I thought this would be one of those decent Noona romances the Japanese are usually adept at producing, but this isn’t the case with this drama. I would say that it was lackluster at best and uninspired at its worst.

First, there was the unconvincing romance between two leads who were more awkward with each other than being comfortable. One has that stiff upper bang, and the other with round fish-eyes who seem to be surprised that some people could be nice because she’s been dealing with lechers at her work place all day, when there’s really only one in particular. Tomoko goes along with the flow, and somehow accepts that this guy Ryohei, who did not seem so interested in getting into her pants, but actually is, but was just not so obvious about it. She could not have fathomed that this guy, who seems to be a “dumb delinquent,” could actually be harmless.

Then suddenly, Ryohei appears everywhere she is, from meeting her friends to meeting her parents. And even claiming to be so-called “friends” with the guy who had been trying to date Tomoko? That was really a stretch for me, especially when he did not even have the decency to leave when Koki was trying to have a personal conversation with his grandmother. Isn’t he just being nosy or oblivious? Then the revelation that came out of the left field, as if the writers could not come up with a convincing excuse to write him out of the love equation.  

Anyway, I thought the drama could have been better with more developed characters and conflicts, but I understand it may have been limited by time and length. They could have just focused on one or two issues instead of trying to tackle so many things in one already-short show. It’s like trying to make a salad with 10 different things but not mixing it well. I’m pretty sure 3 or 4 ingredients would have been enough, and the same applies here.