ブランケット・キャッツ (Buranketto Kyattsu/Blanket Cats) - NHK/2017
- Shusuke was a high-level furniture designer who originally cared more about his job than his wife and her seven cats. When his wife passed away, he gave up his career for a small furniture repair business in an old house, where he dutifully takes care of his late wife's cats as penance.
- Shusuke's friend/neighbor/veterinarian Misaki (Kichise Michiko, 'Seshiru no Mokuromi') encourages him to move on with his life by adopting the cats out. Each episode features a different person seeking to adopt a cat, seven episodes for seven cats. Shusuke allows each person to take their cat of choice home on a three-day trial basis. Spoiler: Most of the cats end up back with Shusuke.
- Each cat has a special blanket chosen for them by Shusuke, and he insists that each cat is accompanied by their blanket when they go to their prospective owner's home. Hence, 'Blanket Cats'.
ラブリラン (Rabu Riran/Love Rerun) - NTV/YTV/2018
- In all her 29 years of life, graphic designer Sayaka (Nakamura Anne, 'Totsuzen Desu ga, Ashita Kekkon Shimasu') has never been in a relationship. Her only experience with love is her 15-year crush on her high school friend Ryosuke (Otani Ryohei, 'Ubai Ai, Fuyu').
- On the eve of her 30th birthday, Sayaka finally decides to confess to Ryosuke. But then she blanks out and wakes up three months later with a completely different style, a significant memory gap, and a new ex-boyfriend. Apparently she'd been dating her co-worker, Shohei.
- Shohei lets Sayaka continue staying at his apartment until she gets her memory back. The relationship didn't end well and they still have to work at the same place everyday, so awkward is an understatement. Especially when Shohei's other ex-girlfriend tries to speed up the memory recovery process so that she can be with Shohei instead of Sayaka.
- As Sayaka remembers more of the past, she realizes how much her lifestyle and romance priorities have shifted. Will it be Ryosuke or Shohei in the end?
野武士のグルメ (Nobushi no Gurume/Samurai Gourmet) - Netflix/2017
- Now that he's retired and has time to enjoy life, 60-year-old Takeshi decides to use his abundant free time to explore his surroundings and indulge in delicious foods (mostly Japanese, but some Chinese, Korean, and Italian dishes too). Some of his selections are random, but others are influenced by nostalgia.
- Each episode features a different dish. Takeshi has an imaginary samurai persona, and that samurai steps in to embolden Takeshi to act or speak in situations which he would normally shy away from.
I appreciated all three of these dramas in their own way, but if I had to choose a winner this time, it'd be a tie between 'Blanket Cats' and 'Samurai Gourmet'. 'Samurai Gourmet' is sweet, occasionally silly, and visually captivating, but 'Blanket Cats' has a ton of heart and probably would've been the overall winner if only there were more than seven episodes. As always, I'd encourage you to try them all!
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