Underwear

This starts out with a girl who just graduated and she and her friend go to Tokyo to find work. The girl Mayu eventually finds a job at a high end lingerie shop called emotion. There she starts to learn and also implement some of her ideas as well as get on the owners nerves from time to time. She reminded the owner of herself when she was younger. As the time goes by the business gets better and starts to grow. Mayu eventually finds out that Nanjo the owner was planning on retiring and possibly leaving the shop to her. So she tells nanjo that she is not going to feature her line as it is hers and not emotions and that she is going independent. She did this so that Nanjo wouldn't retire. Nanjo eventually gave her the sewing machine that she first used when she found out where mayu was. Mayu returned to the store to visit and also visit Nanjo. There she starts to cry and Nanjo assures her that she is not going anywhere. Nanjo realized that Mayu sacrificed herself to keep her from retiring. The loose ends that I am referring to is what happened to Mayu's mother. I kind of suspect that maybe Nanjo might have had her out of wedlock which led to the divorce from her husband and in the end what was the result of Mayu going independent? They only show her sewing a cloth and nothing else. That's why I rated it an 8. I would still recommend it though. It seems like the japanese dramas have more control over how to do a series and not let Netflix interfere which makes me happy.

A new employee at an exclusive lingerie shop is enamoured with the beautiful products the owner designs but has her own ideas on what is suitable for her. The series has a superb female cast and looks at the ethics of conglomerates stealing ideas from small independents and the struggles of artisans competing with mass production. The pace and character development is excellent and you become invested in the individuals and their futures.

My wife started watching this show, but I got hooked shorlty. I believe the values presentes in the script are one of its best features and production is very good. It really makes you appreciate the effort on lingerie creation.

I'm currently learning Japanese and the type of conversations taken on this show are perfect to get the feel of normal Japanese people (unlike anime) and tune the ear for the languaje. The respect and candor of the characters is just like many Japanese persons I met on a recent trip. Worth watching !

Good to see content from Japan. Great production values.

I found the musical score intrusive and too 'on the nose'. Signaling what you should be feeling now in case you can't figure it out from the script - determination, inspiration, sadness etc. Lush, redundant and mostly saccharine. Especially that damn piano! Coincidentally just having rewatched The Birds which has no musical score at all. Wish there was a separate mute for the music.

Subtitles in yellow often lost on a light background.

A weirdly depopulated Ginza and too-blue sky over Tokyo. The distraction of anime-looking characters thanks to cosmetic surgery especially among the young actresses.

The melodramatic line readings and swelling music when someone said something like, I will make...bras that I like! The simpering overacting and fumbling by the doe Kiritani in the early episodes.

Male characters mostly emasculated or evil. What was up with the coffee guy? Poor schmuck.

Not crazy about the stereotypical work-life imbalance, would like to have seen some of the characters' lives outside of work.

Other than Kiritani, a great cast. In particular could watch Mao Daichi sew and drink coffee all day. Without music and maybe without that Anna Wintour haircut. Her 'regal bearing' is an inspiration, as is her enunciation which is great for students of the language.

This show (also named Atelier on Netflix) was recommended to me as I'm slowly improving my Japanese. The topic (fashion) seemed interesting to me so I started watching it and ended up falling in love with it. The characters are all pretty interesting. The story is well-written and delivered. And as a bonus, the type of conversations as well as the delivery is great for someone that's trying to learn the language like me. Highly recommend it!