Enjoyed this one quite a lot. Reminiscent of anime Hyouka with its mixture of slice of life high school setting, light "mystery" (except for the main plot), and some bittersweetness of youth. Thanks to aoinousagi for subbing the show!
I'm happy with the ending. We've had too many of these mysterious characters before, with dubious intent and attitude only for them to be none of they're suspected to be, or their controversial actions end up being justified either by their backstory, their objectives, or the outcome of their actions. But Sara is just pure evil incarnate right from start to finish lol.
Anyway for those who are new to Mitsushima Hikari, one of the best actresses in her generation (billed as muse of J-cinema along with Ando Sakura, Miyazaki Aoi, and Aoi Yu), do check her other dramas especially Soredemo Ikite Yuku, Quartet, and Woman~
I'm surprised people are taking this rather well considering the characters cross some "taboo" of being romance drama protag with Harumichi practically cheating on his fiancee (not FL) at least emotionally for a good chunk of the show. And politically sensitive folks probably won't be a big fan of the amount of military stuff thrown in it. That being said though overall as someone who was skeptical going into the show from the synopsis thinking it would be too mushy for my liking, I found myself enjoying it more than I expected I would. Romance mixed with some life drama is nothing new, and the plot is indeed more dramatic than I usually prefer, but the consistency in characters writing and faithfullness to its (universal and cross-generational) theme are what make it solid imo.
Similar to Samayou Yaiba in a sense that beyond being a crime show it focused on the human struggles of those invoved in the case, though this has more 'investigative' aspect to it too as we find clues and shuffle through list of suspects throughout the episodes. Unfortunately unlike in Samayou nothing about the human aspect in this show feels particularly genuine or compelling. Dialogues feel shallow and scenes are crudely executed it takes out the realism and my immersion in effect. Pretty sure there are more interesting drama/movie about 'looking for a missing kid' out there. Thanks to taabou at d-addict for subbing the show, I hope my comment won't discourage anyone to try this one, who knows it might work out better for you just like it does for the rest of the commenters here.
Is alright, but then again I'm no big horror fan to begin with, or even suspense for that matter which is what this show is more about imo. The first three eps pulled out every isolated rural village horror cliche from the textbook but the last three eps when the show began to throw some twists and the rivalry between the Yahagi and the Furutani culminated is where the fun at for me. Would've probably enjoyed it more had it been cut down to 4 eps because the set up was just too long when anyone who've seen two horror movies before would already know that everything is not what it seems anyway. Alas, thanks to HPriest for subbing the show.
Lol I didn't thought it would get that dark I'm on the verge of dropping this thinking it's your ordinary infidelity…
I like what they did with the husband and the mother as well, humanizing them without coming across as playing devil advocate/excusing their behaviour.
It offers a gentle look at humans flaws. Seamlessly inspires me to treat myself and others more kindly. In that sense it evokes similar feelings to Shinya Shokudo.
Ngl Sanada's apparent lack of investment in the relationship in the last episode kinda reduce the overall cuteness a bit. I guess it's realistic considering they just got together not for long but I think showing that in her own way her feelings for Maruya are on equal level as Maruya's for her should've been fine. In the end the show seems to be more about the leads overcoming their respective worries and becoming a better person by the end with their relationship as a device to achieve that, usually I'm all for characters self improvement vs mindless doki doki fluff but for this show I was actually hoping to see more of the latter (without sacrificing the former, if possible) lol. Ah well. I enjoyed it. Watched this with indosub by bagikuy.
With this kind of ending the drama might as well serve as a glorified commercial for the manga, though I appreciate that they at least give character development for main character Yuuri and put her in a mentally stronger/healthier state by the end of the drama. Overall it didn't make me curious and excited about its concept of afterlife/ghost/spirit the way the manga did which they accomplished by clearly showing the escalation of 'circumstances' surrounding Aono. On the other hand this drama version makes me appreciate the friendship aspect more, largely thanks to how well-acted the friends' part is especially the actress who played Horie, now if only the actor who played Aono is just as good... oh well.
Looking at the comments I thought this was going to be like Nojima Shinji's 90s doramas, but this is actually…
Honestly I never really root for the characters to be anything throughout the show, here everyone is miserable yet no one seems to know how to be happy, and it's hard for me to root for the characters when they themselves don't seem to be making conscious effort to be in a better situation than they were. Still, even though until the last minutes I wasn't really sure whether it's a good thing for the two leads to end up together, during the last scene it kind of comes down to me that they can never truly be happy with anyone else but each other, so I would be bummed out if it turns out to be a dream or illusion after all.
Looking at the comments I thought this was going to be like Nojima Shinji's 90s doramas, but this is actually pretty tame and 'sane' compare to those stuffs lol. Thanks to eveychooey for subbing this show!
Oh I actually forgot about Yuuri's sister existence in the manga lol. Up to that point I thought Yuuri just 'has some screw lose' though ultimately she's a kind and genuine girl. But her deep and instant obsession toward Aono and her lack of self-preservation and self-respect probably has something to do with her family situation after all. So far (up to ep 8) I'm pretty happy with how the actress is portraying Yuuri, she really brings to life the lovable aspects of the character that makes her not only comes across as 'weird' and 'extreme', though I can imagine how her character is written can be polarizing for viewers. I personally find her endearing, and the way she loves Aono is genuinely moving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUSYOpq6izM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zi5Q-lRBWI