There's a lot to like about the presentation of "Long Vacation" and watching it across the span of a couple weeks, I can see why it has the reputation it does among J-drama fans (or, on a more historical note, why it was even called "The King of Ratings" (IIRC) at one point during its run in 1996). It's easy to get into and easy to stick with. There was not a moment where I wanted turn away.

As a story, I think I appreciate what it does with Hayama Minami's arc, which is primarily why I stuck with the show from start to finish. Pardon the comparison, but Yamaguchi Tomoko's got a real Sandra Bullock quality to her. It's not hard to fall in love with her journey, and she brings a real personable energy to Minami's story.

I appreciate that "Long Vacation" doesn't dwell on the absence of her would-be husband and instead commits to seeing the character grow past that heartbreak. It really highlights one of the issues with the romance genre in general. The need or desire to give so much time to the character who stranded the protagonist in the hole she has to crawl out of instead of just the person harmed.

By the end of it, I never really cared if she ended up with Sana (in fact, I rather wish she had stayed with Mr. Sugisaki if she was gonna be with anyone), but I liked how the story ended things with them. I was glad to see the character reach a point where she was content with herself. I ultimately appreciated Minami and Sana's friendship more than the idea of their romance, which never really gets a chance to develop like their friendship. (A lot of the "will they/won't they" of the story put too much onus on Minami to act versus Sana, who played around with her too much in my opinion.)

Sana's struggle as a creative is something I could sympathize with. The indecision, the fear of failure, and the pursuit of perfection (almost throwing everything away and subjecting yourself to the unhappiness of life without the thing you love), and how all of that impacts your external relationships (oftentimes for the worse), are all captured nicely in his arc. His indecision is frustrating a lot of the time, but rooting for him wasn't hard (even when I wanted smack him upside his head).

If there's anything I don't like about "Long Vacation" it's how antiquated a lot of the character's thinking is (and how that thinking remains a viral constant in other modern dramas). Minami is constantly dogged for being in her 30s, which is treated like a death sentence. More than one male character (but specifically Sana) employs the virgin/whore dichotomy against her because she doesn't act like the "delicate", "pure (as snow)", and "polite" girl.

While the show excels in trying to paint (romantic) relationships with honesty, it falls back on the tired "men and women will never understand each other" shtick, and it's clear the writers don't have the perspective (knowledge) to really tackle that problematic line of thinking.

The show is also insistent on excusing Minami's brother (Shinji) on a "boys will be boys" basis when he cheats on his girlfriend Ru, then has the gall to call Ru "spoiled" because she acted on her anger towards him. As supporting characters, Ru and Shinji suffer the most because so little time is afforded to them (and honestly, after how the first episode set them up, that's a shame), and the 'love triangle' that jammed into their subplot makes thing worse.

Momoko is a particularly irksome character who acts as the show's summary of its thesis. She's mostly played up as adorkable and loveable, but she just exasperated me, honestly. After Momoko, I don't like the Ryoko character. She encapsulates so much about what I don't like about love triangles. In general she's an empty character who only seems crucial to the show when someone she's dating falls out of favor with her (or vice versa). At best, she magnifies the issues that plagued most of Minami's relationships with men, who treat Ryoko as infallible on the basis that she's the "ideal" that women like Minami should aspire to.

Overall, I think "Long Vacation" gave me everything something like "Good Morning Call" failed to as an awkward story about cagey roommates who become lovers (GMC is also just a messy adaptation of a solid manga). It falls short of being great because of the problems I pointed out, but it doesn't damage the overall experience with the show itself. Great performances and character dynamics kept everything afloat for me.