Which made me enjoy it more as a slice of life drama, rather than a romantic comedy. Not gonna lie though, with the amount of “love lines” and feelings the characters had for each other, the fact that there were exactly zero sparks felt was disappointing.

I honestly think it would be better without the romance. Focusing on friendship and personal growth would make it a nice, warm and inspiring show. What we’ve got was a borderline Jekyll and Hyde male lead, that flipped between his two personalities in the matter of seconds and a questionable romance - no one will convince me Sato Ai was not too focused on the familiarity and the nostalgia, while ignoring all the flaws.

We also have the whole aspect of changing appearance, which I found ridiculous. For me Koshiba Fuka actually looked better and more attractive before the “glow up”. I think the natural look fits her far more, and the idea she was thought to be extremely ugly was laughable.

There were still quite a few aspects I truly loved. The themes of rediscovering yourself, finding your dreams, working hard to improve, taking accountability for your actions - this is what I enjoyed the most.

Sato Ai was a great character with a great journey. Higuchi Takuya was a walking sunshine with a glowing personality that was impossible to dislike. And then we have Sosuke and Risa who were both underdeveloped which made them kind of boring - I truly did not care about them at all. Their struggles and motivations were shown in such a vague and shallow manner, why should I care?

The performances were good. Akaso Eiji impressed me the most - the natural and quick switches between the happy puppy to angst were amazing. They were clearly visible to the viewers, but subtle enough that it made sense the other characters did not notice. This Japanese version overall improved in the characterization aspects - keeping the core of who these characters were supposed to be, while toning down the cartoonish overreactions to make them more realistic.

Overall, a nice watch for binging. Nothing outstanding. Perfect as a palate cleanser when someone wants to watch something mildly amusing, but not too engaging.