If you wonder whether to watch this or not, please be informed that this is not a comedy drama! Although, it tells the story of people pursuing the dreams of becoming comedian.

Spark AKA Hibana is a slow paced, slice-of-life drama. It's a real depiction of life, not just by simply having a realistic plot. The main characters are well written thanks to the award winning novel. They are non stereotypical kind you would normally see in books, films or TVs. The way they think and decide on things are more similar to us, normal people. Sometimes in life we meet someone new (or new opportunity), but not necessarily anything would happen from that encounter. People come and go in real life and sometimes you won't meet them ever again. That's what the drama was trying to convey.

The direction and acting for this drama were amazing in my opinion. There were a lot of scenes with mixed and complex emotions throughout the series, but the actors really did a great job especially Namioka with the most complex role among others. Hayashi did well too, but he's got his usual kind of character although with an additional personality (when he''s doing manzai comedy).

It is also rare to see any Japanese drama to be as high production value as Spark. You will have the "watching movie" experience throughout the series with lots of non-usual camera works that anyone wouldn't bother to use in a (J) drama. For example, there are several scenes that were shot from a long range where the actors just doing their (crazy) stuffs in the middle of public as well as some shots with additional stories that are not related directly to the plot but at the same time give more meaning to the plot.

All in all, Spark is amazing drama with full positive message of friendship and humanity apart from telling the realistic story of chasing dreams. The only downside is the really bad misleading poster as well as the last few minutes on the last episode as others have mentioned (the reason why I rated its rewatching value lower) . However, it's still worth to watch the whole series and highly recommended for slice-of-life lover or to anyone who would be looking for something different!