Glass Heart

When the music burned brighter than the actual plot!

Sometimes, music is the way to express ourselves, and the drama leans heavily into that. Music didn't just set the mood here, it hijacked the plot, stole the spotlight and not in a subtle way. It's the heartbeat of the story. With every strum, beat and verse, the drama tries to convey things its characters can't say directly and even when the writing slips, the music saves it all.

The story revolves around Saijo Akane, a drummer who her previous mates abandoned, and gets a second chance when she is invited to join the band "TENBLANK".

TENBLANK band members or should I say the "plots" :
✨Fujitani Naoki: He was the genius but eccentric composer with a messy heart and even messier hair. The creative nucleus of the group. I would describe him as intense, obsessive, borderline reclusive, but a fascinating creature. Under all that facade, he is a man weighed down by unresolved emotions and secrets he would protect at all costs. Takeru Satoh did a great job. I know he is a fine actor and it showed. I recently saw him in Marry my husband and the character difference shows his versatile range.

✨Takaoka Sho: He was the guitarist who didn't demand attention but had mine from start to finish! He was soft spoken, observant and incredibly skilled. Machida Keita completely stole the show for me. From episode one to the finale, his styling was absolutely flawless. From the turtlenecks to that effortlessly perfect long hair, every detail was on point. I know this isn't exactly about his acting (which is already well-respected, no need for testimonials there) but the look he served in this drama was iconic. He had me catching second lead syndrome so bad. I mean, imagine ignoring Satoh... and yet, here I am.

✨Sakamoto Kazushi: He was sharp, confident and wasn't afraid to speak his mind, especially when it came to challenging Naoki's authority. But I feel the writing didn't give him enough to fully bloom. We get glimpses of pride and conflict but it feels underdeveloped. Shison Jun did a solid job in portraying this character. He played the perfect tsundere.

✨And the newly added member was Miss Sajio Akane, the underdog drummer, as they say. She had grit, she listened, she learned and she put in the work, not just for show. Nothing she did felt fake or wasted.
Miyazaki Yu gave a genuinely likeable and grounded performance. She played the perfect mix of insecurity and inner fire. I rooted and cheered for Akane.

🔥 Wild card Toya: I know he isn't the official member of TENBLANK but he isn't the one to ignore. You just can't! He is the kind of character who could walk into a scene mid-chaos and steal every ounce of attention. He is a loud, intense bona fide rockstar who seemed crazy but beneath all that is a man who is haunted by choices, loss and love that never really left. He is both tragic and unforgettable. Some scenes definitely tossed realism out the window, but it served the drama and I ate it up.
Maski Suda devoured this role. At first glance, I didn't recognise him. He was raw, a bit feral and had the reckless energy exuding. You just can't look away.

But not everything in the mix felt right. While the music and the stellar cast were a win, the pacing was all over the place, especially in the second half. This would be just me but we (I) DO NOT need a romantic subplot to show up like the last-minute guest. The story would have worked fine without a romantic storyline, it might have worked better if I were being honest. We could have focused more on the other band members and their stories. I feel there was barely any spotlight given to them. There were times it felt like a one-man show, but then a group performance glossed over that feeling, but it definitely lingered more than it should.

Another thing I noticed and maybe this is just me (again), was how the energy and adrenaline would spike during each performance, but then drop off right after. It didn’t really carry over once that fantastic music stopped playing. The in-between moments felt a bit dull and I kept waiting for them to practice or be back on stage to feel that energy again.
Maybe this is what happens when you have full-blown performances. This wasn't just "slap a ballad or two on it" drama but it gave us actual bangers. I feel the music is the main plot here and the rest of everything feels secondary.

The cinematography was stunning, especially the rain shots. And the camera work during the concert sequences was pure artistry. It screamed budget in the best way.

Overall, despite the scratches, this was an entertaining and binge worthy watch. It didn't exactly stick the landing or maybe I had high expectations from the actual plot "writing", but the journey is worth it for the vibes, stellar cast and amazing soundtracks. It's the kind of predictable plot where you will be rolling your eyes a bit but still replay the songs on loop. Not perfect, but comfortable in its own ways.

If you have made it this far, thank you for reading my review! <3
I thought I was going to keep this short… and yet here we are lmao. If you decide to check out the drama, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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Already watched it twice.

The thing with this drama is the power of the band and the effort behind the music. At first, I was really interested in the filming style because the actors seemed to be actually playing the instruments. The images of them playing are so real… the very first scene grabs you right away. I mean like playing crazy good. It turns out … they are actually playing. The actors trained over a year before for the drama. They play hard. I put the music on in my car and focus on the drums. The girl drummer is really amazing. I really liked this drama. The story is simple but the acting, production and directing behind this drama makes it very different and really worth watching.

