Sand Chronicles

An hourglass as a metaphor for life

Introduction
I am very fortunate to have seen this excellent drama. My hat's off to the original manga author, Ashihara Hinako, who both wrote and illustrated this fine tale of love. And I do mean love, as in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This long series, spanning 60 episodes of 30 minutes each, was part of TBS's Ai no Gekijo, Love Theater. It was kind of their version of NHK's Asadora long-series. The story revolves around Anne, or An (however you want to spell it), a girl who moves back to her mother's hometown in Shimane prefecture. What ensues is plenty of love and drama, and it all revolves around Anne and her childhood first love, Daigo. By the way, Shimane is home to the Nima Sand Museum, a central part of the story. I'd love to visit there and buy an hourglass, the same one prominently featured in the drama.

What I liked
First and foremost is the adult version of Anne, played by the lovely Sato Megumi. Her beauty rivals that of Ito Misaki's, IMHO. This is one of Megumi's rare lead roles, and she is absolutely stunning in all her gorgeousity. Kobayashi Ryoko isn't bad herself, as the teenage Anne. And then there's the spunky, 12-year-old Anne, played by Miyama Karen. All 3 Daigo's are also finely portrayed by Izumisawa Yuuki, Sano Kazuma, and the venerable Takezai Terunosuke. The supporting cast was good, as well. In particular, Anne's grandmother, played by Omori Akemi.

Secondly, I liked that the wonderful story pretty much stays focused on love, and the ups and downs associated with it. This show is, after all, part of TBS's Love Theater... But seriously, right from the get-go, Love is at center stage. Each version of Anne and Daigo have their romantic encounters, as well as the troubles that go along with them. Pretty amazing, considering the length of this drama, at about 30 hours!

And thirdly, I must mention the locations and music. In addition to the Sand Museum, Shimane has other beautiful places, and along with the filming around Tokyo, this drama gets a rare perfect location score from me. And the theme song, Hito Koi Meguri (Love's Journey), sung by Shibasaki Ko, is a remarkable ballad that I never got sick of listening to over and over again when watching the show.

What I didn't like
Partly by design, and partly by necessity, flashbacks were utilized to remind the viewers, as well as move the story along. But I thought it was too much. The flashbacks to past scenes were often repeated too often, and the amount of former scene playbacks probably amounted to a few episodes worth of time.

The middle part kind of bogged down, with teenaged Anne acting schizophrenic at times. I didn't enjoy some of her tearful moments, which sometimes were her fault anyways. But then again, there's a reason why she acted the way she did...

At the beginning, travelling between Shimane and Tokyo was a big thing for Anne and Company. But after a while, she, Daigo, and the others would shuttle back and forth between the two distant places like it was teleportation or something. I rolled my eyes several times when these unrealistic transportation scenes occured.

Conclusion
Overall, a superb piece of work. I might not get around to watching it again soon, due to its length. But it's definitely a heart-warmer of a drama. Finally, an explanation to my headline, An hourglass as a metaphor for life. Anne's grandmother puts it succinctly-- the sand in the upper part of the hourglass represents the future, the sand falling through the narrow part represents the present, and the sand in the bottom part represents the past.

Read More