The Japanese drama series In Time with You is probably the best low-key, slow-burn romance I've ever watched, and the most infuriating. There were several times as the storyline progressed that I actually yelled at my laptop and then walked away from it so I wouldn't punch the screen. It also had the most satisfying wrap-up of all time, I think, in Asian romances, which made up for all my frustration.
Since high school Yo Mitarai (Rika Adachi) and Ren Ishida (Jin Shirasu) have been best friends -- the real deal, too, as they confide everything in each other, laugh and enjoy themselves like pals in every way, and otherwise support each other's ambitions and dreams. Long-term, genuine male/female friendships seem to be extremely rare in Asian cultures, but Yo and Ren make it work.
In the present Yo works as a section chief at a luxury shoe brand (she has a thing for shoes, too) while Ren is a rising star at a property management company. They seem very happy with their lives and their friendship. As Yo turns 29 and is still unmarried, however, she freaks out a little, which leads to her making a bet with Ren. Whoever gets married first will get a very nice cash wedding gift from the other friend. What she doesn't realize is that Ren has secretly been in love with her since high school. Things only get worse when a conniving temp at Ren's workplace decides she wants to marry him, and then Yo's heartbreaker ex shows up to try to make ammends for the terrible things he did to her and get her back.
If it wasn't for the friendship between Yo and Ren I probably wouldn't have finished watching this drama, as Conniving Temp annoyed the hell out of me, and Heartbreaker Ex was quite possibly the biggest, most manipulative scum on the face of the planet -- and both Ren and Yo seemed incapable of resisting their traps (Yo especially -- God, I wanted to smack her a thousand times.) I thought both were too intelligent to fall for this crap, too. Yet a lot of Japanese culture comes into play in male/female romantic relationships, and I think both of our main characters were handling too much (emotionally speaking), so I hung in. It was worth it, too, as the resolution of the drama is both realistic and wonderfully touching. Available to watch on Viki.com.
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