This review may contain spoilers
chasing the dream
So let's get this out of the way, Yes the age gap is considered against society. Yes it's a power imbalance and yes it's messed up.
But does the story make up for it?
Well...
The main problem with this show is the side romance is miles above the main story. Arimura does a fantastic job portraying the emotions that should be present... But the script and character moments do nothing to help out the situation. Honestly the chemistry between Suenaga and Kuroiwa was right from the beginning was nonsensical. Sudden young love happens in real life but this one felt like there was no real build up between both of them. It was just Akira mainly doing all the chasing with Suenaga only relenting after she realized she liked him too. But all we really had with those sorts of interactions were long stares and the occasional pull aways. It didn't feel like they were amounting to much of anything. I was actually kinda annoyed about how it played out.
When they got together, it felt really hollow. Like Suenaga really had no reason to like him other then him saying he liked her and him staring at her all the time. I just didn't feel the mutual romance. So then Suenaga comes off really poorly cause then it's like she only likes him because he showed interest. You can sort of tell there's a spark missing inside Hijiri but it's never expanded upon before anything happens.
It did not help that I didn't think Akira wasn't very well acted. I get he's supposed to be an awkward 15 year old. But every scene he was in, I couldn't believe him at all. It all felt so stinted and awkward. During scenes where he was chasing her and showing emotions, even then it felt like he was only at 20% of what he could probably do. Sometimes it was comically slow. Kawai her fiance as well was just not present. All I got from him was he was just trying to do the right thing but wouldn't listen. But again no chemistry to begin with. I guess that's the point but it certainly did not do him any favors. I think in all there was only one scene where I felt they were a couple and it was a character moment when they were walking down a street taking about how plain he is. Now the real star of this show however is Haraguchi and Kuroiwa San.
Haraguchi had a deeply nuanced performance. I thought everything about her was easily the better story. She was a strong archetype with many faults but owned up to them. Her love for Kawai was earnest and respectable. She had real good reasons for her love and for her inner feelings all fleshed out through the interactions she faced and it felt like a natural progression. She fell for his whole hearted reliability and unjudgemental attitude towards her. You feel super bad for her when she doesn't get reciprocated but you don't get that for the other characters. Her interactions with every meeting felt like they were important discussions where she was trying to get people to pursue things the right way. She just felt like a person who wanted the best for everyone despite her demeanor.
Kuroiwa San was also a stand out performance . Her feelings and emotions came out as genuine distress and it really carried her interactions. It felt as if she was the real Mom and was looking out for her son's best interest. She also had a great trauma backstory to tie together the characters faults and triumphs. The twist also made it better. You could tell her character arc was of redemption to right the wrongs of the past in her son. Then you get the generational trauma thing and it all fits together.
I also felt really bad for Iwasaki. She got pushed around so much. Yes, what she did was vindictive and also a like selfish but give her a break she's a young teen who had a crush on a boy who didn't reciprocate. There was no good ground for her character to move forward next to realizing she's lost to Suenaga. But the end thankfully she seemed to have moved forward.
The camerawork is really sorta simple. There's some alright compositions but they went crazy with the fisheye allegory. I'm assuming it was meant to show the emotional distance between characters but it was used so much it just became jarring. I'm wondering if the manga used these shots frequently and it was to imitate it? The soft ambient night lighting scenes were good. I liked those ones but daylight scenes needed work. I'm not sure if it was the restoration on Netflix's release but it started to look really green in scenes as if they applied a filter to counter act reddish or yellow tones?
The music was just ok. Uru's end theme is fantastic, but most of Uru's music is. The piano version that is sprinkled throughout was also easy to listen too and does the typical job of playing when something important happens lol. But either then that it wasn't really anything special to talk about.
The story takes a really big swerve in the middle. It was welcome change of pace. I would of liked that to have been the main story as the forbidden romance became less a thing and the aftermath became was much more interesting then the original plot. The Tachibana family story in particular
seemed to have taken over the majority of the second half. I was invested in that one. The blackmailing against Suenaga was an interesting topic to pull with the mother's backstory.
The second half of the series had a much better plot play out and fleshed out the motivations better.. however I still thought to myself that Hijiri's motivations and actions had no real logistical reasonings. Like her character arc was good, but it was very difficult to think of what actions that led her there. For being the main character I felt like we are made to feel bad for her. But there's no backstory to really put her there. She just sorta exists to be a plot device. By the end too they were just throwing in random swerves like the ending of episode 11 was so late in the show. That's where I feel this series lost me. I enjoyed the ending but it's hard for me to recommend this.
