Gibo to Musume no Blues

This is a uniquely Japanese take on the emotional evolution of a stepmom and daughter relationship. It is charming albeit a bit frustrating to watch Aikiko often mired in self sacrifice, low self esteem and OCD like habits and vocal tone, but thankfully we do watch her slowly transform. And I do mean SLOWLY. It's not that she is vulnerable and fragile, it's more like she is excruciatingly tough on herself combined with a confounding cluelessness. Luckily her daughter is played by a good actress who conveys convincing teen angst with eexpressive range and subtlety. Btw, The actress who plays Aikido was also the tragic "Samurai's daughter", Maki in the famous Japanese series "Jin" for which she could have won an Emmy level award for. But here she is rarely emotive, which I found to make the plot feel dilluted throughout. Things do get funnier and pop when Takeru Satoh shows up as "the Baker". He plays a clueless blue collar guy with far more passion than Aikido (who's kind of sexy and she never notices it) - it's a total 180 degrees from Satoh's usual roles playing an introvert. All in all, if you view patience as a series watching virtue, and can enjoy an oblique takes on Japanese family culture, my verdict is give it a watch. But in the end, I felt the story kind of punted on my own expectations.