I would place this drama in the meh category. It's a pretty typical female ensemble drama with romance, career trajectories, pleasant friend group dynamics, and it has it's share of charming and moving moments, but there are also far better female ensemble dramas out there to watch, so if you're looking for one that is realllly good, this one probably isn't it.

The number one thing I didn't like about this drama is the main female lead. There wasn't anything wrong with her. There just wasn't very much To her. First and foremost, the writers did a poor job of creating real motivation for her sudden desire to become a baker. There's a paltry attempt to tie it back to her dreams as a child or something (at least I think that's what they were trying to do), but they barely make any effort to do even that. And outside of baking, she feels bland and personality-less. You learn almost nothing about her other than she really wants to bake all of a sudden. I was also not impressed with the actress, as she left the character feeling like she had no depth. A weak character on paper can be elevated by a good actor or actress. Sadly, this actress did not succeed in this respect.

Inversely, my favorite female lead by the end ended up being Emi-Chan, the housewife. Most modern viewers would probably find her story bland or passé or maybe even mildly offensive because she decides to follow her husbands dream, but in a time where everything seems to be about women, what they want, what they like, what they need, I found it refreshing to see a drama where a female lead sees her partners hopes and dreams and desires and takes them seriously. And not only does Emi-Chan take them seriously, but she chooses to support them. She recognizes that her husband has needs, and they are just as valid as her own, and she just wants him to be happy. It was also a surprisingly funny twist when we discover in the first half of the drama that her husband has Not been cheating on her like she suspects but is actually...in an aerobics class and has just become a little obsessed with it, lol. I don't know why such a seemingly silly story worked for me, but it really did.

I would say I like Kaoru and her story trajectory second best out of the four. I don't agree with some of the presuppositions it presents about about love and marriage, but her story was thought-provoking, nonetheless. I was also glad it didn't turn into a 'Women have to be at the top' sort of storyline. She's good at her job, and she enjoys what she does, but it isn't an obsession with proving herself to everyone. She does her job because it gives her satisfaction, and that's honestly enough.

For Michiru, the only reason I don't dislike her story as much as Kaede's is because I did actually enjoy her parts of the drama in the first half. My engagement with her character began to fizzle out, however, in the second, to the point that her boyfriends proposal didn't inspire much emotion in me. (Which is sad, because I'm a sucker for Noona romance.) Of course, I think others might like her story more than I did.

Lastly, I think the biggest disappointment of this drama is how they created for themselves a neat opportunity, by bringing in younger versions of the leads, to weave the two timelines together and give the audience a deeper understanding of the main characters. The younger versions are immensely charming and lovable, but they are also barely utilized, and it's a terrible waste.

So all in all, I found this drama to be rather boring. But that's fine, because there are too many dramas out there to let one not so great one bother me. On the next!