This review may contain spoilers
Great and heartwarming family drama, unique storyline, great cast performance
I have watched all the 10 episodes in 1-2 days. It is a great and heartwarming family drama, with a unique storyline -- during the initial episodes, I thought it would be similar to "See You In My 19th Life" - a reincarnation process where the girl only remembered her past life when she was around 10 years old. However, this was proven not to be true when the story progressed.It was a great performance by almost all the cast and the child actress Maida Nono who portrays Marika is the shining star of this drama with her impeccable acting skills: as a dominant (and jealous, lol) wife, as a caring mother (to Mai), as a caring elder sister (to Yuri), as a forgiving daughter (to her dementia mother), and a confused child (when she became her original Marika instead of Takae). How a 10-year-old actress can pull off such an amazing acting performance is beyond words. She reminds me of Yuna of "The Kidnapping Day".
I have some mixed feelings about the ending -- the findings at the end of episode 8 that it was not reincarnation, but just Takae "borrowing" Marika's body, is sad. That means the existence of Takae is only temporary and she can't stay in the body forever, and I can already predict what the ending would be like.
Nevertheless, the last 24 hours of Takae spending her last time with the family is bittersweet. :) I'm happy to see that Keisuke and Mai can finally get closure and accept that Takae had to go and they have to move on. It's quite unbelievable though that they kept the little girl awake until the next morning with a packed schedule, so they can make use of the last 24 hours, lol.
For those of you who avoid this drama because of the title, you don't have to be afraid and just watch the drama. Yes, the plot is a bit weird (I would still say that their initial plan for the husband to marry the little girl when she reaches 18 is indeed creepy), but there are no romantic scenes between the husband and the little girl -- even on slightly more romantic scenes, the adult Takae will take over the scene instead of the little girl. It's a heartwarming family drama that the whole family can watch.
It is highly recommended!
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A real M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E!!!
Over the last few years, with alas increasingly common recurrence, I end up being in such despair ("à la" Zetsubou-sensei, I mean, LOL) due to the Nth "westernized" J-drama ("made in Hollywood", as I put it), that for a brief moment I find myself entertaining the idea of dropping Japanese dramas altogether.../.____.\Luckily, though, every now and then good old Japan still manages to come up with the Nth masterpiece, so that I'm happily made to abandon that idea completely and my love for J-dramas is once again maintained and reinforced.
It was precisely the case of this "Tsuma, Shogakusei ni Naru".
A real M-A-S-T-E-R-P-I-E-C-E. There's no other way to correctly describe it.
The script? PERFECT. You cry, you laugh, you think....the whole nine yards, really.
The acting? MARVELOUS. Hard to name only three members of this *great* cast, but traditions must be respected, so I'll go with Tsutsumi-san, Kamiki-kun and most of all the adorable - and amazingly talented - Maida Nono (seriously, to be able to act that well at her age is kinda scary! Can't wait to see her in more dramas!!!)
The "packaging", as I put it (directing, editing, photography, music, etc.)? TOP-NOTCH.
The message? W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!!!
'Nuff said, go watch it *now*, you'll thank me later! ^_______-
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Wow, just WOW!
So I started watching this thinking It's going to be a bit weird, a 10 year old and an older man, I was dead wrong. This show made me happy, sad, frustrated, relieved, nervous, anxious, glad and surprised, It made me laugh, It made me cry, It made me get the tissues out in the last few episodes. I cannot fault the acting in this...... just epic. The production was second to none and the music, oh my, the music was just wonderful. Most of all this show made me feel, it made me become aware that life is truly fleeting and at every opportunity I should make the most of it, enjoy every bit of it and have fun along the way. Stop reading this and go watch all 10 episodes back to back now. You can thank me later.Was this review helpful to you?
