In my opinion even though the trope is in no way original, they somehow made the plot fresh. For one, contract marriages in dramas are often done in reluctance and/or impulsiveness, but in Nigehaji it is a result of calm deliberation with clear, specific terms of contract – giving a new perspective to the issues revolving contract marriage. The characters are also quite surprising to me as a longtime drama watcher, where every! single! character! has a strong sense of responsibility, intellect, maturity, and most importantly nuance. The most frustrating thing about dramas is how dumb and childish some of the characters can be, and it’s really refreshing to have an ensemble of perfectly logical characters (even if sometimes quirky) for once. Having watched too many stupid dramas it’s now second nature to me to brace for annoying decisions/reactions in dramas that will result in draggy plot arcs but so far Nigehaji has always pleasantly surprised me in this aspect. The characters also represent character tropes often exaggerated in other dramas, but instead given complexity – a nerdy bachelor (but not socially inept), a sunny heroine (but not pushy), an old maid (but not desperate or bitter), a handsome “jerk” (but not arrogant and self-centered), a gay character (but his sexual orientation is not made a big deal), just to name some of the more prominent characters. This is thanks to both good writing and good acting. But personally the true charm of Nigehaji, what makes this drama stand out from other recent dramas, is how serious and real they can get about contemporary social issues, without making the dialogue feel too heavy or unnatural. The social commentary is only sprinkled subtly over casual conversations among the characters but yet the range, depth and nuance that they’ve managed to capture is really impressive to me. Rewatch value is 1000/10 for me because I'm not usually a rewatcher type but with this I pretty much watched each episode at least 3 times -- can't get enough of the sophisticated humour and the fluff