"Love Song" is a neat little drama about music. It manages to be impressive in almost every way aside from its somewhat bland plot. STORY: “Love Song” is not a particularly unique show. For the most part, it is a fairly generic story about a person who finds meaning to her life with music. While this plot may seem boring and overused to many people, the show also attempts to stand out from the rest by introducing elements like Sakura’s stuttering (which, in my opinion, helps the story greatly). The reason why I kept watching the show was not because of the plot, but because of how likable and engaging all the characters in the show were. Two characters that stood out to me would be the two main leads, which would be Sakura Sano and Kohei Kamishiro. Their relationship together in the show is a highlight that really helps the show despite its plot. If there’s anything plot-wise that the show excels at, it would be character development. You can really see the growth in both Sakura and Kohei by the time the series ends. The theme of moving forward is exemplified through the characters that inhabit the show. The show’s first half, I must say, is, however stronger than the second half. “Love Song” shows attempts at originality in the first arc, but slowly loses its quality as the series goes on. However, this is not to say that the show ends off poorly. It is just lackluster compared to potential shown in the beginning. ACTING: The acting in this show is amazing. As many other commenters have said, Fujiwara Sakura’s performance as Sakura Sano is fantastic. Despite this being her time acting, Fujiwara manages to be both a captivating and charming lead. Other characters are played extremely well too, although Fujiwara still continues to steal the spotlight every time she shows up. Masaharu Fukuyama is also fantastic as the male lead and is, in my opinion, perfectly cast as Kamishiro. Him and Fujiwara have fantastic chemistry, which makes their interactions a joy to watch. The reason why I rated this show an 8/10 despite its plot is because of the great performances found in “Love Song.” MUSIC: A show about music should have great music. Thankfully, “Love Song” manages to impress with its fantastic but small soundtrack. The theme song, being Fujiwara’s “Soup,” is an absolutely fantastic song. Other songs, such as “Suki Yo Suki Yo Suki Yo” and “500 Miles” (which is a cover) are fantastic additions to the musicality of the show as well. Of course, because of its small soundtrack size, the show ends up playing these three songs very often, so viewers will eventually find themselves very familiar with the music before the series ends. I became a fan of Fujiwara’s music thanks to this show, so I didn’t particularly mind the repetition in terms of the music on the show. FINAL THOUGHTS: “Love Song” is far from perfect. The second half of the show suffers from a slight decline in plot quality, and the ending is rather rushed. However, thanks to its strong music and acting, “Love Song” gets an 8 from me.