Should you watch this
drama? This drama is for those who can appreciate the mundane, those who
can withstand a slow drama. I would not recommend this drama to someone who has
just started appreciating Jdramas. There aren’t really suspenseful moments and
although there are heartbreaking scenes there isn’t a whole lot of it. It’s not
that funny either. What I’m getting at is this drama doesn’t use normal tactics
in engaging the audience. For the most part, the drama flows like a calm wave,
sometimes there’s a huge one and other times they’re small ones but each wave
is planned, nothing was random. But I’m prideful I’ve deciphered how clever
this drama is. Those who have complained about how boring this drama is have
not actually paid attention. At least that’s my humble opinion. I’m not going
to hard sell this drama because I honestly don’t think most people can
appreciate it. Those who are willing to, I welcome you (:
It hurts me just to read comments about his drama being
plain and having unnecessary boring scenes. I just can’t accept that kind of
criticism for this drama. But I also can’t blame people for not having watched this
as closely as I did. I can see why most people would find this drama boring but
this drama is anything but plain when there are so many hidden themes and
symbolism. The seemingly unnecessary scenes are actually hidden details that
are necessary for the audience to actually appreciate the drama.
Characters
Sugihara Oto (Arimura Kasumi)
Her mother died when she was six.
Her foster father
forces her to marry a middle-aged man because he’s rich. She’s your
modern day Cinderella who’s about to be forced to marry a Prince Charming. 
Soda Ren (Kora Kengo)
Not your modern day Prince
Charming. He’s poor and he’s a little on the dumber side. To be nice, I’ll call
him naïve. He’s the hero that comes to save Oto.
Asahi Ibuki (Nishijima Takahiro)
He appears to be spoiled but he’s
got quite a big dream. He also does a lot for Oto because, well, he’s in love with
her. Why it had to be her, I’m not too sure actually.
Hinata Kihoko (Takahata Mitsuki)
Again, contrary to her looks, she
doesn’t have an ounce of confidence in her. And Ren is her only source of comfort.
Ichimura Konatsu (Morikawa Aoi)
She’s like a spoiled naïve little
girl surviving in a world of adults. She’s always truthful and because of that
she believes everyone around her is honest too. As a consequence, she gets
conned over and over again and she doesn’t learn.
Nakajo Haruta (Sakaguchi Kentaro)
He’s a liar through and through
but since he’s Ren’s friend, I’ve naturally come to trust him from the very
beginning.
Sabiki Jouji (Takahasi Issei)
He looks like a bully and acts like a bully but he’s
really just a softie.
Spoilers Ahead. This drama has so many details that are so easy to miss. This section is mainly for those who've watched the drama already.
Oto’s moment of love: Oto likes her little details even when it
comes to choosing the man she loves. She says she likes downward glances and
Ren happens to do that the second time she gave him candy in Episode 1. In the
above scene, I’d say it marks the beginning of her love.
Of course there’s more to why she
loves him. He saves her from Prince Charming.
Ren’s hero act: These are streetlights with sirens on them that
turn on when there’s an emergency. The emergency here was a landslide due to
the heavy rainfall. This scene that lasted for merely seconds happens to be
incredibly important.
Remember when Oto was throwing
rocks at a pole that woke up Ren? She was aiming at the siren at the top of the
pole. She wanted to set off the sirens to “evacuate the town.” It’s a little farfetched
but in her story about that forbidden area she took Ren to she mentioned how
she wanted a flood to drown the town, “the sirens to go off”, and the
townspeople to evacuate, including herself. This was her escape story. She
wanted to leave the town.
When Ren saw that siren he
realized Oto had always wanted to leave Hokkaido so him driving all the way
back to Oto’s place was no mere coincidence. Ren had purposely went back to
save Oto. How can Oto not be in love with him?
Ren’s moment of love: On their way to Tokyo, they see their second
sunrise. Apparently it was here that Ren fell in love with Oto. To Ren, Oto is like
the sunrise. Looking at her, he feels like a new day will come (to take him
away from the hardships of today). She gives him hope that everything will be
alright the next day. Oto is his hope.
Transportation: Trucks, buses, and subways. There’s so much focus
on it and I never really got a grasp of it until the last episode. There’s a
saying “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” But really, whether or not there’s a
will, there’s always a way. The drama is trying to instill hope to its audience
that all these roads and ways are already laid out, it’s whether you have the
will to take these roads. This will, this hope, is symbolized in Oto.
It doesn’t matter if you take the
slower route, e.g. buses instead of subway, it can still take you to your
destination.
Flower: Flowers are everywhere in this drama, from Oto’s letter to
Oto’s entire house but the most important ones are the ones that grow in the
pavements. These flowers emphasize that with willpower, they can grow anywhere
despite the terrible environment. Oto, despite where she is, she lives everyday
cheerfully and so Oto is that strong flower that gives Ren hope. I’d also like
to think that Ren is the earth supporting Oto. He was the one who saved her and
brought her to Tokyo. He was the one that allowed Oto to fulfill her mother’s
wishes for her daughter. And well, Ren does have a farming background…
Just some very pretty scenery.
This drama has tons of it.
There’s honestly so much more to say about this drama but
I’d just be regurgitating all my recaps into a single post. That sounds like a
nightmare to me. My grammar isn't the best and I don't think I've given justice to this beautiful drama but I've done my best for the drama I love Although I say these themes and symbolism like they’re the
truth, I sort of wished I had someone to debate with me whether what I saw was
truly the meaning behind this amazing drama and whether there’s more that I’ve
missed.
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