last few episodes i really liked how they portrayed those special moments of kotaro's and asako's relationship development and how they worked through their problems. the chemistry between these two actors were amazing and you could really feel how much they loved each other. their supporting cast of friends, family, and coworkers was very nice as well.

TL;DR the jdrama is short, cute, and fun to watch, but i highly reccomend viewers to read the manga to experience the full love story of kotaro and asako (with regular sex scenes lmao). sweat and soap is definitely one of my favorite josei mangas!