Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna (2022)

Perfectly Complementary Character Growth in a Cozy Backdrop

Japan just has a way with these food dramas that few other productions can match. It just feels so down-to-earth, real, and cozy. It puts the small details into focus like nothing else can, and somehow manages to soften any societal critique messages and story stressors.

I wouldn't say this is a GL drama, but rather a lesbian adult coming-of-age drama. There isn't that same focus on the *need* to enter into a romantic relationship. Instead, we get to navigate the slowly shifting dynamic between these two women who find their perfectly complementary half. We get to see how the small comments and practices (what has often been coined as "micro-aggressions"), seemingly insignificant to the masses, can have a longstanding impact to others. They can become a source of insecurity, dissonance, and wariness. Things that make you feel "other." But this drama does it in such a way that it feels almost conversational, in such a way that we actually see every day and with responding messages that, while feeling unnatural at times, weren't drawn out and hung up for continuous reference).

I loved seeing the progression of these characters through the work. From shy, uncertain, and insecure, to understanding, to irreplaceable. From a dynamic where one ate and the other happily watched, to a dynamic where they both ate meals together, to a dynamic where their relationship was no longer limited to meals. I really hope that we get a season 2, and I don't say that about many dramas.

And the food looked delicious. I am so glad that the producers included recipes on the drama's website for the key dishes - because I'm definitely going to be trying some of these.

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