It's once in a blue moon that you find a drama such as this.
We begin with Miura Haruma as Sawada Takuto, a struggling student looking for work after giving up on his parent's dream of him taking over their hospital as a doctor, the role now filled by his younger brother. At the start of the show, Takuto is introduced as a schmoozer who had the charisma and the looks but not the sincerity. Haruma played that very well; charming to the enth degree. As the story progresses, so does Takuto's condition, ALS. Being unfamiliar with the disease, Haruma was excellent in portraying his confusion and distress, as well as his despair and hopelessness when he receives his diagnosis. A particularly notable part of the hopelessness he showed was that he still remained charismatic and true to the Takuto at the beginning of the series; he didn't suddenly have some sort of epiphany and spontaneously change his personality.
Takuto's encounters with the other main character of the series, Hongo Megumi (Tabe Mikako), were effortless. Not only are the actors known to have great chemistry off-screen, but it shows in Boku no Ita Jikan as well. Mikako, being the fantastic actress she is, was able to seamlessly pull off her character. She was sweet and caring towards Haruma as well as those she worked with. Though the parts where she stood out most were her moments of sadness. She was able to gracefully express grief, rather than making her reactions too dramatic. Her interaction with Takuto's friend Mukai Shigeyuki (Saito Takumi) were also great. Her reluctance and hesitance was not too strong, but her wavering feelings were readable.
Saito Takumi also played his character excellently. He was able to show his jealousy in such a manner as to not be offensive but somewhat reasonable. It turned his character into someone easily hated into an interesting person that didn't need to have a set 'good-or-bad' side.
The soundtrack was fantastic. Upon downloading the OST, it's surprising to find out that the songs are bright and delicate, rather than dramatic and thunderous. It shows warmth and sadness, rather than chaos and despair. The songs were few however, and it was obvious when one song had been repeated in the show, which was a little disappointing. Rihwa's Harukaze is a perfect accompaniment to the show and was skillfully selected.
The ending of the show is what made everything overall phenomenal. In such a situation, it was fairly obvious as to what would happen, but the gentle surprise and refreshing ending was superbly well done. At a point when thinking there were only two possible things that could happen, the show opened up a third ending that may not have even been considered.
The downfall were the speeches delivered by Takuto. His life and values were inspiring all throughout the show, but the speeches he had made were lacking inspiration. In something even like "Rich Man Poor Woman", the speeches were thought-invoking and interesting, which was the intention of Takuto's, but it didn't follow through. Some more thought spent on the speeches would have paid over ten-fold.
Each episode was utterly melancholic, drawing out tears with every grimace of pain or hidden feeling. It was very sad, but it depends on the viewer as to how much the scenes could have affected them, rather than having the scenes so sad it was natural to cry. Like, making the situation pitiful and heartbreaking instead of purely sad and devastating.
Overall, the drama is very inspirational and somewhat educational with a stellar cast, fantastic plot and excellent soundtrack. Of the melodrama category, it's advised to bring a box of tissues to accompany a drama such as this.
"1 Litre of Tears" and "Ashita Mama ga Inai" may be a suitable matches for this drama, and "Sad Movie" a great movie complement.
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