The story is actually straight forward but very charming. Sakae is a small restaurant owner in Osaka who runs the business by himself. He has a regular set of people who come to his place. He has recently broken up with his boyfriend and wants to focus on work. One evening, a new customer Soga arrives at the restaurant. Turns out that he has just moved from Tokyo. With his suit, glasses, and polite demeanor, Soga stands out from the regular clientele. With him constantly praising the food, Sakae can't help himself but start falling for the guy. They eventually become friends and Sakae confesses his feelings. Soga is not very sure. He in fact has recently been divorced from his wife and a love confession from a man surprises him. He asks for time. In meantime Sake's ex returns and in the middle three episodes , we see how his return almost makes Soga realize his true feelings for Sakae and they start dating. Unfortunately when Sake finds out that Soga is supposed to be in Osaka only for one year, an unsaid fear starts to develop. They think of maybe doing long distance but are both unsure of it will work or not. Instead they decide to breakup hoping they can be friends. Soga moves back, they breakup, but their love stands strong for each other. Eventually the show ends at a positive note where they are both supportive of each other and decide that they will give long distance a chance and see how that goes.
As far as the story goes, the show may have nothing ne for novel to offer. Its a standard guys meeting stair, complications because of an ex and then everything going back to normal. But it's the treatment of the show that differentiates it. The show has a casual relaxing vibe, almost like you are with the group watching them in person. For the most 2-3 episodes I had this grin and smile on my face just enjoying the positive and charming interactions between the characters. Even the minor storyline of Soga's female colleague liking Sakae and confessing to him was charming in its own way. The bigger draw of the show is its sincere and light portrayal and always staying positive. Even when Sakae's ex-boyfriend comes back; he is not made out to be this evil person. He has a lot of personality and they way he disrupts the life was Sakae was quite entertaining. He was a hoot. Also, Sakae's close friend and confidant who would always be his ear while spending time in onsen and sauna. Characters like these, even though not central, really standout here and that is something. As actors Soga and Sakae are charming in their own way and have decent chemistry. Although I do think that it can get better. The final os Soga and Sakae sorting out their eventual issue of how to continue thier relationship was a bit stretched and could have been sorted sooner and more amicably, but I am guessing a long distance relationship can bring in its own set of fun events, that hopefully we will get to see in season two of this show, which I really hope that the makers come up with. As it is today, this casual and positive heart hearted romantic comedy was definitely worth the time. (By the way, I am not sure why this title of the show, it makes no sense) (7.5/10)
Comments
I got afraid when they tried to solve the long distance relationship by "trying it". Whenever that happens in a drama I always find it so stupid. Love and enjoy your time together if you feel good, then see when long distance actually happens! But here it was mostly made in funny way, that none of them could in fact resist.
Great thing Japan worked its magic on you haha (now you made me want to go back too!!!).
For a japanese wonderfull series, go for "Love is better the second time around" asap, I recommend it so much! And just after watch the thai one "To be continued", which has about the same base plot. They each have their own flavour, with their own cultural specificities and tropes, it was really funny watching one after the other (although I have to say I found the japanese one were a milion times better)