Title: Tsukuyomi-kun no kindan oyashoku / 月読くんの禁断お夜食
Rating: 7 /10
Recommended for:
For those who like food-themed dramas with a romance element and are fans of Hagiwara Riku, Triendl Reina and Asaka Koudai
Liked:
- While the title suggests a "forbidden" element, there was nothing racy although there were some scenes which were a tad suggestive to get viewers excited about the romance developing between Yuuga (Hagiwara) and Soyogi (Triendl). You can interpret the "forbidden-ness" in a couple of ways i.e. Soyogi not supposed to eat anything late at night because she needs to maintain her figure as a personal trainer, Soyogi allowing Yuuga to come to her apartment at night to make supper for her even though the circumstances that led to this arrangement did seem quite unlikely in real life or that Yuuga wasn't supposed to develop romantic feelings for Soyogi because he had a motive in getting close to her.
If you can get past the settings not being so realistic especially the part about letting a male stranger enter your house just like that, the drama offers a nice blend of the delicious-looking yet seemingly healthy dishes along with the doki-doki romance aspect. Nothing too heavy and angsty even till the end and Hagiwara and Triendl looked pretty good together on screen so I thought it was more palatable than I initially expected.
- My impression of Hagiwara has been quite vague to date since I've only watched him in supporting roles. This is the first time that I have seen him in a meatier role and it was a pleasant surprise to see how he could handle the various emotions of Tsukuyomi-kun quite well. Looks like a pretty promising actor in the making. Likewise for Triendl, I thought that her performance as Soyogi was credible and she definitely looked the part as a popular personal trainer. My impression of Asaka was still very much rooted in when he appeared in "Anata no ban desu" so it was a refreshing change to see him as the charming yet somewhat mysterious Taiga here. I also liked the brotherly interactions between Hagiwara and Asaka which sometimes bordered on a tad suggestive.
Disliked:
- I wouldn't say that this is something which I dislike but probably a bit lacking if you want something that's more of a complete package. As I mentioned above, the drama was perhaps meant to be something which can tantalise slightly but not overly excite the viewer. Just like how Tsukuyomi-kun's dishes aren't meant to overwhelm Soyogi's body in terms of quantity or flavours, the drama can come across as bland and somewhat predictable for viewers who are looking for a bit more excitement or surprise. So while it is on average decent on all fronts, I would struggle to say that there is anything which stands out significantly over the competition.
