There's one reason why I finished this drama, and two reasons why I thought about quitting.

Hanae is the reason I finished this drama.

If you've read any of my other reviews, then this won't be a surprise, but I like mousy, awkward, shy, weird, inexperienced, insecure, insert similar descriptions here, female leads. They don't have to be all of these things, but any one or more of them will likely pique my interest. Hanae has most of these traits. She's also played by an actress (Ayase Haruka) whose acting I particularly enjoy, and I think she plays the character very well.

Another thing I like, when it is done well, is characters with really over-active imaginations that we get to peek into. (I'm a very much in-my-head sort of person, so I find this relatable as hell, lol.) Hanae is a good example of this sort of character. She did occasionally veer into the melodramatic, but I found her mini-freakouts entertaining and endearing.

I don't think it's unrealistic for someone in their 30's to be so inexperienced, which is a popular complaint about this drama on its MDL page. Nor do I think it is embarrassing to be so inexperienced, although I can relate to characters who feel ashamed or embarrassed about it. I enjoyed the drama's focus on everything around dating and relationships being new and kind of scary to Hanae as well as watching her stumble her way through all of it.

The romance itself starts out enjoyable. The age gap isn't my favorite, and Yuuto is more mature for his age than is believable, but he's a very likable character (that's probably thanks to the actor playing him), so I didn't mind that he behaved in ways that weren't totally realistic for a university student. I don't really remember what made him pursue Hanae, but he's very forthright and firm about his interest, and they are genuinely cute together.

By the end of the drama, however, the romance had become a paint-by-numbers. All of the most interesting things about the two of them as a couple are the warm/fuzzy feelings you get because this good-looking young man likes her, Hanae's freak-outs and navigating her inexperience, and a pretty strong conflict of life goals that is never truly resolved. (I'll talk about that later.) As an actual couple...they're pretty meh.

Surprisingly, this isn't one of the reasons I thought about quitting this drama. Reason number one is the love triangle.

The writers reallllly play with the possibility of Hanae choosing Yuu in the second half of the drama. There's a whole episode or so where she starts to think about how much easier it is for her to communicate with him, how comfortable she is with him to the point of being able to get angry to his face. She even starts to feel attraction toward him. The drama really honed in on how compatible they are for each other to the point that I genuinely wondered if the drama was going to pull a switcheroo and have the two of them end up together instead. It definitely would have made sense for the story. (And I honestly would have liked it, lol.)

Unfortunately, Yuu is never a real character. He seems to be interested in Hanae early on but chooses to give her advice on her relationship with Yuuto. He starts acting like he's going to genuinely compete for her affections and even bucks up to our young male lead before ultimately backing away for no discernible reason. There's a short period where Yuu and Hanae spend a little bonding time together, which is cute if predictable, then there's the whole section where Hanae starts to waver over what to do about her love life (due, in part, because Yuu full-on proposes to her in a very swooooony way).

But he's an unformed character in a gimpy love-triangle in a drama that thought they would throw in a whole plot arch where they show you just how compatible they would be before yanking the possibility away.

Which leads me to the main reason I thought about quitting this drama.

Hanae clearly wants to get married. And not in some distant date in the future but sometime a lot sooner. This is a fair desire, and one I'm prone to wish for the leads if applicable. But when the female lead being with the male lead means the female lead having to put that desire off for several years, that's a reason for the relationship to end. A situation like Hanae and Yuu's might seem doable in the short term, but in the long term, Hanae's likely going to be dealing with a lot of hurt and disappointment, because she won't be getting what she longs for.

Ultimately, the drama quits on its female lead. It takes her through the learning curves of navigating a dating relationship, but doesn't give her the tools at the end to say 'I know what I want, and I'm not going to settle.' I find that unsatisfying.

...

There are so many noona romances out there, including some that have done the themes of this drama better. I would definitely recommend watching those. But if you do like mousy female leads and don't mind noona romances that ignore the stickier aspects of a noona romance, then this drama might be for you.