The thing is, the first episode was a bit patchy in explaining the relationship dynamics between the trio and their individual struggles so I had to "fill in the blanks" by checking the character write-ups on the official website. It then made sense as to why they were behaving in the way they did. Of course, the story would probably do the same in later episodes but with the fragmented depiction of the situation at present, it was difficult to understand the background settings that led to the current state of things.
For example, it was shown that Oda Chiharu (Maeda Atsuko) was at a stage of self-abandon some time ago after she quit her job but it wasn't specifically mentioned that she had done so after being bullied by her boss and she was affected psychologically because of the ordeal. As such, to suddenly see the flashback scene that she had given up on herself and her house was in a mess, it can come across as something really out of the blue and bewildering. Her subsequent "revival" through cooking and her desire to be needed and validated by others can then be validated after you realise what she had been through.
Likewise, Nakamura Seiko's (Narumi Riko) situation of not fitting in well in her workplace had a missing piece in the puzzle. No doubt it may be because of her insistence on doing things in a certain way which may come across as rigid and stubborn to others, her discomfort at the workplace could also be due to the unmentioned fact that her engagement with a colleague in the same department had been broken off by her fiance all of a sudden. Similarly for Amami Eiji (Shiono Akihisa), it may appear that the only issue he has now is his seemingly rocky relationship with a boyfriend. Or does he even have one now because it looked as if this boyfriend is absent from his life even though he pretended that his relationship was going well? As such, you might understand the story better if you have this background information in advance.
As for the food scenes, what's interesting so far are that the dishes featured are not really the conventional type e.g. the dumplings which have their fillings exposed as compared to the wrapped ones we usually see. And to see the cast eating so heartily and enjoying themselves during those meal times is a joy to watch despite the heavy underlying stories. Of course, this can also be seen as a brief respite from their life challenges and it was fun to see them bantering and talking about various things as if they had no inhibitions about sharing their struggles.
However, if you look deeper into the content of their conversations, they haven't really been that forthcoming with one another. For now, it's just Chiharu telling them that she quit her job but she hasn't really told them why and the aftermath. Likewise, Eiji covering up the state of his relationship or Nakamura not really sharing what is happening at her workplace other than lamenting that she wants to quit means that it may take a while before they really get to the crux of the issues.
Despite so, I don't think that the story will get angsty and serious all of a sudden. Judging from Nakamura and Eiji's reaction to Chiharu's confession, I think the approach going forward would be just listening to one another's problems, providing an emotional boost or reassurance that things are going to work out fine and offering companionship through eating together. As such, for those who don't like very emotional stories, this should still be palatable to them.
There are quite a number of interesting subplots like which hopefully, will get addressed properly as time goes by. Of these, I'm most interested to know the story about Chiharu's and Eiji's ex-boyfriend who passed away and why Chiharu behaves differently in front of Hasui (Watabe Atsuro), the trio's former lecturer in preparatory school and the nature of their relationship now. I just hope that the scriptwriter doesn't leave these hanging in the air and forget about tying up the knots.
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