Nazo no Tenkousei (2014)

This dorama one of my favourites. Even so it's not one I can recommend easily. It's appeal is on a very personal level for me. It drew me in at first sight, and every element it added increase it's charm for me. If I were it describe it, I'd say is a low profile sci-fi high school drama with subtle romance.

The story starts with a bunch of students that couldn't be any more normal who greet a mysterious transfer student. Afterwards, bit by bit things start getting weirder with people who associated with him. One thing we know, this tenkousei (transfer student) is on a mission. Things get a bit complicated, but the style the direction used made it easier to absorb throughout each episode. There were many interesting characters which could've been nice to explore more. Some of them were pushed to the side to give screen time to additional characters, which was unfortunate but understandable given the time constraint. I love science fiction when sets it's own rules and logic, and operate within those guidelines which was what I found in this drama.

What I liked most in here was the directing. It managed to bring in all those elements that I enjoy watching in my shows and placed them together in such a fitting smooth laid-back manner that made such a complex story easy to digest. I also love the way they filmed the whole show, as if it was back in the 70s which brought this nostalgic feeling to it. Other than the use of cellphones, this dorama could've easily been mistaken for a sci-fi from that time. Whether it's a good or a bad thing is subjective. For me it felt like it came perfectly with the other elements of the show.

As for the acting and performances, there were countless really good ones but of course the one that stood out, and was the heart and soul of the dorama was Hongo Kanata. I cannot begin to describe how awesome he is here. Keeps you puzzled such a long time wondering if he's a human, an alien, a cyborg or some other sort of being. His gestures were flawless and the emotions he releases through his face were heart-rending. Other than him, the ever glowing Sugisaki Hana has been growing on me in every role I see her. She's particularly endearing here, her character being a bit different from previous role I've seen her in. Even with those two performances, Nakamura Aoi wasn't over shadowed for me. The reason isn't because of a bias but more since his character is one I connected the most with. I liked his laid back lazy, sometimes awkward personality. He was a natural in it. I felt Sakurai Minami was the most overshadowed since neither her character nor her performance stood out in any at all. There were many other great performances but it'll be too long to talk about it ;)

The ending they chose wasn't the best in my view but it doesn't bother me either. I think this dorama could've been perfect if given more time (more episodes or even seasons) to be fully explored, but the story needed to come to an end

As for the music it was great. The opening song and the video with it were awesome. I love the ending song. It really is uplifting and cheerful. Even if you don't watch the show, believe me it's worth checking out the song ;)

So to conclude and summarize the whole thing, if you like a laid-back drama who contains interesting elements such as coming of age with sci-fi twist, then that's exactly what you need to watch. If you're a fan of Hongo Kanata, it's also woth checking out ;)

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Story: This is a rather straight-forward story that incorporates a medley of elements from friendship to sci-fi. It is rather difficult to describe the story without giving the story away. All I can say... it's an interesting take on a well explored sci-fi theme. There are a couple of important messages that this drama tried to address, albeit to some degree of success: i) The consequences of our reliance on technology, 2) The consequences of our greed and curiosity. There's a little bit of romance in it, but it is not the main theme of this drama.

Acting/Cast: Acting is good but not amazing. What sets this drama apart from others is the style of filming. The drama has a rather realistic and rustic feel to it. I must admit to frowning a lot in the first episode because I was not used to the way how the scenes 'move' a lot - like how you are watching a semi-professional home-made video. Eventually, however, I got used to this style of filming. There was none of the polished feel of the bigger budget 'mainstream' dramas. Even the special effects were minimal and low budgeted (mostly just light play). Yet, despite all of these, the story was good enough to make you want to click for the next episode (out of curiosity). It also helped that each episode runs for only 30 mins - kept things tight and concise without the audience losing interest in the story.

Music: Music was mediocre.

Rewatch value: This is a drama that you should watch at one go but once you know the story and its plots, you may not want to revisit it anytime soon.

Overall: If you have 6 hours to burn and do not have any excellent dramas you have not watched, this is a good alternative. Takes a while to get used to the different filming style, especially if you'd gone from the highly polished Korean dramas to this one. This drama is neither bad nor excellent. It sits somewhere in between as a fair entertainment.

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