equanimity
A simple yet meaningful Japanese romance drama
This was a story about a girl (Tsumugi Aoba) who was dating a boy (Sou Sakura) in high school. Around the time they were graduating, the boy was gradually losing his hearing and decided that he did not wish to burden by continuing the relationship with the girl. He did not tell the real reason, but simply texted about liking another girl. The girl only found out his loss of hearing after they met up coincidentally 6 years later. During that time, she was already dating another boy from the same high school who was also the boy’s friend.
11 episodes with 50-60 minutes per episode. ‘Silent’ this drama was indeed rather quiet, understandably so when there was a lot of sign language used.
It was neither fast-paced with action nor were there plenty of things happening. However, there were no draggy scenes. Even the usual tearjerker scenes were quickly over and done with, yet not having the feeling it was insufficiently done. I feel that everything in this drama was portrayed in typical Japanese fashion. Reactions were mild, actions were subtle, but inner emotions were strong yet not fully expressed.
This was best shown when Tsumugi and Sou met again and gradually became closer, yet not becoming a couple. Sou was hesitant because he felt lacking in himself, but Tsumugi was willing to move forward with him. These scenes were shown subtly, nothing overboard or dramatic, making them all the more touching and meaningful.
The acting was also convincing from the whole cast. Special mention to those who acted as hearing-impaired, Ren Meguro, the male lead and Kaho, who acted as Sou’s hearing-impaired friend. They were believable with their fluent and natural sign language. Haruna Kawaguchi, the female lead, was also natural in her acting. She was pretty and was always wearing nice sweaters (not related to the story whatsoever though).
Earlier in the drama, some people commented that Tsumugi saying numerous times to Sou before he lost his hearing completely that ‘I like your voice’, ‘I want to talk on the phone with you’ was emphasized too much to the point of being unnatural, but I think the director wanted to deepen the sad irony later that it was no longer possible for Sou to talk to Tsumugi naturally. In the later episodes, being able to hear him speak out felt so precious. I almost forgot how his voice sounded. He might have lost his hearing, but was still able to speak, just that not being able to hear his own voice became a psychological barrier for him to speak out.
This was a simple drama which touched on the relationship between people who couldn’t hear and people who could hear, how they tried to overcome their differences and most importantly, looked at the other in the present and not look at based on who they were in the past – I thought this was thought-provoking because many times we look at others based on our opinions of who they were and what they did in the past. We should perhaps try looking as they are right now instead of constantly living in the past. In this way, we can become our better selves and move forward together.
I would recommend this drama if you like to watch Japanese romance dramas whose stories tend to be simple and less dramatic. I would not recommend this if you do not like simple romance dramas and prefer dramas which are fast-paced, action-packed full of dramatic turns and twists, highs and lows like Korean dramas.
Some things spoken in the drama that I found meaningful
“Don’t look at someone based on who she was in the past. You should look at her as she is right now. If we keep lowering our gazes, we won’t notice if someone gently calls out to us. We must not avoid looking at them.” – Nana Momono (by Kaho) to Sou (by Ren Meguro)
“I got used to the fact that I couldn’t hear other people’s voices. But not being able to hear your voice, was the only thing I couldn’t accept.” – Sou to Tsumugi
“I won’t speak out. I won’t laugh. I won’t talk on the phone. I won’t listen to music. If these are so hard, I’ll stop doing all these. Even then, I want to be together with you.” – Tsumugi to Sou
(Tsumugi and Sou were sitting side by side. Tsumugi wrote each sentence separately in post-it notes and passed them silently one by one to Sou. I think it was her expression, she looked so pitiful while she was writing and passing the post-it notes that I couldn't help but cried with her.)
“Flowers make no sound yet they contain words that can convey many feelings.” ……. So true.
11 episodes with 50-60 minutes per episode. ‘Silent’ this drama was indeed rather quiet, understandably so when there was a lot of sign language used.
It was neither fast-paced with action nor were there plenty of things happening. However, there were no draggy scenes. Even the usual tearjerker scenes were quickly over and done with, yet not having the feeling it was insufficiently done. I feel that everything in this drama was portrayed in typical Japanese fashion. Reactions were mild, actions were subtle, but inner emotions were strong yet not fully expressed.
This was best shown when Tsumugi and Sou met again and gradually became closer, yet not becoming a couple. Sou was hesitant because he felt lacking in himself, but Tsumugi was willing to move forward with him. These scenes were shown subtly, nothing overboard or dramatic, making them all the more touching and meaningful.
The acting was also convincing from the whole cast. Special mention to those who acted as hearing-impaired, Ren Meguro, the male lead and Kaho, who acted as Sou’s hearing-impaired friend. They were believable with their fluent and natural sign language. Haruna Kawaguchi, the female lead, was also natural in her acting. She was pretty and was always wearing nice sweaters (not related to the story whatsoever though).
Earlier in the drama, some people commented that Tsumugi saying numerous times to Sou before he lost his hearing completely that ‘I like your voice’, ‘I want to talk on the phone with you’ was emphasized too much to the point of being unnatural, but I think the director wanted to deepen the sad irony later that it was no longer possible for Sou to talk to Tsumugi naturally. In the later episodes, being able to hear him speak out felt so precious. I almost forgot how his voice sounded. He might have lost his hearing, but was still able to speak, just that not being able to hear his own voice became a psychological barrier for him to speak out.
This was a simple drama which touched on the relationship between people who couldn’t hear and people who could hear, how they tried to overcome their differences and most importantly, looked at the other in the present and not look at based on who they were in the past – I thought this was thought-provoking because many times we look at others based on our opinions of who they were and what they did in the past. We should perhaps try looking as they are right now instead of constantly living in the past. In this way, we can become our better selves and move forward together.
I would recommend this drama if you like to watch Japanese romance dramas whose stories tend to be simple and less dramatic. I would not recommend this if you do not like simple romance dramas and prefer dramas which are fast-paced, action-packed full of dramatic turns and twists, highs and lows like Korean dramas.
Some things spoken in the drama that I found meaningful
“Don’t look at someone based on who she was in the past. You should look at her as she is right now. If we keep lowering our gazes, we won’t notice if someone gently calls out to us. We must not avoid looking at them.” – Nana Momono (by Kaho) to Sou (by Ren Meguro)
“I got used to the fact that I couldn’t hear other people’s voices. But not being able to hear your voice, was the only thing I couldn’t accept.” – Sou to Tsumugi
“I won’t speak out. I won’t laugh. I won’t talk on the phone. I won’t listen to music. If these are so hard, I’ll stop doing all these. Even then, I want to be together with you.” – Tsumugi to Sou
(Tsumugi and Sou were sitting side by side. Tsumugi wrote each sentence separately in post-it notes and passed them silently one by one to Sou. I think it was her expression, she looked so pitiful while she was writing and passing the post-it notes that I couldn't help but cried with her.)
“Flowers make no sound yet they contain words that can convey many feelings.” ……. So true.
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