Peaceful, fun, comforting, positive and moving, Nagi no Oitoma has a great cast playing likeable characters and I loved watching them grow.

For me, it was insta-love with that drama, because I insta-loved its lead character, aka Nagi, played by Kuroki Haru with a lot of warmth. The drama manages to give us a clear and instant picture of who she is, and I immediately empathized with her. Nagi spends her time trying to fit in, trying to conform, so much so that she’s leaving herself no space to exist. Something, the drama says, we all do to some extent, as we’ve been taught very early, as kids, to “read the room” and behave, to make adults happy. The drama, as the mdl description says, is the story of how Nagi decides to just leave everything behind and allow herself to first figure out who she is, and then be that person. A kind, warm, sweet person, with lots of weaknesses but immense strength even *she* didn’t know she had. I admired her and felt vicariously freed by her freeing herself. This dama made me very happy.

At the same time, it does have some bittersweetness to it. Nagi’s taking a break, but I think a break is always implied to be finite. It does not mean what she’s building will disappear, though, as everything she’s making are strong foundations for her future, yet I felt some melancholy in the drama, and I like that kind of mood.

The show puts a strong emphasis on community. Through finding herself, Nagi finds others, and through finding others, she finds even more of herself. I liked all the characters she befriends, it felt good spending time in their company. A big surprise, to me, was how much I enjoyed her ex-boyfriend, Shinji. He’s such an unlikeable character at the start, and I was actively rooting for Nagi to get as far from him as she could, but the drama manages to make him, first, very funny, and then actually quite moving. The strong performance by Takahashi Issei is a big part of what makes it work. I was very moved by these two actually *seeing* each other slowly for the first time. Though I was totally shipping Nagi with her neighbour Gon, haha. Not that he’d be a good boyfriend, but he was so soft, and I’m so weak. Kinda shipped him with Shinji too. (Let’s be real, I just wanted anyone to date Gon so I could date him through them :’D)

That being said, I would not go into this drama for the romance. This drama is not about the ships, it’s about character growth and while romance *is* part of their journey, it’s only a part of it, not the main point. If you go in for the love triangle, you might be disappointed.

But it’s a beautiful show and full of love. Japanese dramas are very good at portraying ordinary things and making them heart-warming and beautiful. Even when the “ordinary” stuff is not so ordinary, as I’d argue Nagi’s break is actually not something common. But Jdamas are just good at finding the authentic, the “human”, and Nagi no Oitoma has both the relatability of simple things and the excitement of a small adventure. It also has a good pace. It felt peaceful yet not a moment was wasted, the characters and their relationships were always evolving.

So, yeah, I loved it.