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Well Worth The Time

I've only watched a few jdramas so I wasn't familiar with any of the cast members. I'm not a musician myself but my oldest sons were in a local band for a number of years and I got a chance to see firsthand some of that world. I really enjoyed the FL playing her drums in the rain in Episode 1. Truth be told, her story is the story, though as others have mentioned, the series star is the music. I really enjoy the "positive outlook" FL in this type of series, maybe because I don't bump into too many here in the States. And maybe they only exist in fictional series.

The only time I got bored was in episodes 8 & 9 when the writer felt they needed to expand the backstories for the band members. Episode 10 made up for it with a creative victory lap where the band was joined by some of the former villains who turned into allies. Overall a feel good series loaded with enjoyable music.

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Could have been better but it has its own charm...

PROS:
1. Great Acting: Anyone who is into J-dramas is familiar with Takeru Satoh's acting and OMG he was next level in this drama, He embodied the genius music-obsessed composer who was quirky yet charming. The FL's actress also did pretty well and so did the bandmates. The actor who played Toya, Masaki Suda also did a GREAT job (I already knew he was good but damn he was next level in the role of a rockstar) . The stand out actors were definitely Takeru Satoh and Masaki Suda though.

2. Music: I got to hear tons of great music which usually only happens for OSTs. (the campfire scene where they played the song from Hatsukoi was so nostalgic for me)

CONS:
1. Pacing: the pacing was way too fast, a lot of incidents happen back to back and they don't have enough time for development. Its like there were many ideas but only 10eps to execute them

2. Other bandmates didn't get as much attention: We are introduced to the premise that Naoki, Sho and Kazushi are geniuses and Akane is "normal" but what we get to see is Naoki being the "only" genius. Besides the occasional argument from kazushi's side, everyone seems to just go along with what Naoki is saying, for people who claim to be geniuses they have no pride.

3. Rushed Love Lines: Some people catching feelings made no sense (if ykyk) and it felt unnecessary to rush all that development into barely 2 eps.

4. Rushed ending: No matter how I look at it the ending is not good. I guess the writers saw this as the only way to end this drama at 1 season with no speculations for another with everything cleanly ending but to me the ending felt a bit lazy.

5. The drama's plot was drowned by the songs: The plot randomly creeps up between impromtu performances and the balance was definitely not good.

6. Random scenes show up: keyword: stab

All in all this drama has its perks but it doesn't have the best plot, which makes me sad because all of the WASTED POTENTIALLL. I watched through this show and it is pretty decent but It had a whole lot more potential.

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As a fan of both Takeru and Keita, I was drawn to this series right away. The cinematography is stunning, visually compelling with beautifully composed shots.

In terms of the story, of course I have not read the manga so I really have no idea but in my personal opinion the romance subplot felt a bit forced and unnecessary. Personally, I think Akane and Kazushi would have made a much more fitting couple. I was honestly hoping Naoki wouldn't fall for Akane. What I had envisioned instead was a more bittersweet closed ended ending: Naoki’s death leading to Yukino or perhaps the former manager stepping up as the new vocalist. It would have been powerful to see Naoki leave behind his music, including new songs, as a legacy for the group. Now I'm curious how the Season 2 would go, if there will be one.

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I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was an interesting series, but the script was lacking in some areas. Although slightly confusing, it started off really good. However, the script unraveled a little bit towards the end and did not fully explain some things. I was also not a fan of the romantic storylines. It was clear the main focus was the music which definitely outshined the script. The cast did an outstanding job making this script come alive and creating very engaging characters. This also had visually stunning cinemaphotography.

Random Note:

My major complaint is the ending which was very abrupt, well for me anyway. It almost gave a hint of a second season.



******Potential Spoiler Alert******

I’m slightly confused about Naoki’s medical condition and its link to him staying in the music industry.

I understand this was adapted from a novel, but I felt the love triangle between Naoki, Akane, and Kazushi was unnecessary. This already had a lot of other story elements to make this interesting.

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Music is terrifying and beautiful

Glass Heart boasted one of the more beautiful casts that I’ve seen recently. Satoh Takeru, Machida Keita, and Shison Jun were three-fourths of the band Tenblank. Miyazaki Yu rounded out the band as the lone female member. High on music and low on plot, Glass Heart was more mood than narrative. Fortunately, the music was pretty good for a drama making it a fast, upbeat watch.

Musical genius Fujitani Naoki has gathered a guitarist, an on-line music sensation, and finally an amateur drummer who opened his heart back up to music three years ago at an impromptu concert in the rain. The group is an awkward fit at the beginning with the men’s egos and Akane’s lack of confidence. Guitarist Sho takes care of Naoki when he wears himself out. Kazushi’s own writing skills expand Naoki’s mind when it hits a wall. And Akane’s unique drumming style calls him. The band doesn’t realize that Naoki is working against the clock to release the music inside him.

