A sensitive, fond portrayal of dealing with being stuck in time
I found this drama completely on accident at Viki and watched it all in one sitting!With short 8 episodes, this drama will grab your attention at the first and make you cry at least once. It has that magical jdrama ability of hitting you right in the feels without needing any showy imaginaries. The plot is tight and to the point: a cherry tree miracle happened -- a high school young man is revived 7 years later the date of his death to make his best friend/love interest wish of being confessed under a cherry tree come true, only his previous tight group of friends are distant now they are all adults, and the tree is going to be cut down soon. The main theme, for me, is getting back on track after something really impactful happened to you.
The cast is amazing, full of young actor who are really great. The main lead, especially, is so good. He is portraying a character forever 17 years old, in the middle of friends who grew to be 24 when he couldn't, and it's amazing how he looks the part. You can feel on his behavior, the way he moves, the way he talks, the way he sleeps (!!!) that he's only 17, not an adult yet, and it's heartbreaking. Not only the characters but also the viewers start to wonder what life would be like if the accident had never happened.
The pace, the editing, the sensibility of the director, the subtle ost that binds everything together, all of that leaves a harmonious impression. It's a human story, full of life, sweet story that explores human emotions in a way that Japanese dramas excel at. And it doesn't get sloppy.
You definitely should give it a chance!
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Its about true love
Loved the drama ,as it explains love and friendship and a cherry blossom tree ,it explains the true love between two people and their strong bond of friendship. Loved their acting and its really veryyyyyyyyyyyy emotional overall loved the drama but i hope it would have an movie instead of an jdrama but its fine i really loved sano hayato’s acting and he is soooooooo cute and loved the cherry blossoms its super emotional I almost cried over it and the last episode is really very very very very emotional .Was this review helpful to you?
Well written, psychologically sound story of love and loss, nicely acted.
What struck me most about this story is how accurately it described how when young, loss of someone you love, that you had hoped for/expected a future with, can leave you stuck and this story beautifully resolves it. It also described well, the emotions of people around, can feel during and after that time and that coming together can help with the healing.Yes, you will probably need tissues handy, yes, it will grab you and you should feel, but it is really quite a simple, wonderful story and handles the complexities of the emotions with honesty and purity.
I totally recommend it, but do have those tissues handy. It isn't sobbing, it is just a regular eye-watering, happy and sad watering. Short and sweet!
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A miracle under the Cherry Blossom Tree - a simple but beautiful premise to this short Jdorama (8 episodes at about 30 minutes each). This is a drama about second chances and healing. Our ML, Kota, died in an accident 7 years ago, and magically came back to life when the tree blossoms in the winter. His re-appearance brought his group of best friends back together to start the healing process. After Kota's death, they led separate lives, some are living better than others. Life was especially difficult for our FL, Mei. She was devastated when her crush passed away. Kota's best friend, Iori, was not living life to its fullest for a very different reason.
I was surprised that I didn't cry as much as I thought I would. I was ready to cry every single episode. I really like the premise of the story, but I was expecting more heartwarming and heartbreaking moments between Kota and Mei. I feel that because the episodes are so short, the drama cannot properly devote enough time to develop and tell each story: the past romance & friendship, the present romance, the present healing process, and the present investigation.
However, I still recommend this short drama if this is your cup of tea. The acting is solid, the scenery is beautiful and that the Cherry Blossom tree really is nice. What a nice location to be confessed to! ❤️
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The plot itself is very obvious. This reminds me a lot of Orange and My Tomorrow Your Yesterday, so if you're familiar with them you'll understand what I mean :)
All I can say is everything is so beautiful and done beautifully. The music, the scenery, the romance, the friendship, the mystery, everything! I can feel the warmth and strangely I feel calm and happy despite the sad part (again, this one is obvious). The vibe is just so good! I love everything.
Well... I suggest not to hesitate with this one. It's a very short drama with a lot of meaningful things. The story wrapped nicely, and the acting was good. It's just like watching a long movie. A very good "movie".
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I can feel his presence wasn’t there anymore in the last episode and it hurt so much, and the FL continue her life to the fullest.
It’s been four years and I still rewatch it over again.
Does anyone have recommendations to this similar story line??
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Beautifully done
This was a lovely story about love and loss. About how things in our lives can form our characters and affect decisions we make. Mei was the perfect example of this. A tragedy in her life sent her running and she was making some bad decisions. She said herself that she didn't like who she had become.I really liked how the friends re-connected and enjoyed each other's company. Kota was instrumental in this, and he saw the importance of them leaning on and supporting each other.
