Back when Tsumugi Aoba (Haruna Kawaguchi) was a senior in High school, she had a wonderful, almost storybook relationship with a boy named Sou Sakura (Ren Meguro) whom she met through their shared love of music, (specifically SPITZ) when he first shared his earphones with her.
One thing Tsumugi has always loved about Sou was his mesmerizingly strong voice as he would recite essays in front of the class. “This is a voice I love speaking beautifully about words I love”, she’d think.
So perfect was their relationship that it comes as quite a shock when, just after graduation, Tsumugi gets a text from Sou informing her that he’s found someone else he likes and doesn’t want to see her any more...
She is dumbfounded and hurt, but when she tries to get in contact with him to talk it over, she finds that Sou has cut off not only her but seemingly every friend he had in school. And so it is that the storybook romance comes to an end…
Fast forward 8 years, and Tsumugi has long since moved on and made peace with her past. She is happily going out with a man named Minato Togawa (Ouji Suzuka) and they’re even thinking of getting a place together with marriage possibly ahead!
Despite being a freeter for some years, she has just found out that she is considered for full-time employment at her part time job at Tower Records(!)…things are moving ahead smoothly…
With Supervisor Yukako (Chika Uchida)
But by chance one day while waiting to catch a train, Tsumugi is stunned to see a man who looks exactly like Sou step off the train and walk past her!! She attempts to catch up with him through the crowd, but to no avail.
She excitedly talks about seeing the man who looks just like Sou to her best friend Mako (Sawako Fujima) admitting that she knows it wasn’t someone who just looked like Sou- it WAS Sou. But why didn’t he respond when she called out to him?
Her boyfriend Minato is more concerned about the news than Mako. He’s known how much Tsumugi loved Sou( and in fact was friends with both of them in school). And with the threat of Sou re-entering the picture, he begins to feel uneasy.
Wanting to put his fears to rest, Minato begins contacting old friends in hopes of connecting with the elusive Sou, before going back to his old house for information. When he gets there, he is greeted by Sou’s younger sister Moe (Hiyori Sakurada) who slightly remembers him from their soccer days. With some coaxing (and mild deception), he manages to find out a horrible fact from the sister: The reason Sou cut everyone off and left town was because he got an illness and gradually lost his hearing!
In the time since graduation, he finds that Sou has had to deal with his life-changing malady, but has not only overcome its burdens, but has found himself a partner as well, Nana Momono (Kaho), a woman deaf like himself. He also is seemingly at peace.
Minato feels saddled with the pressure of knowing about Sou and doesn’t know how to break it to Tsumugi..or if he even should!
But fate steps in when, while hanging around the station in hopes of crossing paths with him, Tsumugi does in fact come face to face with Sou himself!!!
A horrified Sou tries to flee the scene, but the clueless Tsumugi pursues him, loudly telling him that all she wants to do it talk and make sure he is well, and that she is doing fine as well. It's clear that he wants to be left alone, but Tsumugi can't let him get away again!
Confronted, a tearful Sou finally tells Tsumugi in frantic sign language (which of course Tsumugi understands none of) of his situation- how he lost his hearing and purposely dumped her back then in hopes of keeping her away, knowing that it was their talks and love of music that made their relationship so special, and how much it would hurt to try and be together in his world of silence.
Already really like this drama, one of those melodramatic ones like the good old TBS dramas of the old days! In fact, there are elements that (naturally) harken back to the 1995 drama “Aishiteiru To ittekure”, with the wide-eyed girl falling for a hearing impaired suitor!!
Speaking of the golden age of J-dramas, it was also fun seeing Ryoko Shinohara playing Sou’s MOTHER! Like Kyoka Suzuki, Emi Wakui and even Hiromi Nagasaku, it’s so funny seeing these gals whom I’ve primarily known as young girls themselves, now playing the stoic parent roles!
Oh, and as a LONG time former Tower Records employee (13 years!), I must say how it warms my heart to see the old familiar red and yellow colors and logos of the store when Tsumugi is at work! As some of you may know, this is an independently owned Tower Records chain, which is why they still exist in Japan despite Tower Records officially closing its doors years ago…and only in Japan would you see such a robust stock of CDs and DVDs, the one place on EARTH where the disc format still lives on!
I’m guessing that the show is made in full cooperation with Tower Records ‘cause it’s just OVERLOADED with product placement! Even in the break rooms where Tsumugi and Yukako have lunch, there are Tower labels clipped to random shelving, plastic bags hung, all around them, in every shot, LOL!
OK, Silent is another drama I have HIGH expectations for! Crossing Fingers!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
