fannypakit
Story: What I particularly liked is the balance of drama, romance, comedy, and sports. It is quick paced from the very beginning and I was never bored watching any of the episodes. They focus on the supporting characters as well, so I feel like you really get character depth with most characters. Its depth in the multiple storylines is done well and I like that they actual cover some backstory. Also, this is the best thematic jdrama I have seen. Pride. Maybe, must be. Of the last century. Spring and Fall. It's all woven together so nicely.
Acting/Cast: They absolutely nailed it. I personally think Kimutaku is at his best here. I felt like I was going through all the emotions with him, the way he can fill his eyes with so much emotion is impressive. Plus, Kimutaku and Takeuchi Yuko's chemistry is off the charts. There is something wrong with you if you are not rooting for them. I also thought the supporting characters were well casted as well. Very strong performance from Sakaguchi Kenji (Hotta Yamato) and I even enjoyed Sato Ryuta's sometimes over the top Makoto character.
Music: Queen is great and fitting but what is that instrumental song that is so beautifully embedded in the series? Because that song is killing it. Used so perfectly.
Rewatch Value: I give it a 10 because this is the one (and possibly the only) jdrama that I have watched multiple times. My count is probably at 3 times watched for this drama.
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Story: Medical dramas can be hard to do well and when you have a star studded cast, you best take advantage...and I did not think A Life did that. Character development was really lacking and I found myself frustrated many times. I'm sorry, but Takeuchi Yuko deserved a better character than what they did with Danjo Mifuyu. I also really wanted more for Hamura--he felt like a useless character to me. And boy did I think Masao was poorly done (though acting by Asano was superb). Okita was really the best balance as we got some backstory with him but even still, we could've seen more with him--I did not like the whole super surgeon vibe we got, but I understand that it was necessary. Despite all of this, the series was entertaining. Okita and Shibata together were great and I enjoyed Igawa as well. The drama focused too heavily on the politics and then dragged out the ending. To me, the story could have been executed way better.
Acting/Cast: I give the acting high marks though I found the supporting surgeons annoying af even though I knew they were just there to provide exaggerated comedy relief. I actually think Asano was the best actor out of everybody here at times, but his character made me hate him still. We don't even need to talk about Kimutaku. He killed it as usual with the wordless expressive acting--I just wished they gave the other characters the same depth. Don't know if it was just me, but I felt like Mifuyu and Rina's scenes weren't as heartwarming and gushing as they could have been, but I do not want to be too critical about the child actress. I get why Nanao had to be the way she was as Sakakibara, but man she seemed forced. So there were some positives and negatives with the cast.
Music: I did not notice it too much, so it gets a passing grade from me.
Rewatch Value: I'm not sure about this, but I don't think I would instantly pick this up again to rewatch, so it's meh for me. There may be some episodes worth rewatching, but I wouldn't say the entire series.
Overall, I thought this series had a lot of potential that was not lived up to, but it was still an enjoyable drama and honestly better than some of the others I've seen where I could not even get through the entire series.
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