Sugar Dog Life is one of the many dramas Japan has put out about “grabbing the heart of someone through cooking.” The best thing about this drama is Isumi's acting.

•❅✧❅✦ Story ✦❅✧❅•

While not the best cooking romance drama out there, it is one of the better ones. The acting is quite good and the story, while not the most original, is nice. However, this drama is part of the slice of life genre, so it is “bland” – for a lack of better words. It’s very slow paced and there isn’t any real “action” to keep the story interesting. Isumi and Amasawa get together without any real roadblocks in their relationship, so it might be boring to some people.

•❅✧❅✦ Acting ✦❅✧❅•

The story might be bland, the acting is quite nice. Tanaka, Isumi’s actor, really stole the show. He acts very masculine and manly for someone who is the “uke” in the relationship, and also for someone who loves cooking. At a glance, you might think he should be in a hetero romance, based on the stereotypes the “uke” is usually put into, but Isumi does none of that. Tanaka gives us a great performance as Isumi, that his talent is wasted on this type of slice of life drama. It would have been nice to see more sides of his acting, but slice of life is a bland drama genre, so it can’t be helped.

While Amasawa’s actor, Tawada, did a great job, it would have been nice to see Tanaka paired with an actor that can bring more out of his character. They have nice chemistry, but Tawada’s acting feels a bit stiff compared to Tanaka’s. It’s not too bad though, but it does make Amasawa seem like a manga character rather than a real life human.

•❅✧❅✦ Overall ✦❅✧❅•

While I really enjoyed Isumi’s actor, I really didn’t enjoy the drama as much as I would have liked. The drama isn’t bad, but it is bland. There are other cooking romance dramas that have done better than this one. However, that doesn’t mean this drama is bad. It’s one of the better cooking romance dramas that I have seen, but sadly it’s not the best.

If you’re looking for a filler BL, or a new actor to watch, I would recommend this drama. As a filler drama it’s a very good watch, and Tanaka Koki, Isumi’s actor, is a very nice actor. I would like to see more of his work. That’s pretty much all I can say about this drama though. There wasn’t anything too outstanding, nor too terrible about the drama. Still a decent drama though.