Yugure ni, Te wo Tsunagu | Review

An unrealized fashion designer and a composer fulfill their dreams.

Notable Actors/Actresses

Nagase Ren: Umino Oto

Hirose Suzu: Asagi Soramame

Japanese Title

夕暮れに、手をつなぐ

Hold My Hand at Dawn

Genres: Contemporary, Romcom, Contemporary Romcom

Year: 2023
Episodes: 10

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Cast

Nagase Ren:     Umino Oto

Hirose Suzu:     Asagi Soramame

Romcom/Romance Checklist

How much of the plot is angst/romance?

0 / 1.5 / 2 / 3.5 / 4 / 5

The ML: 

Cold–Lukewarm–Warm / Timid / Falls in Love First / Noble Idiot / CEO / General

The FL: 

Bold / Cute / Cool & Independent / Falls in Love First / Better than ML / Noble Idiot

Describe the Relationship (the tropes):

Annoying Love (F) Rival +++ / Bickering Start / Childhood Connection / Cohabitation / Contract Marriage or Fake Couple / Enemies to Lovers / Hidden Identity / School to Adulthood / Love Triangle / Married Couple (Real) / Secretly in Love (F/ML) / Star-Crossed Lovers 

Relationship Progress (officially together; first (official) kiss; breakup*):

Ep 1 / 2 / 3 / "4" / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

# of CPs (including main CP):
0 / 1 / 2 / 3

Ending:

Happy / Sad / Open Happy / Open Sad / Bad

Review

by cynlynn

Imagine La La Land without the sad ending and realistic punch touch.

A classic romance. You’ve seen this story before. Expect predictability! Dreams come true in this lala land. All the right pieces fall in place for our couple to do what they love and be with who they love. 

Warm and cozy vibes. This made the difference to the same romance story. No matter the season, they always felt warm. Everything was comforting: the orange glow, the cheerful ML and FL, and the supportive and eccentric grandma. It was a show where it sounded like the music came from their hearts. Reassuring and soothing.

I’m a sucker for the fated love in Ep1. Their first meeting with the earphones is exactly my type of cliche. 

Ep8/9 is a cheap traitor though. Drama didn't have to be this cliche. The comforting romance was interrupted by a low quality misunderstanding: a jealous 2FL’s one lie messed up everything that went so well for them all drama-long. C’mon.

At long last, a happy ending. [Minor Spoilers; you may want to check out the "relationship progress" to see if this is your type of romance] In the closing minutes, there’s finally sweet relief. I didn't realize the title told us the ending: they literally get together at the “dawn” of the show. They're a last minute couple, but most of the show is what I like in romances: falling in love, being in love, and supporting each other. 

Specific scenes. (Scroll)

Distance. [Ep5] Even though her feet are poking him, he thinks she's keeping him close but too close and dubbed this the 90º distance. [Ep7] Then at the same kotatsu (heated table), they both inch their hands toward each other. Reciprocated. 

Time Skip. [Ep10] I'm surprised it's 3 years and not 3 months. It took 3 years for 2FL to come clean after. That's dumb. ML not doing anything in those 3 years when he knows the truth is dumber. It wouldn't be this dumb if it was just 3 months or max a year. And how is it that poor grandma still doesn't have an elevator 3 years later LOL. 

FL is cute. She'd be missing a shoe in the hotel lobby. She wouldn't be mad when ML only saves his phone and not her from the fountain when she was saving his phone, haha. She'd also secretly put sandbags in the ML's suitcase because she's upset he's leaving.

Ending. At the beginning, they found each other because of their phones (earphones are a phone too). In the end they don't need their phones to find each other.

More than the kisses, I thought the way they smiled at each other was sweeter. Also, don't miss the ending credit! We find out what's in the letter.

I swear this is what they look like when they were hugging and kissing

Recommendations

Winter	Spring	Summer