The drama goes into the fallout of when a 14 year old girl becomes pregnant. The drama does bring up some interesting issues regarding teen pregnancy and comes off as quite anti-abortion. I was quite disappointed by the end of the drama because of unnecessary conflicts brought on by secondary characters.
ACTING/CAST -
Shida Mirai was the female lead and this was not one of her better performances. She often came across as flat and uninteresting. Miura Haruma who portrayed the father of the baby was another flat, uninspired character.
The only worthwhile performances were from Tanaka Misako as the all-bearing and brave mother of Shida Mirai's character. Also, kudos to the actress who played Miura's mother. She was an interesting and complicated character.
OVERALL -
The drama would have been much better if there was more believable acting from the lead characters and better plot development.
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This review may contain spoilers
☆Life is a Miracle☆
This drama shows how life truly is a miracle.It brought me to tears in every episode.
The acting was so real it immersed me completely, the music was moving, and the story is not an everyday story that you would fall upon.
Seeing how brave Miki was is inspiring, as her cheerful personality grew into maturity with all the heart-brake was beautiful. And not only did they show her story but those around her, including depth in every character.
Her mother's love was so dear.
She told her, "You are the most important thing in the world to me." and, "I was born so that I could meet you." Later Miki said the same thing about her baby.
Her father loved for her so much tha Miki said, "My father cried, I've never seen him cry before."
The drama also showed how special and valuable the baby's life was, as well.
"Sora (her baby) is a child no one wanted. Not me, not Kirino-kun. Not Dad, not Mom, nor the school, either. Though right now Sora may be tiny, she's trying hard to live."
"Sora has taught me how important I am to my Father and Mother. How important school and having friends are. And just how much I love Kirino-kun."
14-year-old Mother is a beautiful drama that might be a bit too mature for some viewers but is definitely a drama I will never forget. Absolutely beautiful.
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Is it fine if a 14-year-old girl becomes a mother?
I'd say in our time, in 99% of situations: NOOOOOOO, but '14-sai No Haha' shows that 1% exception:A wealthy society with the best medical service, decent laws, and many more favourable conditions, but let me say some words about the most important factor: The Family of this Teenage Mother!
A man and a woman marry & live with love, so they could bring up their kids as best as one wants. This means, even at 14, 'Miki' (Mirai Shida❤️) is full of love, confidence and power. She begins a romantic relationship with a nice 15-year-old guy. Due to inexperience, her first and the best possible experience of sex leads to pregnancy, but soon she grows strong motherly feelings that make abortion out of the question. It's true that she can't be a normal junior high-schooler anymore, but her family & society are ready to support her and she can have everything necessary at her own pace. Because of her age, I don't think 'Miki' is able to be a full-time mother, but she's totally capable of being a good part-time mother. As her family and others do the rest, there shouldn't be a real problem. Overall, both 'Miki' & the baby, 'Sora', will be fine, I think.
More generally and even in normal cases, I think it's a good idea if parenthood is shared by more and more people. It's too much for one or two persons!
There are many things about the drama that I don't like, like that journalist story. I'm also not a big fan of its over-dramatization approach, but I think the main theme is elaborated well enough that I can recommend the drama to people who like this topic of teen pregnancy.
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Food for thought: reflection on life
I believe this Tv show may seem a bit frustrating at first. Certain parts just feel too foolish. However, it is well represented as it is a 14-year-old teenager we are talking about. My first impressions were not amazing. Nevertheless, I must admit that it does bring out some social issues like thinking about being judged by people on the streets, being pressured by your mates, being pressured by the family, by any other person, etc. It certainly shows an evolution in personality and determination, and even provokes reflection upon life and the consequences of becoming pregnant even in a person who is somewhat able to carry a child on their own. On the other hand, there are also other elements of Japanese society reflected there: social collectivism and honor, the necessity to drink alcohol for work, the assumption that someone definitely will have committed suicide if in a bad financial situation, etc. These are not essential parts of the show, but rather things which are slightly mentioned.The main character encourages people to keep fighting what's best and what they think is better for them, not what others believe is better for them. I would not say it is the best TV show I have watched, but it surely deserves to be treated with respect as those who enjoy reflecting on what they have read and watched will certainly enjoy this show as well.
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In Japan, at least the abortion isn't forbidden, so there always exists a rescue answear this situtation. Maybe it's not easy, but there is always better to have a choice.
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Hi! I come from the future. Year 2024.
Is it really good for a girl to have a child at 14 years old? Definitely not. It's like a child taking care of another child.But it leaves you reflecting for a long time. To the people who commented on this 3 years ago, well a lot has happened in these 3 years, like Miura's death.