But does the story make up for it?
Well...
The main problem with this show is the side romance is miles above the main story. Arimura does a fantastic job portraying the emotions that should be present... But the script and character moments do nothing to help out the situation. Honestly the chemistry between Suenaga and Kuroiwa was right from the beginning was nonsensical. Sudden young love happens in real life but this one felt like there was no real build up between both of them. It was just Akira mainly doing all the chasing with Suenaga only relenting after she realized she liked him too. But all we really had with those sorts of interactions were long stares and the occasional pull aways. It didn't feel like they were amounting to much of anything. I was actually kinda annoyed about how it played out.
When they got together, it felt really hollow. Like Suenaga really had no reason to like him other then him saying he liked her and him staring at her all the time. I just didn't feel the mutual romance. So then Suenaga comes off really poorly cause then it's like she only likes him because he showed interest. You can sort of tell there's a spark missing inside Hijiri but it's never expanded upon before anything happens.
It did not help that I didn't think Akira wasn't very well acted. I get he's supposed to be an awkward 15 year old. But every scene he was in, I couldn't believe him at all. It all felt so stinted and awkward. During scenes where he was chasing her and showing emotions, even then it felt like he was only at 20% of what he could probably do. Sometimes it was comically slow. Kawai her fiance as well was just not present. All I got from him was he was just trying to do the right thing but wouldn't listen. But again no chemistry to begin with. I guess that's the point but it certainly did not do him any favors. I think in all there was only one scene where I felt they were a couple and it was a character moment when they were walking down a street taking about how plain he is. Now the real star of this show however is Haraguchi and Kuroiwa San.
Haraguchi had a deeply nuanced performance. I thought everything about her was easily the better story. She was a strong archetype with many faults but owned up to them. Her love for Kawai was earnest and respectable. She had real good reasons for her love and for her inner feelings all fleshed out through the interactions she faced and it felt like a natural progression. She fell for his whole hearted reliability and unjudgemental attitude towards her. You feel super bad for her when she doesn't get reciprocated but you don't get that for the other characters. Her interactions with every meeting felt like they were important discussions where she was trying to get people to pursue things the right way. She just felt like a person who wanted the best for everyone despite her demeanor.
Kuroiwa San was also a stand out performance . Her feelings and emotions came out as genuine distress and it really carried her interactions. It felt as if she was the real Mom and was looking out for her son's best interest. She also had a great trauma backstory to tie together the characters faults and triumphs. The twist also made it better. You could tell her character arc was of redemption to right the wrongs of the past in her son. Then you get the generational trauma thing and it all fits together.
I also felt really bad for Iwasaki. She got pushed around so much. Yes, what she did was vindictive and also a like selfish but give her a break she's a young teen who had a crush on a boy who didn't reciprocate. There was no good ground for her character to move forward next to realizing she's lost to Suenaga. But the end thankfully she seemed to have moved forward.
The camerawork is really sorta simple. There's some alright compositions but they went crazy with the fisheye allegory. I'm assuming it was meant to show the emotional distance between characters but it was used so much it just became jarring. I'm wondering if the manga used these shots frequently and it was to imitate it? The soft ambient night lighting scenes were good. I liked those ones but daylight scenes needed work. I'm not sure if it was the restoration on Netflix's release but it started to look really green in scenes as if they applied a filter to counter act reddish or yellow tones?
The music was just ok. Uru's end theme is fantastic, but most of Uru's music is. The piano version that is sprinkled throughout was also easy to listen too and does the typical job of playing when something important happens lol. But either then that it wasn't really anything special to talk about.
The story takes a really big swerve in the middle. It was welcome change of pace. I would of liked that to have been the main story as the forbidden romance became less a thing and the aftermath became was much more interesting then the original plot. The Tachibana family story in particular
seemed to have taken over the majority of the second half. I was invested in that one. The blackmailing against Suenaga was an interesting topic to pull with the mother's backstory.
The second half of the series had a much better plot play out and fleshed out the motivations better.. however I still thought to myself that Hijiri's motivations and actions had no real logistical reasonings. Like her character arc was good, but it was very difficult to think of what actions that led her there. For being the main character I felt like we are made to feel bad for her. But there's no backstory to really put her there. She just sorta exists to be a plot device. By the end too they were just throwing in random swerves like the ending of episode 11 was so late in the show. That's where I feel this series lost me. I enjoyed the ending but it's hard for me to recommend this.
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