Let's just cut right to it, this show was painfully boring. There, I said it. A story built around partial amnesia has real potential, but between the choppy scene structure and random flashbacks thrown in constantly, the whole plot ends up feeling more tangled than it needed to be. The romance doesn't fare much better either, it's written so poorly that I never really found myself invested in this couple. Both leads come across stiff on screen and deliver their lines in a really awkward way. The show runs 8 episodes, each somewhere around 30 to 35 minutes. Hanuel, a 29 year old language teacher, wakes up after an accident only to realize his memory stops at age 19. It turns out he'd been in another accident back then too, which is why his memories cut off at that point. He has zero recollection of the fact that he's currently living with his childhood friend Saebyeok, who's now a huge celebrity. That makes the whole situation even harder for Hanuel to wrap his ...
There's a huge cast here so I won't be able to cover everyone perfectly, but I'll try to hit the main points. Genichi is a fifty year old single gay man working at a zoo, still holding onto genuine hope of finding someone to spend his life with. He's warm, positive, and takes care of people and animals alike without hesitation. This slightly clumsy middle aged guy lives in an apartment building run by a landlady who's lovely but definitely eccentric. Genichi runs into Sakuta at the zoo's park and immediately develops a crush on him, and it's pretty clear this younger guy is gay too. We later find out Sakuta just went through a breakup and is apartment hunting. In that same building Genichi also meets fifteen year old Hotaru, a tough, rebellious girl trying to survive her last year of middle school. And it turns out Sakuta is actually her teacher at school. Hotaru's living completely alone because her mom embezzled money from her job and is now on the run, and her dad's careless and irresponsible, currently stuck in a rocky second marriage. When the police show up looking for her parents, Genichi agrees to pretend to be her dad at her request so she isn't taken to a child welfare center. With these three at the heart of everything, what unfolds is this warm, tender story about human connection, about the people who wander into your life, and about how a family, sometimes a big sprawling one, forms and grows stronger through trust and acceptance. It becomes this gentle tale of people meeting and parting ways, of love showing up in every form imaginable, and of diversity and acceptance running through it all. Beyond the three leads, there's a whole supporting cast too, Hotaru's runaway mom and the backstory behind why she did what she did along with her path to redemption, her clueless dad, the landlady of course, plus a female cop hunting down the embezzled money, Sakuta's ex, an old crush from Genichi's younger years, a real estate agent, and more. As the story moves along, feelings start developing between Genichi and Sakuta. We watch them eventually admit their feelings, get together, search for an apartment as a couple, and deal with everything that comes with being a gay couple in Japan's conservative culture, along with fully accepting themselves and finding acceptance from the people close to them too.
You could count on one hand the shows or movies that leave you feeling genuinely good, and this one absolutely belongs on that list. It's nurturing, joyful, hopeful, like getting a warm hug on a freezing night, full of love and tenderness. Even when the story feels a little whimsical or far fetched, it still works because everything is grounded in a way that's easy to understand and relate to. Every scene and episode flows so smoothly. It's full of silly, quirky humor, funny reactions, and coincidences, and every episode still manages to keep this calming tone throughout. The writing is really character driven, letting both the leads and side characters carve out their own individual paths that naturally end up crossing each other. I have a feeling everyone watching this will see themselves in at least one character. My honest advice is don't binge this one. Watch it one episode a day so you can really soak in all the love this show is trying to share. Every single person here has their own story, from the main leads down to smaller characters like the real estate agent or the cop, they've all built their own space in the world. But eventually that sense of family and companionship becomes the thing that matters most. Each episode tackles a different theme, and the show handles all of it through open, compassionate conversations, covering everything from gender expectations to why relationships even matter, from the prejudice gay people face to how women get dismissed, from what makes us different to what makes us equally human. This is a story about relationships that don't have to be romantic, about celebrating the small joys and small moments that make life worth living, about finding communities that accept us as we are, about love and revolution.
Let me dig a bit more into the gay storyline here. Sadly, there's genuinely zero romantic spark between Genichi and Sakuta, which is odd since we're supposed to believe these two are meant for each other. Early on Genichi's completely smitten while Sakuta keeps him at arm's length. Later, Sakuta starts treating the whole relationship like a business transaction, planning budgets and scrolling through home listings. Where's the actual affection in any of that? It feels more like he's in love with the idea of settling down with someone, anyone, and Genichi just happens to be the most available option. Even his last breakup happened because his ex didn't want to make things official while Sakuta did. So yeah, there's a real lack of romantic chemistry between them, but the show does explore real issues, like the couple struggling to find their dream home or trying to legally register their relationship and hitting walls. And sometimes it's the smallest moments that carry the most weight, which the show nails in its final episode when we meet a fourteen year old boy struggling with his sexuality with no one to turn to. When he finally meets Genichi and Sakuta, he tells them they gave him the courage to accept being gay, and that he'll keep going, day after day, just being exactly who he is. That performance was genuinely moving for someone so young. It felt real and raw, capturing exactly the mix of pain and relief a real fourteen year old might feel saying that out loud for the first time. Beyond him, every single performance in this show, big or small, is fantastic. The whole cast has this easy, comfortable chemistry together. The finale is bursting with hope and positivity.
This isn't really a gay love story, it's one of the most beautiful stories out there, blending gentle storytelling with genuine commentary on outdated social norms. It's honest, warm, and a deeply human celebration of love, diversity, and community. By giving each character their own distinct personality and letting them shape their own little corner of the world, this show reminds us we can all afford to be a little kinder, a little more understanding, and a little more open to lives different from our own. Bottom line, a warm, deeply human story about chosen family that stays with you long after it ends. (9/10)
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