Very sweet drama about three individuals from completely different backgrounds who begin taking up violin lessons and who, through trials and tribulations, find friendship and understanding with each other as they make their way to the goal of proficiency.
All three people have had some sort of emptiness in their lives that needs fulfilling-
Yaeko Kogure (Haru) is a 30-ish woman who has been told by her fiancé just before the wedding that he loves someone else and that the wedding is off. Haru seems to take this in stride (after hammering him in the chin with a devastating right hook!) but unfortunately she’s already put in her resignation papers at her workplace and now is facing a life with no direction.
On the day of her termination, she is wandering listlessly through the mall when she comes upon a pretty woman playing the most beautiful and hypnotic music.
She is Mao Kuzumi (Yuki Sakurai) and she is there to promote free adult lessons her school is giving out, While everyone loves her playing, not many take her up on her offer to take lessons, but Haru, mesmerizes by the woman’s performance (and admittedly without any more important goal to work for), grabs ahold of the idea of playing violin.
In the meantime Yukie Kitagawa (Yuka Matsushita) is a busy middle-aged woman who is always bustling about taking care of her family, aloof husband and catty mother-in-law who is constantly putting her down.
In the midst of her hectic shopping, she is entranced by the same violin performance Haru has seen, and when her family comes to take her away, she is so enamored of the music that she grabs a flyer in hopes of becoming a student as well!
And then we have Rihito Kase (Taishi Nakagawa), a College student who, upon seeing the mall performance, seems to be more invested in the woman playing the violin than the violin itself, and once we get to know him we find out why- Seems he’s the younger brother of Mao’s fiancé who, just like Haru, dumped her right before their wedding because of another woman. But the obvious "secret" here is that he is in love with Mao himself, and is seemingly taking the lessons purely to keep in contact with her.
Of course, none of the three know anything about each other at first, and in fact, their personalities clash with each other more than not- well, the two ladies get along, but Kase, who is rather serious about his violin practice, find them frivolous and silly at first.
It’s only after they’ve spent some time with each other that they begin to understand each other and realize every one of them has their own problems and desire to be acknowledged. Through violin they hope to reach that goal!
It will be no surprise to any of you when I say how much I love actress Haru. Just about every drama I’ve seen her in has been great, and she’s one of those girls who really immerses herself into her roles, making for every believable characters that you love and want to root for.
This is a bit of a different take for her- playing a pretty and efficient OL who gets demoted to frumpy T-shirt wearing bumpkin (it’s like she’s playing the Haru Kuroki “Nagi” character sometimes, LOL), when I first saw the promo pic for this drama, I thought it was Riho Yoshioka, but no problem, Haru EASILY made it her own!
The last time I saw actor Taishi Nakagawa he was playing the buffoonish comedy relief in the wacky (at times) Yuko Takeuchi drama QUEEN, so it’s bit hard to see him as this “kakkoi” kind of guy. But he plays off Haru so well, it’s perfect fit!
And then there’s Yuki Sakurai. First got to see her in Zettai Seigi and then fell in love with her as the vulnerable Mana in “ Dakara Watashi wa Oshimashita” and WOWOWOW, she’s so freaking BEAUTIFUL in this drama! REALLY becoming a big FAN of her!
And I HAVE to mention how comforting it is to still see wonderful Yuki Matsushita in my daily J-dramas. She was one of the VERY FIRST actresses I fell in love with back when I was first getting into dramas back in the mid 90’s and she is still as kind and lovable as ever!
BTW, this girl playing Rihito’s girlfriend or friend Yua is an actress named Haru Konishi, and, MAN , she looks SO much like actress Manami Konishi (whom we really haven’t seem much of lately), makes you wonder if they’re related somehow!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
