Your description is like saying The Godfather is “A film about a dumb bunch of criminals who are always killing each other. Very boring, but it’s got some great period detail.”
Did you actually watch Garden of Words? Because in fact it’s a very sweet, soft, intelligent, thought-provoking story, no matter what the trailer makes it look like.
And, again, it’s very much a story that viewers are expected to watch actively and figure out for themselves what’s really going on.
Yep. That was what is known as a joooke. Joke. Sort of like "“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.” It is–technically–100% accurate. And yes, it is dull, climaxing with the type of cliche hammy over-the-top loud tearful monologue used way too often at the end of episodes of Japanese dramas.
But it has an interesting twist.
…is now himself at the edge of a relationship with a dysfunctional older woman.
…is now at the edge of actually having a relationship with a young student at her school.
To add to my previous post:
…but somehow they each provide something the other needs:
She gives the boy the encouragement he needs to pursue his dream of being a craftsman making handmade shoes. He enrolls in a course in a technical college, which is far better for him than the school where he is unhappy and doing badly.
He lifts her out of her depression, so that she she has the will to sort out her life, leave Tokyo, and become a teacher in her home town. She also manages to resist getting sexually involved with the boy, while still remaining friends with him.
So, unwise as the relationship seems by all logic, it still works out happily for both of them.