Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu, also known as I'm Taking The Day Off is well named and a good show.

Aoishi Hanae is a woman about to turn 30 and has never been in a romantic relationship before. She is out drinking with some of her work colleagues when a 21 year old intern, Tanokura Yuto, at her company finds out that it is her 30th birthday shortly after the others have left. He decides to make it special for her and asks her to hang out with him that night. Despite her awkwardness, she decides to spend time with him.

Hanae has always lived in fear which kept her from experiencing romantic relationships but her awkwardness. worries and inexperience keep weighing on her along with the doubts of being in a relationship with a man 9 years younger than her. I found it to be portrayed extremely well and the situations are quite realistic. The whole story is from her perspective so that we get to experience her firsts along with her. Since Tanokura has been in relationships, he is better equipped at handling Hanae's insecurities and quelling her fears. In this way, he comes across as the more mature person in the relationship. He is also very sorted and an upright individual and slowly but surely the trust develops with plenty of ups and downs.

The second male lead, Asao Yuu, also adds an interesting dynamic to their relationship. Asao is fascinated by Hanae's imperfections and a unique friendship develops between the pair. On many occasions, I did find myself thinking he might be better suited for her. It is very easy for a man to be portrayed as pushy and overbearing but luckily this drama understands consent and though they play on cliches, they never overstep boundaries which was important. We also see this when Kagami is trying to express his interest in Ookawa Hitomi

This series has plenty of funny and light-hearted moments. A lot of it coming from Hanae's colleagues, her dad, and also her niece. I also appreciated the positive work environment Hanae is lucky to be a part of, especially for having a very considerate boss who lets her "take the day off" (hence the name of the show) several times at the last minute. This title is also appropriate because Hanae is known to never use her paid vacation days.

My only negative points about this show is that it does not explore beyond the early relationship. I would have liked to know how the couple dealt with obstacles that arose in the future due to the age gap as this was also something that used to worry Hanae. Also, she never overcame the discomfort of communicating what bothered her which would have been nice to see.

Overall I really enjoyed the show for it's simplicity and it was done well. There was room for improvement.