This show was recommended to me by a Japanese friend. Reading the synopsis and her summary of it, it seemed like an entertaining and funny love story. And that was what it was.
One of the aspects that stood out in this show was the acting. Ayase Haruka was fantastic and played her role extremely well. She played a modest and anxious woman who didn't know anything of love. She played the character so that she didn't seem anti-social or obnoxious. From her hurried walk and cute smile to the way she fixed her glasses constantly, the role just fit. The other actors were also very good in this respect, but indeed if I were to especially mention another actor, it would be Tamaki Hiroshi. That man can do anything and have me rooting for him - fantastic role, though it was minor.
The other aspect would be the humour. It's been a while since I've genuinely thought a Japanese drama to be funny, but this one had some especially hilarious scenes and it really brought up the mood when things were getting too serious.
The let-down was more or less the story. At times, it was boring, at other times it was over-the-top. Excessive crying, sudden changes with no warning, plenty of monologues. Also, some of the characters were left very (unfortunately) undeveloped. Asao-san (Tamaki Hiroshi) was a prime example - meant to be the third entry into the so-called 'love triangle' - but really wasn't. He didn't pose any threat whatsoever to the relationship and all in all, was actually a more or less useless character. Another example would be Ooshiro-san (Ryuusuke). He was an interesting character but wasn't focused on at all, which was a pity.
I have watched other romance-comedies with an older female lead and a younger male lead (Last Cinderella, Kimi wa Petto) and this really didn't do the theme justice. Having the sole problem in the relationship being age difference (and the ramifications of that), it wasn't really enough. The age problem was handled fairly well, but I've seen it done better.
Overall it wasn't too bad of a watch, but there were definitely some disappointing parts and I personally would not recommend it to someone else.
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