Each episode is a different story, a different world, a different rule set, but they all carry the same DNA, that Rumiko signature of comedy breaking into genuine ache without warning. You're not watching a series, you're watching a master's sketchbook, thirteen variations on how a person can want something they can't have. The format means nothing overstays its welcome; every story gets exactly as long as it needs and then ends, which is its own kind of mercy.

Thirteen standalone stories, each adapted from a short work Rumiko Takahashi wrote between 1987 and 2000. Every episode stands on its own, and the broadcast order does not follow the order in which the stories were written. Ordinary people are pushed into extreme circumstances when their home, their job or their relationships come under threat. Penguins, wedding chapels and husbands who have lost their memory all turn up along the way. The mix of genres runs from comedy and romance to slice of life, drama and the supernatural, all carried by the odd humor and dramatic touch of the creator behind InuYasha, Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura.