I'm still somewhat new to Jdrama's, as I've only been truly seeking them out often to watch for two or three years now. But wrapping my head around the fact that this drama was made in the same year as We Married as a Job (Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu) really throws me for a loop. We Married as a Job is one of my favorite dramas of all time. It's stellarly written and paced with an absolutely charming and sweet and thoughtful romance. And it is so incredibly different from Please Love the Useless Me. We Married as a Job feels modern and current while Please Love the Useless Me feels old-school and a bit dated. And yet, something about Please Love the Useless Me charmed me. Do I think they spent too long on the second male lead love interest when they weren't actually going to end up together? Yes. Did they forget to spend much if any time at all developing a romance between the leads? Yes. Did I find the constant focus on treating virginity as something to be embarrassed of and done away with forthwith and oh no! she has yellow panties! annoying??? Absolutely yes. (Don't get me started about the panties.)

The story is quite flawed and silly. But still...I enjoyed it, lol.

A lot of people are going to call the male lead a jerk, and they're not exactly wrong. He says rude things. But I do think a lot of people misunderstand just what kind of jerk he is. It seemed kind of obvious to me that the intention with his character was for him to come across as rough around the edges (because of his high school days as a Yanki), and he's probably that way with everyone, but it comes from a well-meaning place. Unfortunately, Dean Fujioka just does not look the part of a reformed but still a little rough Yanki, and I don't think his acting really sold that aspect of his character either. But...it's Dean Fujioka, so I kind of have to give him a pass, lol.

An equal number of people are going to dislike the female lead, because she comes across as dumb and too self-sacrificing and too insecure. But I don't need my female leads to be super-smart, I like characters who are self-sacrificial, and I relate to characters that are insecure and struggle with figuring out whether someone is trustworthy or not. She's clearly not wise in who she chooses to trust, but she wants the best for others, and I love that. I connected with her on an emotional level, and that matters to me most in my drama female leads. She also consistently gives it back to the male lead any time he's rude or dismissive, which I liked.

I read in the MDL comments that they cut out all of the romantic bits from the original manga, which is frustrating. The story needed some actual romance between our leads. We get plenty of shots of both of them looking at each other, shots that are obviously intended to convey that they have feelings for each other. They also do nice things for each other throughout the series. But we get way more insight into the female lead's feelings than we do the leads, and apart from the looks and some nice gestures, there is essentially no romance. They also apparently killed off the brother in the drama. I can't fathom why that decision was made, but if I find out it was so they could create the male leads crush on his brother's widow, I'm gonna be irritated. That's probably my least favorite part of the drama.

Given what I read in the comments about the original manga and the way this drama still managed to charm me without it really deserving to, I really want to read the manga now. While I got enjoyment out of the drama, it would be nice to read a version where there's actually some romance.