I watched the drama "Hitori de Shinitai"

There is a drama airing on NHK since June starring Haruka Ayase called "Hitori de Shinitai" (I Want to Die Alone). It's a drama with many comedic elements that depicts the end-of-life planning of a single woman, but it's quite worth watching. (Amazon Prime also has it available.) Here are my thoughts on it. No spoilers.

The protagonist is 39 years old (35 in the original manga), has a steady job, is single, has no boyfriend, owns her own condo, and keeps one cat. She was living a relatively carefree life with no particular desire for marriage, focusing on her fandom activities, but after the lonely death of her beloved single aunt, she starts to worry about various things waiting for her in the future of her own life... that is the story.

It seems to be created quite faithfully to the original manga, with many realistic depictions. It addresses realistic problems that are by no means someone else's business without becoming too serious, portraying them with a light touch. I think it lands perfectly in that exquisite spot where you aren't left feeling gloomy after watching it, but it still gives you something to think about.

The plot unfolds as she starts worrying about her own old age, then thinks about how to handle her parents' care issues, and then approaches her parents about it. These various issues with parents are very realistic. If the protagonist is in her late 30s, her parents are at most in their 70s and still healthy, so she gets frustrated when they don't take it seriously. Since she is an only child, she feels that everything will fall on her, and she becomes reluctant to face these problems head-on. She is caught between the feeling that they are still fine and the feeling that she needs to prepare various things while they are still healthy. Ah, I really get that...

I don't know how it will end, but I thought it was a very good drama for thinking about and tackling these kinds of things head-on.

However, the part that really feels like a drama is the elite, handsome junior at the protagonist's workplace. He has so much knowledge that I wonder, doesn't he know too much? Even if he's interested, I found myself thinking, does a person like that really exist? lol

So, I sometimes worry a bit about my parents now, but I truly feel that even though we are parent and child—no, precisely because we are parent and child—things don't go smoothly... The older parents get, the more stubborn they become, and if their children do or say various things, their pride gets hurt, leading to arguments. That's how it is, so I really think parent-child relationships are difficult. We never really had proper discussions, and we weren't that close of a parent-child pair either, so even if I try to be considerate about various things now, it's just a series of wondering how far I should go. I have an older brother, so I'm not an only child, but I think it's still difficult even with siblings. So, while watching this drama, I hope to find some hints for myself and my parents, and I intend to watch it until the end.