How should I start? I think my title has it quite right. This drama has been a little tiring – with all the angst, slightly slow pace, bizarre characters and loads of twists & turns – it has been a long journey…

*Warning: There may be spoilers ahead!!*

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Story 6

I approached the drama thinking it was going to be a typical Cinderella story – well wasn’t that how it was marketed? It was meant to be some tragic girl who meets her destined partner.

Reality was that the Cinderella story was only about 20% of the whole deal. The rest was made up of suspense, thriller and mystery. Amongst that, please remember to throw in the coma state fiancee who looks evil and eventually turns into a human snake that moves around at night! LOL Here are pictures to prove it! AHAHA

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Ok, need to be a bit more serious. To sum it up, we have Maki who plays a girl that is burdened with the discrimination of a brother that is in gaol with the mark that he has killed their parents. We are told in this drama, that despite the developed society of Japan, people still hold much stigma to those whose life have been tainted by some crime. This angle of the story really drove me insane. However, Kanon does not give up and lives her life to the fullest, finding enjoyment and satisfaction in the littlest of things. 

Just when we think things have turned around for poor Kanon – she meets Junya and falls in love – more tragedy is revealed. To make matters worse, there’s a nosy reporter on the side and a jealous woman. Great!

BUT don’t worry! Remember? It’s meant to be a Cinderella story! So although they’ve added some twists and suspense (kind of reminds me of  an old Jdrama ‘A Sleeping Forest‘), they at least give us a happy ending, albeit it was somewhat formulaic.

Btw, I thought the opening sequence of the drama was SOOOOO much more impressive and romantic than the drama itself. Kind of disappointing…*sigh* I would have preferred a run of the mill pure romance drama instead. haha Haven’t seen one of those in a while!

Characters 5

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The pairing between Kitigawa and Maki felt fresh but like what some others said, there seemed to be a missing spark, at least at the start. This may have been Kitigawa’s acting. Given this was his first lead role, he didn’t do a bad job but I could feel that he had to warm up to his character. I initially found him a bit stiff and ‘over-smiled’ a tad but he gradually grew more natural near the end. However, I think there was an inherent problem with his character. Thinking back, I couldn’t really remember something particularly memorable about Junya. He was just a really nice guy. Maybe if it was someone more experienced in acting, Junya’s wholehearted love for Kiyoka would have come across more strongly.

On the otherhand, Maki being much more experienced handled her emotional scenes well. There were moments where I was basically crying with her! I must admit that the melancholic instrumental/piano versions of Eternally probably didn’t exactly help either! LOL

Music 7

One of the highlights to this drama is the music. I LOVED the piano version of Eternally! The choice of the theme song and use of music was moving and suited the ambience of the drama. The only thing that probably annoyed me was the continuous playback of the hymn! The lyrics are quite nice but I am not a big fan of the tune.

This following segment was one of my favourite parts and the piano version of Eternally was a perfect backdrop! My focus here was on Maki…(sorry about the audio being out of sync with the video – it ALWAYS happens when I edit the file. Drives me INSANE!!)

In the drama, they used an instrumental version of Eternally but that version is not on the soundtrack!! Now what the heck is the meaning of that? It’s such an amazing piece!! Episode 4 is the first time it is used…does anyone know where I can find this??

Also, earlier on, tired (a friendly visitor) had queried whether anyone knows where they can get hold of the rock piece that they played at the beginning of episode 4. Given it was a straight instrumental piece, it makes it even more difficult. I went through the OST and found one track that shares a similar sound. It’s not the real deal but I hope it helps. If anyone knows, please tell us!! Thanks in advance!

Overall 6

This drama was generally a disappointment but only really because of the big fuss that people made about it e.g. Maki, Utada Hikaru’s theme song, getsu 9 drama, ‘Cinderella’ story and last of all – backed by the team of Last Friends! With all that on the table, it was a tough task. Objectively speaking, this is a drama still worthy of watching but probably not to everyone’s taste. Although I’m giving this only a 6, I’m sure some people loved it to bits!!