ブラッシュアップライフ S1

A light and heartfelt examination of friendship and life

The series is charming and unexpectedly tugs at your heartstrings without shoving the schmaltz in your face. The tone is never cynical and the show never betrays its own messaging even when things get dire. Sakura Ando is wonderful as the lead and the supporting cast are all likeable.

This is my first drama I finished with Japanese subtitles so I can't comment much from a language learning aspect except:

• The dialogue pacing is natural (it is a drama after all)

• The vocabulary can vary in difficulty due to covering so many professions but it doesn't really make story comprehension difficult.

• If you ever wanted to hear how one might approach bringing up an awkward conversation but in a humorous and non-confrontational way, it happens almost every episode so you'll have loads of examples to pull from.