Nibiiro no Hako no Naka de (2020)

In The Dark Gray Box is a complex coming of age story worthy of an evening bindge watch.

Since no one has given this drama a review yet, I thought I'd give it a go. I hope this review helps you to decide if you want to give this drama a try. I gave it an 8 out of 10.

The story complex and twisted in a way that the Japanese are so good at. I thought the acting was good for how the writer and director wanted to portray what these young adults were going through at this stage of their life. The music was good. I HAD to rewatch parts of it because it was so twisted I was like: "What the Fffff! Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? and Where are they going with this?"! Luckily this drama is more like a three-hour movie so I was willing to go for the ride

Here is the set-up. The story is about the last year of high school for a group of 5 teens who grew up together in a large apartment complex. Like most kids, these teens all live in their own little bubbles but those bubbles are about ready to pop because they have to figure out what they are going after they graduate AND the apartment complex is up for sale so they aren't even sure they'll have "home" to come back to once they leave. To add to all this stress one of them, "Ritsu" has been damaged by his emotionally unstable mother who forced him to act like a girl until he finally rebelled when he was around 4 years old. He hates lies and especially hates it when people act in what he considers to be a "fake" manner. Misery loves company, and at this point, he's so unhappy and stressed that he's decided to "expose" all the secrets his friends have been keeping from each other.

I liked it while I was watching even though I wasn't sure what was happening, The episodes were short and I wanted to watch the next one right away. Once I "got" it, I really liked it and was left wanting more! Which in my book is the sign of a good drama.

If you can't handle "adult" themes, bi-curious characters, or if you hate open endings you probably will not like this drama. Because it's set as a "point of view" coming of age story there is no way for us to know what the future will hold for them unless someone writes more seasons. If they do I will be first in line to watch because by the time they graduated I ended up loving all of them as much as they loved each other.

Read More

" Nibiiro no Hako no Naka de " was not the typical rom com school manga adaption. It dealt with more mature concepts and problems than the typical coming of age dramas do.

So, the story starts a bit light, with the youngsters reaching a mile stone in their lives when they will not only have to start thinking about their future, but their friendship as well. The drama then focuses on the young love and how the leading lady has a crush on the boy next door, but is afraid to tell him. The drama takes a darker turn later on, with the addition of more characters and more issues resurfacing. The thing is, however, that the drama let things go out of hand for a while with the complex relationships and secrets. It just felt a bit messy. But, they corrected things in the final episode. Another minus for this drama was that the main couple didn't really have chemistry, though they looked good together, and their performances were great.

So, overall, seven out of ten.

Read More