No.of Eps: 10Yr/TV Stn: 2011/Fuji TV
Cast:
Miura Haruma ~ Kashiwagi Shuji
Toda Erika ~ Uemura Natsumi
Uchida Yuki ~ Mizutani Aya
Takei Emi ~ Saeki Hikari
Synopsis: (edited from Dramawiki)
Natsumi and Shuji, who are teachers in a high school, are set to get married in half a year's time. However, the night before the school year's opening ceremony, Shuji becomes involved with the young Hikari without realizing that she will be a student in his class starting the next day. As Shuji struggles to help Hikari deal with the mental complex she is suffering from, he is also torn inside by his betrayal of Natsumi. Meanwhile, Hikari attempts to get closer to Natsumi, driven by feelings of jealousy and a desire to destroy the couple's relationship.
Slacker's review:
I think many ppl were led down by the plot. We were lost as the plot seemed to lose its direction, as if we were in a "merry-go-round". The characters seemed very confused themselves, and even the ending did not convinced me that they had "learnt" something. It was a weak "Mon9" (this is the prime slot for Fuji TV's dramas). The storyline was kinda weak, but it's actually a character-driven drama, so there were more depth for the characters' development.
Miura and Toda were no longer new names in the Jdrama world. Toda's name kept popping out everywhere. She's really hardworking, but lacks a role which cld make her stood out from the crowd. Toda's performance was much better than Miura, as the actress's acting was natural and expressive.
Miura, on the other hand, looked a tad old with his old fashioned hair styling. Seriously, he's too young to act as a matured man, and a teacher? Nt quite convincing to me. I don't like weak characters, so it's hard for me to like Shuji. He's a nice responsible guy who can be quite contradicted.
The actress who stole the limelight is Takei. A young actress who looked older than her real age. Her acting was quite convincing and rather natural. As for her character Hikari, I did not like her initially as she tried to come b/w Shuji and Natsumi. However, we got to know Hikari a lot better, and she's a girl who lacked her parent's love and understanding.
Theme song is "EXIT" by Porno Graffitti
