Kristal
I have to admit, I had already watched the first episode of this dorama last February I think, but it was soooo slow, and I had other doramas to watch, so I decided to put it off. Watching the first episode again, it confirmed my first impression: the beginning is really slow and the only thing that made me stay was the cast. And then, after the first two, boring and slow as heck episodes, I still kept watching for the cast and not for the story.
Don't get me wrong, this dorama is not bad, it's actually quite decent and I ended up liking it in the end, but it's not a masterpiece. It has a bit of clichés and a telenovela-like kind of twists at times, but it's good if you want to watch something just to pass the time. I think what made it work, for me, was that it wasn't just a romance dorama, but also and foremost a friendship dorama.
My favourite character in all this has to be Hanae. She's just a little flower (pun intended) too pure for this world. I was so so so happy to see the way things turned out for her - it was my hope from the start.
As for the other characters, I liked them as a group, especially Taka(a)shi. He was such a great addition to the scenes, but I didn't like the way things ended with him. In general, I think very few character have what you would call "character development" - and they are of course Asahi, Natsuki, Hanae, and Aoi and Hikaru a little bit, I guess. Takashi was never really in the spotlight, and that saddened me a little. Also characters' backstory is completely absent apart form small details like (very few) flashbacks and such, that are scattered here and there in the episodes. It also bothers me so much that they never told us why Natsuki's fiancé up and left before their wedding. Well, at the end of the day, the dorama is still enjoyable, but these are the little things that made me give it a 6 for the story and an overall 7.
The acting, in general, was good. I loved Erika and Ryo, they were the best in my opinion. The sore note was Yamapi and I'm so sorry about that. The guy is seriously cool and good-looking and all but... his acting skills are just not there. Having watched Nobuta wo Produce just before Summer Nude, I am left here wondering: is this the same guy? How could he be so brilliant as Akari, yet so terrible as Asahi? Imi wakannai.
The music was good! I liked it, to be honest. One of the melodies actually reminded me of Love Shuffle, I don't know why. Oh, well, as I said, good.
Aaand, that's it, really. Seeing the reviews on here, I really thought this dorama would be terrible, but it's not! All in all, I recommend it if you're looking for a nice, tragedy-free, albeit a bit slow dorama to pass the time with.
Was this review helpful to you?
Let's start with the story. What was the story? Was there a story? Really? Because what was there was ridiculous. And I mean literally ridiculous. I won't spoil it for anyone, but the ending is soooo anticlimactic. I was so disappointed (and bored out of my mind.) Plus, the whole thing was so predictable. But to help the viewer even more, there are hints EVERYWHERE during the course of the SP.
The acting was generally good, apart for two of them: one of the Arashi guys (I guess?), the one with the café, sporting the same expression on his face in every scene; and sachou's daughter - there was a particular scene where she was supposed to be... desperate, I think? I don't know, she merely said her lines, that's it. No passion.
But kudos to the rest of the cast, I really liked them all, especially the cleaning Arashi guy.
The music was all right, I liked the instrumental "suspense" theme!
There is no rewatch value, seeing how this is one of those movies where you either forget the whole ending, or you only watch it once.
Overall, this SP was disappointing. The premises were great, but then it all went kind of downhill in the last 20 minutes or so.
Was this review helpful to you?
