Before it fell victim to the simulcast, so that didn't happen. Now that Amazon has finally made the show available, the question becomes – what did we miss out on? Is the show still worth checking out? And do those dictionarians on the poster kiss, perhaps?

The answer is no, those dictionarians on the poster do not kiss. This show strictly concerns itself with heterosexual romance, between dictionarians and non-dictionarians. Jokes aside, a lot of the early excitement for The Great age came from the suspicion that it would be josei audience, which tends to get most of these low-key, naturalistic dramas.

Majime comes out of his shell through two primary relationships, one with his coworker/friend Nishioka and another with his love interest Kaguya. As a suave social butterfly, Nishioka is initially disdainful of Majime, but he comes to ire his intellect and ion for words. In turn, Majime is initially intimidated by the extroverted Nishioka, but he comes to view him as a model for testing his limits. Their relationship is the best developed in the show, as a story about two very different people bridging the gap in their personalities to understand and one another. Kaguya, meanwhile, is a fellow tenant at the boardhouse where Majime lives. She's a calm and determined woman in training to become a chef, and Majime often struggles to convey his feelings to her with his unique approach to communication.

While there is a literal romance at stake, The Great age is more of a romance between Majime and his job than anything. This show leans hard on the details of the dictionary business, which could have been really boring. Fortunately, they frame all this exposition about the publishing biz by telling us why the people involved love it so much. This is a smart move, achieved more through subtleties in character animation and voice acting than through the scripted dialogue. Ultimately, the central emotions revolve around what it's like to discover something that you'd be happy to spend your entire life doing, as well as how it feels to search for something like this before you find it. In this regard, The Great age is most similar to shows like Hataraki Man.

On an aesthetic level, this show exceeds all expectations. This is not the type of story that usually gets an animation-heavy adaptation, but it somehow received one of the most lush productions that I've seen in a while. It reminds me a lot of Noriko Shimazawa, who served as an animation director on Flowers of Evil. Otherwise, the direction is solid, and the story is further livened up by some nice music. I'm particularly a fan of the opening, which stands out as stylish and poppy.

In the end, The Great age is a simple, pleasant story about an awkward man finding his place, falling in love with a nice lady, and working hard to achieve his goals. While it's not saying or doing anything too complicated on a narrative level, it's bursting with love for its niche subject matter and the people who live in that world. I can see why this story has resonated enough to see multiple adaptations. It strikes a strong balance between heartfelt escapism and realistically depicting the tribulations of the workforce. While it may have taken a while to get here, The Great age stands out as one of the best shows of the fall 2016 season, well worth revisiting even after this gap of time.