A tomboy forced into an arranged marriage with the one man she's convinced herself she hates, and the show has the nerve to make you believe in both her resistance and her surrender. The 1920s setting isn't window dressing, it's the pressure cooker where Benio's defiance against tradition becomes its own kind of love story. This one doesn't get talked about nearly enough, and that's a crime against everyone sleeping on how a character this alive, this stubborn, this real, can change your mind about what romance actually means.

Benio refuses to be confined by tradition. It's 1920s Japan, and this spirited girl lives on her own terms: athletic, independent, and utterly unbothered by what society expects of her. Then she meets Shinobu, a handsome half-German soldier who keeps rescuing her from embarrassing scrapes, though she can't stand him. Her dislike turns to shock when she learns she has been pushed into an arranged marriage, and her intended is Shinobu himself. From there the story twists and turns. Shinobu is sent off to fight in the war, while Benio struggles with the idea of marriage and with getting along with her future in-laws and her employer. Her clumsiness and bluntness keep landing her in trouble, but her honesty and optimism win people over, and her days are full of both mishaps and laughter. Meanwhile, the great Kanto earthquake looms ahead.