Itoshi no Nina (2020)

Interesting plot, poor execution , worth watch.

So I just finished this drama, and I have mixed feelings about it.

The drama centers about a very controversial plot: The aftermath of an assault victim , and her (and the the perpetrators as well) path to healing.

Pros: They show us the feelings of shame, anger, helplessness and victim blaming that Nina goes through and how they affect her in real life.
At the same time we are shown how the men start to understand how difficult it is to be a woman, and be blamed for the assault just because her skirt was not long enough, or some other dumb excuse society gives to the actions of men.
It really makes you think (and it is a very short drama so it's easy to watch) how prejudiced society is in general against women.

Cons: Honestly they bring a very mature theme in a very lightweight way that does not agree with the hole thing. They are very forgiving towards the perpetrators, trying to make you believe that while the assault is a bad thing, it's always forgivable.
While I think that the show is targeted to younger audiences (the drama happens in high-school) and they made it lightweight on purpose, such theme should be done in a more serious way.

In all, a very worth watch, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised (although the acting is a bit forced, but I think that is a bit of the way J-drama goes).

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Good Enough

" Itoshi no Nina " was an odd drama. It throws the audience straight into the action, with the male lead discovering that his friend has kidnapped Nina, a pretty girl they met while commuting. Things progress quickly, sometimes too quickly, with him becoming her bodyguard, falling in love with her, having a fall out with his best friend, dealing with bullies and discovering what really has happened to Nina. That fast pace was just a bit off for the subjects that the drama was dealing with. The progress of the relationships was lost in that chaotic spiral as well.

Other than that, the performances were really good, as expected from some of the best young talents of Japan. The ending was pretty realistic as well and feated the whole story too.

So, overall, 6.5 out of 10.

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I couldn't help comparing this "Itoshi no Nina" with "Kakafukaka", given how both dramas belong to the "romance" genre and (sort of) deal with the (very difficult) topic of sexual assaults; whereas "Kakafukaka" (which I tend to call "Kakà, fa kakà" in my head - Italians will get the pun better, it roughly translates as "It Sucks") did the most idiotic thing possible, that is, glamourized the whole thing, at least "Itoshi no Nina" attempted to face the topic more seriously, and managed to be a lot deeper - not such a feat per se, as the other one had been the paragon of shallowness!
Unfortunately, the result is still a bit half-baked, imho mostly due to the fact that it's not so easy to treat such a topic, within such a genre, in such a short series. And indeed, the characters' development often felt way too fast and abrupt; had the writer had more room to work with, she might have accomplished it better. As is, we have a very solidly written ML and a mostly well written FL, with the other characters being only roughly sketched and therefore often behaving inconsistently. Thusly, the story barely manages to get the passing grade, imho.
The cast did very well though, particularly the two leads, Hotta Mayu and Okada Kenshi, both delivering a very good and touching performance! Standing ovation for both!
A pretty high production value and a very nice and catchy song complete the package.
p.s.
Sorry for the following rant, but I just HAVE TO add this (WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD): I've noticed comments describing the ML as "one of the perpetrators", much to my astonishment! >____<
The guy had NO FOREKNOWLEDGE WHATSOEVER of the kidnapping, and when he found out he took action and set the girl free, fleeing with her and bringing her to safety. Considering him "a perpetrator" means either NOT HAVING WATCHED THE DRAMA AT ALL or else BEING A SEXIST WHO THINKS HE'S GUILTY BY DEFINITION BECAUSE HE'S A MALE. Whichever is UTTERLY WRONG imho.

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This material probably should have remained as manga

I was drawn by the posters and seemingly positive previews of this drama, not knowing the story since I have not read the manga or watched the anime (if any). This is not helped by the synopsis in MDL: "The story centers around a high school boy who fell in love at first sight with a girl, then finds out that his best friend kidnapped the girl he loves." which is rather open-ended - and I found out it literally meant kidnapped in the very first scene.

This is the same period whereby a certain K-Drama adapted from a webtoon is drawing flak for portraying some supposedly controversial topics. It may or may not have been fine if it was not acted out by actual persons, but for this case I seriously think so. I have read several matured theme manga myself so the threshold is probably determined by how realistic it is. For this, it is acted out by actors in school uniforms whereby school boy 2 bullied by school boy 3 into carrying out the act, restraining/confining the FL with the intention of probably something really bad? Things get really fast that the FL (school girl 1) gets together with the ML (school boy 1) who is the best friend of her captor, and even her best friend (school girl 2) becomes friends with the captor. This fast development is probably due to drama being a short one, but I reckon it is still twisted even if otherwise.

Other uncomfortable scenes include bullying/intimidation of parents, stalking/harassing ladies etc. Not too sure what this drama is trying to express but I guess it is better left as it's original manga form. I wouldn't read the manga even so.

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Light drama with interesting stories and decent music. But not the best

Let me write short review about this drama,

I think this drama has a pretty good theme about the many case of sexual harassment against women but in the end it is the victims themselves who are blamed. then the dilemma of how victims of sexual harassment do not want to report to the police and feel afraid of their environment and leave deep trauma. the plot itself is quite light and straight forward, this kind of drama that can be enjoyed while relaxing. the music used in this drama is also quite relaxing and interesting for me because it is easy to hear. The cast here also shows the connection to each other so that the characterizations feel natural.

The drawback of this drama is that the plot is straight forward, but the conversations and scenes presented in this drama are a bit too mature and too complex. i think with this kind of conversation and scene it'll be more proper to use in drama that have a bit of heavy and complex plot. Then about the problem that the parents who are afraid of their children, I think this issue is quite natural to occur in the real world (maybe not everyone okay with this, but for me its okay because it shows that, the parents that scared to their child is exist). and one more problem here, Nina's character as a victim of harassment is a bit strange why she wants to forgive "people who help the perpetrator" easily, when it should be when someone is traumatized it will be more difficult to forgive the perpetrator of sexual harassment. because this is a slice of life drama, it's a bit strange.

Verdict, this drama is worth to watch while you relaxing in night after work because the story is very light and straight forward so make it easy to watch, also the music is easy to listen too.

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