The plot was paper thin and barely a scaffolding for the music videos. Few things happen in the 10 episodes. An estranged brother is reconciled with, a singer with a crush on Naoki as well as a jealous manager have to be dealt with, and the bandmates struggle to keep up with Naoki’s musical madness. Naoki’s old traitorous music partner is the lone source of conflict and doesn’t really cause many ripples in the band’s trajectory.

The performances were all solid, though Sho and Kazushi could have used more airtime. Right now, Miyazaki Yu is listed as a supporting cast member, but I would argue she was the lead. A non-threateningly cute, eager, every-girl, Akane stood in for the female audience and was usually the focus of the story when it wasn’t on Naoki’s genius. As per usual, a big chunk of the male drama population fell in love with her. I saw no chemistry between her and Satoh, though chemistry is often in the eye of the beholder. From the moment Sho princess carried Naoki, that was my ship, right until the moment when Sho asked Naoki, “Is this a proposal?”

I enjoyed the music, the found/made family, the reconciliations, and the karmic blow back for the cheaters. It was a quick, enthusiastic binge. Lucky Me ended up being my favorite of the songs and Suda Masaki’s voice my favorite of the singers. For the nice music, beautiful men, call to love through music, Glass Heart was worth the watch for me.

“Music isn’t concerned with who wins or loses. It just plays. That’s why it’s terrifying and beautiful.”

31 July 2025

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Masterpiece

Jdrama never failed when it comes to music theme.. New song, insert song, instrument plays make the plot very exciting and intriguing.. That's why I got hooked the moment 5 minutes intro episode 1.. Beautifully presented from beginning to the end of the series...

Hats off to all the people that involved in this series coz everything is perfect 👍👍 Acting, camera work, visual effect, cinematography, music 💯 💯

Miyazaki Yu as Akane Saijo definitely outstanding with her performance here.. Can't help but adored her.. Sato Takeru,Masaki Suda, Jun Shison, Machida Keita also did a great job...

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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It's about music, not about the story

Usually when you watch a musical, music compliments the story itself, gives it layers and reveals hidden emotions of the characters and their pain and\or love to us. With this drama, it is completely vice versa - here, the story compliments music. Sounds, music, Naoki's songs are the main characters in this drama. In one episode, he says that he's writing all of these songs just to pull the noise out of his head. And this drama literally felt like watching this sounds and noises coming out of his head

There's not much plot. It basically sums up to creating the group, going through struggles, succeeding and that's it. Even a little plot twist didn't have that much of impact at all. I also personally not a big fan of open endings, so this is why my rating is 9.5. It was great in terms of the story until the last ep - because that one was just a huge performance without tying up all the plot lines. We don't know what'll happen to the characters after it.

Characters. I love all of them. Even if there's not much going on, the characters shine. We have eps that are focused on certain character and their story, aside of Kazushi, unfortunately. He's the only one not getting his own background story out of the main four. Surprisingly, there are side characters with a deep and properly written personalities even though they're on the screen for just a couple of episodes. And THE acting, every one of the actors gave an incredible performance, they put all of themselves in it.

Romance, bromance, found family. Main four truly works so good together, you can see all sorts of connections between them, and it evolves throughout the show. There's a huge found family plot - they care about each other deeply, but what truly binds them together is music and passion to perform, like they're completely different, but the sound brings them closer.

Romance is here too - it's truly just a little bit, and the love theme of the drama is more about the whole group, than about Akane and Naoki, but they did even this little bit beautifully. Don't expect the full-blown romance, expect the gentle kind, the "I'll be there for you always" kind.

And, finally, a bromance between Sho and Naoki that could easily be written as a romance, honestly, it was a great full of love relationship between them. I personally loved both romance and bromance, I truly feel like Naoki loves all 3 of his bandmates, it's just his love takes a different form with each of them:
- For Akane it's romantic love and the love that pulled him back from his own head
- For Sho it's admiration and the love that brought him back the happiness for playing the music
- For Kazushi it's more friendly love and the love that challenges his songwriting

The production and the music. This drama is mesmerizing. It's filmed like a movie, there's so many pretty shots and sounds, when they sing you can truly feel like you're on the stage there with them. And the whole OST... I don't even know where to start. I feel like it was made by musicians for musicians, and it's done flawlessly - even little bits of playing instruments between the scenes and the intro is so in tune with everything. As I said in the beginning, music is the main character, that's why the songs here are about the feeling and not really about the story, which is actually refreshing to see in the musical. I enjoyed it so much, but I think the way this drama works is not for everyone. You just need to decide what you want more - the story or the music. And if the music is your choice, this drama is for you

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