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silent_whispers

Dramaland

silent_whispers

Dramaland
Hajimete Koi wo Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi japanese drama review
Completed
Hajimete Koi wo Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi
6 people found this review helpful
by silent_whispers
Apr 11, 2019
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 5.0
Rewatch Value 2.0
Hajimete Koi wo Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi immediately struck a cord with me. It resonated with me. Harumi Junko is a quirky adult. A woman burnt out on the track of her current life and "failing" by everyone else's standards. The magic is that she begins to wake up. That other people see her in a different light. Such as the three men who wind up being her harem. (Had to toss that in reverse harem joke really helped pull me in to this drama! The screen caps of that and Yuri's hair was everything!) Her biggest wake up is seeing a student at the cram school being scolded and ridiculed by his father, enter Yuri. Yuri the fearless pink haired boy who can see the benefits of being a weird adult and making your own goals to follow.

Weird adult.

That is the main theme of this drama. In fact, it's the main theme behind love, happiness, and not falling prey to just being normal. This all led to a very quirky and fun drama. For a bit.

I was addicted by HKwSHnYH's quirkiness. The amazing chemistry of Harumi and Yuri. Not to mention the awesome Yamashita, the bad boy turned teacher! Man that man had swagger! *shivers* Masashi (yes a cousin it's normal in Japan and actually many countries) was a lovable lead who was an annoying doormat who eventual kind of won you over. Characters actually had real relationships! Such as Harumi and Miwa! Miwa is Harumi's best friend. A bold and strong woman who loves Harumi and supports her no matter what. I how how she just wanted to wake Harumi up and help her find love. Because Miwa is a weird adult! In fact, Miwa was my favorite character and also had the best romance of the entire show! Which I will not spoil, but I will say Miwa's romance was my everything at the end. Because I had become so involved, and because Harumi's romance took a turn for the boring.

The thing to remember is that this story evolves around a woman who spent her whole youth studying. Then she gets a job as a cram school teacher and spends her whole adult life studying. Which is fine, that's her thing and joy! For a while you can feel her love growing back for it and you can't help but feel excited with her. There's a fine line with that type of material. The first hint was in episode 5 when the studying aspects took over. Then episode 6 and 7 were such wonderful episodes. Sadly after that HKwSHnYH's burned out. Focusing too much on studying and not balancing out the real story. Losing all the hot romance between Yuri and Harumi. It broke my heart. Because this is what the drama was supposed to be about! It can be argued that HEA ended on a happy note, but it was waste to. Because after being deprived of the fire of Yuri and Harumi's romance I wanted to see glimpses of them as weird adult together. Instead the writing takes pains to ruin that. (My review of episode 10 really delves into it.)

Maybe the writers thought they couldn't keep things innocent if they kept it up? I don't know. The things that made HKwSHnYH so wonderful and joyful got lost. They drug out heavy ideas and stories. Such as the tension behind Harumi and her mother, only to waste time and then rush the resolution any way.

Harumi is the most willful oblivious person I've watched in a drama in a long while. Which soon bogs down the last episodes and leads to a rushed and disappointing last episode. Yes, I got a HEA! With an amazing confession and proposal by Harumi. The fire I had grown to love. Not the stupid actions and fears she has in how she handled many other parts of the final episode.

The music of HKwSHnYH is really fun and fits well. The actors do a wonderful job! I mean it! The way they play off each other is wonderful. Especially since they're a quirky group of weird adults. Props need to be given to the actors of Yuri and Yamashita. Not only were they bringing their A game in the pursuit of Harumi, when allowed, they played off each other in such amazing ways. Honestly their scenes together were my favorite. This was comedic timing and reactions at it's best here.

The first 7 episodes were such fun. I can't regret that! I enjoyed myself so much and had a joyful smile on my face during that time. Sure the writers lost their way and the fire of Yuri/Harumi, but despite all that it was a satisfying enough ending. I'm greedy and I loath it when I'm denied what could have been a truly A-mazing drama. I realized that I had wanted to see the passion continue with Yuri and Harumi, duh. Things were rushed wrong and then not rushed right to show us glimpses of Yuri and Harumi as weird adult couple. I did get a wonderful side couple that made me happy, and technically another one. The HEA did bring back the Harumi that made me, and our three male love interests, love her so much. It was one heck of a HEA scene to make up for the whimper that Hajimete Koi wo Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi sadly went out on.

Also, I will never regret this drama for Yuri's hair. Who knew pink hair could be so sexy! Every lighting and scene was magic just to see him rocking it. Bravo. Bravo.
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