I enjoyed this drama very much indeed. Personally I felt that it wasn't a totally forbidden love as I understood…
Actually, it WAS totally forbidden. Also, I think that was why she said something (in the last ep) about how of course they could never have children... Masato was Naoko's father's much younger biological brother, who was adopted by relatives when he was six years old.
They did not go into this in great detail; I'm assuming Masato's older brother was still too young when their parents passed away, so that's why Masato was sent away to live with relatives for the most part of the year except in the summers when he came back to his birth family's hometown. Because he was so much yonger than her father, Naoko thought of him more like an older brother when she was growing up and called him Masa-niichan.
What happened was that after that rainy summer day when she became aware of her attraction, she felt as though he weren't "Masa-niichan" to her anymore, but of course he was...
"The older the man gets, he is even more appealing, right?" So true!! I always held this opinion about women, and I guess it's true about men as well. :) About Arata, you write: "Maybe many don't find him attractive", and as far as I've seen on various blogs/forums etc, it looks like you're right. He doesn't seem as popular as many others. That's weird IMHO (I agree that he's very handsome!!), but I'm saying that as a bisexual strongly leaning towards women; Arata is the FIRST guy in literally years that I've found attractive. (Seeing your list, I think I might also like the first man there.) If I dare make a guess: many girls are more into the "cute boyish" type, while Arata is more "elegant" - perhaps that's somewhat less appealing to many? I don't know, maybe I talk too much! ;) Anyway, he was in the very first j-drama I watched... :)
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They did not go into this in great detail; I'm assuming Masato's older brother was still too young when their parents passed away, so that's why Masato was sent away to live with relatives for the most part of the year except in the summers when he came back to his birth family's hometown. Because he was so much yonger than her father, Naoko thought of him more like an older brother when she was growing up and called him Masa-niichan.
What happened was that after that rainy summer day when she became aware of her attraction, she felt as though he weren't "Masa-niichan" to her anymore, but of course he was...