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Kimi ni wa Todokanai. japanese drama review
Completed
Kimi ni wa Todokanai.
2 people found this review helpful
by puwupy
Dec 3, 2023
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 10.0

Warm, touching depiction of pining

Yes, I'm aware that this drama is about two childhood friends slowly discovering new feelings they have for each other and coming to terms with the changes in their relationship, which is something that has been shown multiple times in other stories as well. With this high score I'm not trying to say that this drama is revolutionary, groud-breaking, or anything like that. All I can say is that it was touching, warm, and just so lovely to watch.

Yamato and Kakeru are two childhood friends who are also very different from each other. Yamato is smart, good in all the school subjects and in pretty much anything he attempts to do, conventionally attractive (based on the number of times girls are shown fawning about him), and also very shy and introverted, with Kakeru as his only true friend at the beginning of the story. On the other hand, Kakeru is really not good as school and doesn't seem to excell at anything at all, which causes him to have lots of problems with his self-esteem, but he's also kind and thoughtful, and very good at making friends and getting along with people. It's instantly obvious how fond Yamato is of Kakeru and their friendship, but Kakeru is also blatantly proud of Yamato and somewhat protective of him. Their dynamic was absolutely endearing, I can already see myself going back to certain episodes to rewatch their moments together.
I was afraid that the story could feel too slow, or like it wasn't developing properly, but in the end I was actually satisfied: the two of them don't resolve their problems and conflicts in a heartbeat, that's for sure, but they don't waste their (and our) time with excessive overthinking, and the blossoming of their romance is steady and well-paced. I also appreciated the fact that while there is a certain amount of angsty feelings, it never gets too heavy, and there's a quite satisfying amount of fluffiness as well.
The secondary characters weren't explored all that much and they were there basically as tools for the main characters' story to go forward, but this is a short drama (only 8 episodes of about 20 minutes each), so I wasn't expecting much to begin with and I can't say that I'm unsatisfied with this. If anything, I appreciated the fact that Hosaka seemed to have his personal BGM every time he had an important scene for himself.

I didn't feel like giving a 10 to this drama because, in my opinion, Yamato and Kakeru deserved an even better depiction of two best friends, but that's just my personal preference. Overall, I absolutely recommend it to whoever is in the mood for a simple drama about high-school romance!
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