Neko (2020)

Probably 1 of the best Asian dramas in 2020

Japanese filmmakers are really good at using small, simple moments to tell a story. No exaggeration (unless it is a comedy) and no over-abundance of subplots. This is minimalist filmmaking. Matsumoto Hana's recent works are really good, an actress-director to keep an eye on :)

Honestly, I have picked Neko to watch on a whim. I love cats and well, there is cat in the title ^^ But oh, do not be mistaken, this drama is not about cats. Rather, it is about how 2 lonely people met over a cat, how they became companions and fell in love with each other.....

The script is very honest. Right in ep 1, FL tells ML that she has brain tumor and is expected to die from it soon. He is homeless so she offered him to stay at her home, on condition that he does what a family member would-- FL is living alone and craves for companionship. Of course, they fell in love. You would watch them struggle with the love, she wasn't sure if to accept him as he would eventually be heartbroken, but he convinced her. Better to have loved and lost, than not love at all. But life is unpredictable.....

Neko is an excellent mini drama that is a role model for how with good script and cinematography, you can present loneliness, love, companionship, loss, sadness and recovery in a few short scenes. This drama is 6 episodes of 20 mins each, the length of a movie. But the production is right to make this into a drama, to present the different arcs and emotions, and give viewers time to absorb in what was shown. By the end of this drama, it would make you rethink about life and death.

I know the story seems too heavy (I suspect that is why the title is "Neko", to trick us into watching it, lol) but trust me, you would be very glad to spend 2 hours on this drama. We all love those lighthearted, idol romcoms or gritty mysteries dramas, but when such a good slice-of-life drama comes along, it deserves your time.

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Very easy time for me to watch this, sweet, emotional, I'm thankful that I decided to watch this one

Disclaimer: I usually write this reviews for myself to see in the future, that doesn't mean that this can't help people at all, there a some big spoils on the story section, they're not very detailed but they are big spoilers so if you don't want to get spoiled just skip this part, the rest of the review is spoiler free.

Well, I didn't expect to like this drama that much, for various reasons. This is my first japanese drama, usually when I dive into new countrys, it usually takes time for me to get used to the language, but it wasn't the case at all with this one, because of the innumerous japanese animes I watched in my life so it was very easy. Another reason why I thought I wouldn't like this a lot is because I initially decided to watch it only for my 2021 watch challenge, cause I saw that someone on my page used it for something, so I had no expectations on it, but I ended up liking it a lot.

That was very long intro, but now I'll dive into the drama and why I liked it so much.

Story: 10/10

It was a very different story than what I'm used to, I'm used to watch chinese/korean cheesy romances, so to watch a very realistic story yet very simple love story for once was a very exciting experience, for the first half of the drama it was a very sweet romance of two people that met by chance and fallen in love with each other, but what really makes me value this story that much is the breach of expectative that happened on episode 3 when we all were expecting Mineko to die at some point, but who ended up dying was Koji, at that point I thought we would ended up in a route situation, where we would see various possibilities of the story, but no the story goes on and Mineko eventually was healed from her disease. As much as I wanted the guy to be there with her during that process. This story give us a lesson that everything can happen, and that life is really dynamic, even if it was obvious that she would die and he would be left alone the exact opposite opposite happened.

Acting/Cast: 7.5

It was not bad by any means, but it was not great, which is understandable since both Sakurako (22) and Oshiro (20) are very young and on their first main roles, that being said I think her acting was actually really good and convincing, the way she acts is very my style and is what made me raise the acting rate that high and I think that was noticed by directors because looking at her MDL's page she already have 2 Main Roles scheduled for 2021 and I'm very happy for her. On the other hand I really dislike Oshiro's acting it seems like he is always trying too much, and his acting is not convincing at all and totally not my style, but he is still very young and I can see potential on him, I'll look forward to his next roles too.

Music: 9.5/10

It's really good and fitting, there's not much variety, but it was enough to make the drama really enjoyable and easy to watch, I don't have much to talk about it, it was just pretty solid and fitting.

Rewatch Value: 10/10

I give this a 10, because it's a really good story packed in 6 eps of 24 minutes each, two well invested hours, and I'll definitely end up watching this again in the future.

Final Thoughts: This review is packed with a lot of firsts for me, it's my first review in long time, it's my first japanese drama and it's the first time I'm doing a review strictly for myself, but I hope that this was a good review for whoever is reading this, sorry for my not perfect english.

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