Then You Try Making It!

Ayumi Yamagishi pours herself into being the 'perfect girlfriend,' turning every night into a meal that proves her love, while her boyfriend Katsuo expects traditional roles and assumes women should handle the cooking. They meet in college, fall into an easy, old-fashioned romance, and move in together. When Katsuo proposes, their relationship breaks down instead of moving forward. After the split, Ayumi and Katsuo circle back to one another through food, testing assumptions, reworking habits, and learning what needs to change if they want to stay together without losing who they are.

Released in 2025, the series is directed by Ryôsuke Fukuda and Omoto Katsuhiro and stars Kaho, Ryoma Takeuchi, Ayami Nakajo, Yuzu Aoki, and Mizuki Maehara. It premiered as a TV project with a strong ensemble cast and a mix of comedy and drama tones.

As of now there are no reports of major awards or nominations for the series. It appears to be building an audience through word of mouth and streaming exposure rather than an awards circuit presence.

The show has prompted conversations online about household expectations and the emotional labor of care, especially around cooking and gender roles. Clips of Ayumi preparing elaborate dishes and quieter moments between the leads have circulated on social platforms, where viewers debate which scenes feel true to life and which lean into rom-com tropes.

Early viewer scores sit at 7.7 out of 10 from a small sample, and reviewers often note the series balances light humor with quieter, character-driven drama. Themes include identity, labor within relationships, and how rituals like shared meals can heal or hide problems. Performances, especially Kaho's, are shown off through intimate domestic moments, and the show tends to favor honesty over neat resolutions, letting characters change at a believable pace.