Many say that this drama is anti-abortion. I don't know what your opinion really is regarding this, but Japan having a very low birth rate, it is understandable that it does not give a message of "go and get an abortion."Nowadays, women suffer a lot if they want to have an abortion, because they need their partner's authorization, EVEN THOUGH IT IS THEIR BODY, and many are such children of... that they do not give permission. And if you get them the pills are really too expensive to buy. They also can't have their tubes tied or anything like that. It's not that easy.
The issue of abortion has never been easy in any country. Even in my country, when the law was approved in 2020 and it was a great debate throughout the entire society. Even though it was approved, many doctors refuse to practice it and there is also a very large sector that looks down on women who have abortions for reasons of religion. It has never been an easy topic to deal with and at the end of the day you realize that in reality you are not even the owner of your own body.
Now, if I had been Miki, I think I would have been terrified and scared to death. Even at my age, I am terrified that something like this will happen to me because I don't feel ready to be a mother.
I agree that you are dissatisfied because they do not show the consequences that it can bring in the future. Because we all know that bringing a child into the world is not like buying something and throwing it away when you no longer use it. You are no longer a woman, you are a mother and you must dedicate a large part of your life to your child. Your life stops and you can no longer do things that you had planned to do with your life in the future. But in the end, it is each person's decision and whether we like it or not, we cannot force that person to see things the way we see.
Cases like Miki, there are millions today. I see more and more girls like Miki having children.
I've had close calls where I actually wondered "What the hell? Why did you decide to have it if you weren't going to properly care for them and if you weren't prepared?"
My answer came faster than I thought at the time, in an open conversation with a girl I realized that she had dropped out of school and had never properly had a good sexual education. In Japan, sex education is non-existent. I remember when I was 13 they gave me a little talk about "sexual education" (they actually just showed me how to put on a condom, nothing more lol).
I had that famous awkward talk with my parents. They did explain everything to me in detail, especially my father. I really appreciate having that talk with them today, it wasn't awkward or anything. Maybe it was because my parents found a way to explain it to me in a way that wasn't uncomfortable for me.
But the Japanese never have those talks with their parents.
In conclusion, my answer was the little or no lack of education, in all areas and that the vast majority came from unstructured families. So I could better understand the things that happen today.
I wouldn't say it's the best I've ever seen. But I also can't deny that I enjoyed watching it and it left me thinking a lot about it.
From your point of view, the answer may be very clear. But it's not so clear when you face that situation. There is no right or wrong, in these cases, there are only decisions and consequences, nothing more. It depends on the decision made by the person who is going through this, whether the consequences were good or bad.
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Now let's get what's wrong with this show for starters the acting could of been better, there were certain moments that were head scratching, some of the things the characters said and did were just WHY?! and I felt like the show could of been handled better.
Enough about the cons let's talk about what this show does right. I've seen all sorts of shows and movies from all over the world that end up trying to brush up on the topic of teen pregnancy and some of those shows don't really get to the nitty gritty, they just brush over the topic like it's nothing or it feels like their trying to encourage it. With 14-sai No Haha, it discusses how teen pregnancy is a BIG thing, how it doesn't just effect the teens involved it effects the people around them, it shows the judgement young teen moms, teen dads and their families get, how having a mom at such a young age could lead to not just social risks but health ones as well, and how no matter what you say or do a child born by a teen mom is still a child born by a teen mom.
I also liked how unlike some of these dramas,animes,mangas I see/read the guy (Kirino Satoshi played by Miura Haruma) wasn't your stereotypical douche bag with a nasty attitude that's cold and mean to the main girl. I also liked how him and the main character actually knew each other for more than just a few days before deciding that they are soo in love and to get so close. You could feel the chemistry between the two of them. It's refreshing to see a girl not obsessing over a jerk for once and seeing a couple getting to know each other first.
Another things that really makes this show good is how it shows that ANYONE even good kids can end up like this! It doesn't matter what kind of home a teen is being raised in, if a teen has both parents or not, how good of a family that's raising them is, it doesn't matter if they go to an all gendered school they can somehow get pregnant or get someone pregnant, and even the nicest and most studious teens can end up in this situation.
I admit it's not perfect, but it's worth checking out. Sure there were times where I was kind of confused by the characters but there were moments when I was moved by the characters and was in tears. Campared to most shows and movies that try to tackle this subject this felt more real to me. It was a pretty good show but it could of been handled better and it feels like something is missing, I just don't know what.
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Alex.
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