Given Episode 1

Slow pace, but solid start

Full disclosure here, but I'm viewing this as a fan of the anime, so I may be slightly more biased and harsher. With that being said, I think the drama so far is nearly identical to the drama, so, so far so good.The casting seems to be pretty good, as the cast looks age appropriate, with the exception of Akihiko, who looks miscast here. He looks off to me, as the character is supposed to be taller, with long hair and facial haired and a university student, while here, he looks about high school age. Other than that, if you're a fan of the anime and are expecting the cast to look 100% identical to the anime characters, there may be some disappointment there. In terms of an identical looking cast, you may need to look for the stage play cast instead.As for the acting, I didn't see any issue to the acting at all. It didn't seem to me that it was trying to emulate the anime with the expressions, but I think it was just enough emulation that gave off the feel of the anime without going overboard.Again, this seems to be a solid start, so I'm going to keep going (even though the music for this won't be the same as the stellar music that was produced for and included for the anime adaptation), and try to keep an open mnd as possible.

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