The best thing about this drama is the emotional impact, it reduced a hardened person like me close to tears several times, the most emotional scene was when Tokuzo separates from his wife, i felt like my heart would break, yes it has its flaws, i felt certain scenes were over the top and overacted but Takeru Satoh brought a certain vulnerability to his character, his character here will vex you and make you want to give him a good shake to knock some sense into him. His acting has been improving consistently in each new project and he has come far since his princess princess D days, as an actor the best thing about him is he can change his personality to suit every character, he does not go for the same characters again and again there is a great diversity in his role selection, his resting expression, body language are different in each drama/film, he is truly a director's dream and in believe he will improve even more .

the supporting caste is great, i was particularly impressed by the actor who played the older brother. Satoh also had an adorable chemistry with the french girl, the child actors brought later in the show were great, all in all it was an exceptional drama that everyone should check out. I am usually able to judge a show better after some time has passed, on account of how memorable it was, how much you can recall' and it is certainly not a forgettable show, you will have a hard time getting the scenes out of your head.

one thing i feel like mentioning are the last three episodes had a sequel feel to it. for me episode 9 was the climax, no event could have been greater, episode 9 was like a side story, and episode 10 was the epilogue, i think these three episodes could have been summed up into one.