Nigeru wa haji daga, yaku ni tatsu

I've watched a lot of series, and can tell you this one is awesome!

For the purpose of keeping this review spoiler free, I will only comment on the gems -- what I think made this series as good as it is!

Each one of the actors are sooo good at playing their roles, the plot is interesting and has a great pace, and the scenes look great; action-packed (without any boring pauses or flashbacks), colorful, meaningful, and sweet.

Honestly I could go on and on.. but to summarize I totally recommend this series as both funny and interesting.

Big congratz to the cast, producers, and directors for this amazing series!

Looking forward to seeing more from y'all!

"Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu", also known as "The Full-Time Wife Escapist" or "We Married as a Job" is a one of the best josei manga out there, and it was brilliantly adapted into a TV series version some years back.

The casting is simply perfect. The lead, Aragaki Yui, is perfect for the role of Moriyama Mikuri, an over-qualified professional unlucky to be born a woman in modern-day Japan - i.e. No good job or career prospects. She's maybe down, but she's not out.

The supporting characters are equally well-cast. The plot is interesting and entertaining. And the dialogues are generally good. But Aragaki Yui stands out the most for me - she's so cute, sincere, and head-strong as Mikuri that she practically steals every scene.

The story line is so apt for today. Declining birthrates, sexless marriages, too many singles, etc. Then there's the cultural/societal limitations on women with respect to work and career. Add to that the usual marital infidelity, challenges of dating, etc.

Everything hits home with this series.

Enjoyed this simple, unpretentious (inner joke!) comedy more than I thought I would.

All the actors did a wonderful job - well done, team!

The plot is straightforward and fun. Nothing unexpected would happen here, you know exactly what to expect. A few nice side-stories add variety.

I don't really have any criticism to offer, the show sets the expectations clearly and delivers on them. I loved that it doesn't take itself seriously and has some funny day-dreaming sequences.

The only thing is, it's "very Japanese" in terms of actors play style. A bit more exaggerated in intonations and gestures. I don't mind this, but to some audiences this may seem "artificial."

It also helps that the clear Japanese they speak helps keep my language skills up! Picked up a few fun phrases from the dialogues for my own use :)

This movie is a satire of a phenomenon that occurs in Japanese culture. Like most Asian shows, it is based on a Manga story. Yes, he is a dweeb and you have to accept that as part of the writing. Usually male leads in these shows are model good-looking. However, in this one, you are getting a kind of Jerry Lewis. The characters in the show are all colorful. The satire is played up well. I found it to be very entertaining and the cast dancing at the end of the episodes adds to the fun.

The lead is a big pop star in real life and just does a stupendous job in this role. The main song with the whole cast dancing at the end of each episode became a big hit for him. You can find the music video.

The two leads met on this show and were married in real life. Unfortunately, at this writing there seems to have been a TMZ type scandal and there is speculation whether they are still together. Well, enough gossip for now!

Writing this, and having watched some other shows in the genre, I feel like this one is not spectacularly better than the best I've seen, but by the end of it I realize I was very invested and entertained - I just had the best time with this show.

Like any other dorama or anime show, the premise starts heavy within the trope-space allotted to these by kami-sama (or so it seems, for many a show to follow this path). Then it's up to you to evaluate whether the build-up for the setting and the main characters are worth your time.

I'm happy to say this one has risen over the top for me. I will not spoil the stuff but let's just this is far from my first rodeo in this genre, whether it is anime or live-action - still this show had me genuinely going all the way. It also features a very interesting but down to live female main character together with a very interesting stricter male character, from which the main energy of the show stems from, and lots of events ensue.

If you are not looking for those over the top once in a lifetime hero-characters, but rather the sweet "what if?" in stuff akin to your real life - this is another great show for you. Even the intro and outro are sweet without being over the top performance-wise.

Quite a decent heartwarming show that even manages to bring out some interesting characters and day-to-day concerns in life that ended up being really enjoyable and thoughtful.

Cheers.