At the start of the month, I opened a Bilibili premium membership just to keep up with an anime. I don't usually watch many TV dramas, but since Bilibili had a few Japanese shows available only there, I figured I might as well pick one and watch it while I was at it. That was how I ended up starting Kimura Takuya's Grand Maison Tokyo, a work from a couple of years earlier.
Honestly, the very first scene pulled me in. The locations and color palette are beautiful. Even if you ignore the subtitles and turn off the sound, the images alone are already satisfying to look at.
What stood out to me most was that, while the visuals are refined and elegant, the actors' skin texture and facial details still look clear and real. It doesn't have that over-smoothed, over-polished feeling common in many domestic dramas. Every tiny change on a face is easy to catch. Without any dialogue at all, you can still understand what a character is feeling just from their body language and expression.
I hadn't expected much from the story, but for some reason, the moment from 0:17 in the first episode hit me right in the heart. I had originally planned to watch one episode a night, slowly and steadily. In the end, I couldn't stop myself and binge-watched it instead.
Each episode seems to have a stretch in the second half that suddenly tightens the chest a little. Then, by the ending, the mood eases again through a comforting closing sequence and a light, upbeat ending theme. Watching it all the way through felt like having your heart repeatedly twisted and released by an invisible hand.
The main character, Obana Natsuki, has a bit of the same energy as Luffy from One Piece. With his top-level cooking skills and a personality that is hard to ignore, he gradually wins over everyone around him.
But I personally liked Tango from Gaku even more, because I could see traces of people I know, and even a little of myself, in him. The drama doesn't spend a huge amount of time on his storyline, yet it still makes him feel vivid and memorable.
We can't know what kind of trouble will show up tomorrow, the day after, or further down the road. But as long as you keep your balance and stay true to yourself, there really isn't a hurdle you can't get over.
Every time I see them working together to solve a problem, I can't help thinking of the team at my company. Our group is small, only nine people. We're split fairly evenly between people born in the 80s and 90s, and between married and unmarried people.
Maybe it's because we're all locals and have grown up with similar backgrounds and work experiences. We get along especially well. Even when the workload is heavy and the KPI pressure is intense, a bit of chatting and joking around can cut the stress in half. Every morning when I get up, I can still go to work in a good mood, and at least half of that is thanks to them. ^_^
All in all, this is a drama made with real care. It's absolutely worth watching, and it gives you more than you might expect.