I'd love to be Makoto watching two got guys acting silly at the beach. I'll come clean, Kaito and Hiromi are the reason to watch this drama. I never would have stumbled upon it had it not popped up on my Netflix as a new addition. I am not a fan of J-dramas, they're my least favourite out of all Asian dramas, but this is probably the best out of the few Japanese ones that I have seen. It's an easy watch, it's breezy fun, slice of life with some serious moments here and there. It does raise some universal questions - life goals, life passions, career trouble, relationship trouble, work-life balance, parents and children.
That being said, there were some things that bothered me about it. I hated Michie-san and her internalized misogyny, I don't care about her past trauma, that is no reason to act like that and be forgiven just because you have been through tragedy. And Haruko's ex is a monster no matter how you spin it and I don't get why they couldn't have come to some sort of understanding, but the Japanese do not do co-parenting, not even today, so there's that. In fact this whole thing between parents and children, I don't understand why Keiko couldn't see Makoto once in a while and maintain a steady relationship, it's just weird. And there's also the pretty blatant sexism that the males display without any remorse and you realize it's just ingrained and culturally acceptable. Apart from the pretty tasteless jokes about a 17 year-old's underdeveloped breasts, there's the don't listen to a woman and don't make decisions based on a woman talk that just grated on me. Phrased differently it's a pretty acceptable stance but when you say it like that...
But apart from these scenes I liked the fact that the characters interact and behave very naturally, which is almost an exception in Japanese dramas, with most of them adapted from mangas. These people here feel real. And I was also hit by the nineties nostalgia with the haircuts and the clothes.