The show had the perfect balance of past and present, enough time in the past to know what was happening, but, as Kota said, "not looking in the past". They all realized that the past couldn't be changed but saw the importance of living in the present and following your heart.
I do have to say that the very last scene was a disappointment for me. The friends had all gotten back together again, but what Mei was looking at made me feel like she was still trapped in the past. Possibly not, but that's the way I saw it.
This is a drama that is well worth a watch. Depending upon how much of a crier you are, I suggest you have tissues handy.
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Good Story and worth the time.
All the characters did well with their acting. Great performance by Sano Hayato as Kota. The story was bitter sweet and predictable, but I love cherry blossoms and like that magical connection between past-present-future that was presented. Everything was well concluded at the end, so it was satisfying in terms of storylines.What kept it from being a 10/10 was how they wrote the FL character Mei. I felt myself thinking she's a moron and was constantly waisting time. My mom died before xmas of 2021 and if I had a chance to meet her again, even in my dreams, I would be hugging her and telling her how much I missed her! I didn't like how Mei and Kota spent so much time avoiding their true feelings. Maybe in the first or send episode, but all the way through, it just felt ridiculous.
Overall it's a good watch, great production with decent FX and music. Worthy of a rewatch too.
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This is about loss, grief, healing, and acceptance/closure.
Watching Kousei Yuki dramas and this one was pretty good!It's a heartfelt drama that deals with sudden loss at a young age and how you carry that weight with you no matter how many years pass. It's about grief but they don't linger on that as much since the story revolves around healing from that and re-discovering an old you that was much happier. This may hit close to home for those who have experienced loss cause you can never rid yourself of wanting closure the same way the kids here got to.
It's kind of heartbreaking but also encouraging. Shed no tears but you'll definitely feel a pang in your chest plenty of times watching this.
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In the beginning, we learn that the female lead was engaged in an adulterous relationship, although I did not see any need for the drama to include such a minute detail. But this incident spurs Konno Mei to move back to her hometown, where the actual story begins. We know her aversion to that place is mainly because of the abundance of memories she had with her childhood friend, who passed away tragically at a young age. But the prospect of the cherry-blossom tree where they had promised to meet, being cut down, was also weighing on her thoughts.
Once there, she meets her supposedly dead friend who’s stuck at 17. Setting aside the how’s and why’s Kota mysteriously re-appearing after years of his demise; we see Mei being conflicted. Happy that she can see him again once more, but also sad knowing what actually happened to him. She couldn’t seem to grasp the reality of his death, nor could she move on. She distanced herself from her friends and became far from being her happy-go-lucky young self.
Mei also became awkward upon meeting her friends again. I understand that death will do this to certain people, where they drift away from each other, not knowing what to do. However, this drama shows that life doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom once someone passes away. Kota’s reappearance stresses the importance of leaning on each other for support and is pivotal in bringing old friendships back together.
While we see justice being served late, with the real perpetrator of Kota’s unfortunate accident brought to justice, I place less emphasis on this revelation. For me, what struck the most is that time CAN heal wounds, if you let it, and it makes you appreciate the value of time with family and friends, no matter how short it is, and that expressing your feelings will help you with the worries and doubts if you rely on the surrounding support.
All the actors did a great job of making this point across, but also the production team, from the director to the writers, did a commendable job of bringing this drama to life. I also loved the appearance of the old man and his own story about his dead wife. It makes the impact of love and loss more powerful, even though told in this super-natural tale. But the emotions are all still there, and we should not be afraid of them.
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This review may contain spoilers
Emotional Rollercoaster
I would rank this as one of the top Jdrama I have watch so far as I am a sucker for tragedies. Plus, I relate to the story a lot because like the classmates, I also lost a dear friend of mine when I am around their age because of an accident. So, it is even more heart wrenching when I watched this. The only part I would probably hate is when the FL was being so dumb by wanting to abandon the chance to hang out with the deceased ML who miraculously resurrect because of some comments by the ML. Makes me so angry because I would want to talk to my late friend so badly. The drama became really meaningful after the ML's mother arc. That scene really broke me with the ML's breakdown...Acting wise, I think Sano Hayato did a phenomenal job because I can totally feel the age differences between him and his friends. His emotional scene was great too. But I think the main highlight to this drama is really the OSTs. They are really memorable especially the one from Ace Collection. I get so emotional every time I hear that song even though I don't understand most of the lyrics. The two Maco songs were also great. I highly recommend this to everyone if you want a drama to cry for.
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