Watashitachi wa Douka Shiteiru

When Nao was 6-years-old, her mother worked at a wagashi (traditional Japanese confectionary) shop that has been open for 400 years. Nao and her single mother lived at the wagashi shop. Meanwhile, Tsubaki was also 6-years-old at that time. His father runs the wagashi shop and he is friends with Nao. One morning, Tsubaki's father is found dead and covered in blood. He was stabbed to death. Based on Tsubaki's testimony, Nao's mother is arrested for the murder and Nao is kicked out of the wagashi shop.

15 years later, Nao (Minami Hamabe) and Tsubaki (Ryusei Yokohama) meet again at a wagashi competition. Nao recognizes Tsubaki, but Tsubaki does not recognize her. Nao hates Tsubaki. She believes he is the cause of her mother being falsely accused of murder and her death that occurred during the investigation. Tsubaki, unaware of Nao's identity, becomes interested in her. Wanting to break off a family arranged marriage, Tsubaki proposes to Nao. For Nao, she has an opportunity to become a part of his family and finally prove her mother's innocence. (asianwiki-2020)

I am very happy that this drama has a lot of love from Japanese and International fandom. I've read lots and lots of good comments, and while it isn't my type of drama, I am also happy for Yokohama Ryusei, who is very talented, handsome and deserved more love from international fans since Hajikoi. So now everyone is crazy about him :) well done Watadou!

As for me, wow, I didn't know whether to laugh at the most ridiculous scenes I've seen in Jdramaland or just roll my eyes. At one moment I was shocked to think this kind of romance is more welcoming to international fans than cute, non-toxic romances like Watanagi... oh well, different tastes and all that.

I couldn't help thinking that, while visually speaking, this was a gorgeous drama, very Japanese like, gorgeous kimonos, breathtaking scenery, artistic sweets, lovely setting, tradition that is very Japanese, the plot was soo Latin-Soap-Opera-ish. Unlike Soap-Opera though, which have like 200 episodes, this drama has the advantage that has only 8 episodes, everything happens quickly and there are not incidents that last so long.

Typical Soap Opera (and I used to love them! but I may have outgrown them...):

- Revenge
- Love-Hate romance
- Evil mother-in-law (plus evil laugh)
- Adultery (which results in "so he is your father!"... "you are my brother??")
- Love triangles.. or love squares (Sakura has 2 other suitors besides Tsubaki.. .Tsubaki has only one)
- The camera angles, to show someone being evil, or to emphasize their anger/shock/malice/etc.
- Ridiculous and not believable situations: almost getting blind, being killed by a truck that was 1 blocks away but oh, couldn't stopped (what!).
- Pregnancies: real and fake
- Sound of bells as a way to emphasize some irregular/dangerous situation
- Everyone is a suspect, everyone is hiding something

It was too much! At least everything is fast-paced, but still, it was beyond ridiculous. And did Mizuki Arisa do something in her face? It looked so stiff! She doesn't even have her lovely dimples anymore... her retouched face made me uncomfortable.

Kanazawa is gorgeous though, and the wagashi were perfect. For visual only, it was striking. But in my case, I care little about visuals since I prefer good plots, and this wasn't :(

**My rating: 4/10**