This was a very entertaining drama to watch. Unlike other gender benders however, Tempest is a serious drama, taking place during the last days of the Ryukyu dynasty. ( Ryukyu is now modern day Okinawa.) Though I did enjoy the drama, there are quite a few reasons that I felt I couldn't rate it higher than 7.5. The first being the ever recurring annoyance of Japanese dramas, which is the seemingly lower budget presentation. While the costumes and locations were beautiful, the rest of the production had a sort of 'cheap' feel, such as cheesy special effects and sometimes shoddy cinemetography. Also, when the Japanese actors had to speak English, you could barely understand them. Add to that the terrible overacting of the Western actors, especially the guy that played Admiral Nelson. He was especially awful! I much preferred the second half of the drama as opposed to ths first. The first half had more unreal, fantasy elements, plus I feel the acting was more awkward. By the second half, the true history of Ryukyu took center stage with the magical elements making less of an appearance. The actors seemed more comfortable in thier roles and the story just felt more solid. I would also like to add that I see this as a more mature drama. Meaning, geared more for adults. While there are no graphic scenes at all, there is one in particular during the first half that is extremely suggestive. In fact, it made me widen my eyes considering this was a historial J drama and not a movie. Special mention about GACKT's role in this. His character is super creepy. Like, icky, skin crawling creepy. Which is pretty cool as he plays it so well. I would recommend this drama to any adult viewer that enjoys Japanese history. It's interesting and has some wonderful moments.