Regardless what year you watch this show, this one truly stands the test of time. What seems like your ordinary school youth story, unravels into so much more with each passing episode. It definitely isn't your typical storytelling but it still effectively emulates some realism of young teens going to school and the true meaning and value of friendship.

We are first introduced to one of the mains Shuji, who is considered the "popular kid" in school. On the outside, he's a social butterfly loved by all but on the contrary, he hides his true self in order to be liked and accepted by everyone. He always puts others first instead of himself and never dares to express his inner thoughts. He believes if he does this, he'll get through school easily without any problems. But his "easy going life" all changes when he meets the clumsy "outcast" goofball Akira, and the new transfer student Nobuko (who doesn't have a pleasant start in school). In an effort to help Nobuko enjoy her school life more, Shuji and Akira form a pact with Nobuko to make her "popular" and thus, Nobuta Produce begins!

One aspect that I really loved about this series is that even though the goal of Nobuta Produce was to make the FL be more "popular" and well liked amongst her classmates, the 2 ML never steered her away from her true essence. They solely guided her along in making some adjustments in her daily life to make herself more confident and approachable. They never forced her into anything she was uncomfortable with. This could've easily turned into one of those glow up makeover situations by changing everything about her to please the general public, but instead they strayed away from that which I think as a result is much more impactful. Throughout the episodes, we can see the FL slowly growing and blooming into a more confident version of herself. True friendship helps shape you into being a better version of yourself, NOT change you into someone completely different and unrecognizable. With our iconic trio, we are given all the cute & wholesome scenes of loyalty and friendship. We can see how much of an impact they had on each others life, Shuji & Akira helped Nobuko out of her shell, to trust and enjoy others company while she taught Shuji what it means to have a true friend. He was surrounded by people all the time but for the first time he understood what it means to be happy around company, to get excited seeing friends and have fun doing things together. AND THE BROMANCE WAS TOP NOTCH HAHA. No matter what they went through, they believed in each other and were each other's strengths through thick and thin. A journey about friendship and a journey about finding & understanding themselves (even if its only bits and pieces of it) Truly such a precious series to watch!