The drama is a journey of 5 friends. The female lead- a violinist going deaf and her male counter is a kind psychology major student. It deals with family, relationships, friendship, social-societal acceptance, all sorts of graduation feelings.
The characters are flawlessly written and well executed. A perfect blend of nice(Yuki), spice(Shouhei), extra(Keita), raw(Sae), normal(Akane). In each episode you can feel all the dilemmas, love, friendship, conflicts. The theme is consistent and never loses focus. The cinematography is just the cherry on top!
I feel the biggest winner is the subtlety of the highlights. How Shouhei is drawn to Akane, slowly, obviously but never loudly. The Maho-Sae initial interaction weighs so heavily on the issues of abled and challenged people. A sensitive topic portrayed without the extra-pity, nor is it borderline offensive.
11 1+ hour episodes to take us through their last year of uni yet never once you feel its dragged or too long.
Although, most j-dramas have this NEED to have someone move to another country and have the whole break-up--make-up back & forth, which is too much of a cliched climax. However, Orange days stands tall and proud with a sensible storyline &emotion to support it. It does not feel too forced for the sake of a emotional high.
The 1 star less comes from a rather trivial POV: they could have utilized Maho better. She literally goes to the same uni. A little screentime for her would have added more value and her entry towards the end would feel more natural. The other side character they could have utilized more was the Orange Days Notebook.
The characters are flawlessly written and well executed. A perfect blend of nice(Yuki), spice(Shouhei), extra(Keita), raw(Sae), normal(Akane). In each episode you can feel all the dilemmas, love, friendship, conflicts. The theme is consistent and never loses focus. The cinematography is just the cherry on top!
I feel the biggest winner is the subtlety of the highlights. How Shouhei is drawn to Akane, slowly, obviously but never loudly. The Maho-Sae initial interaction weighs so heavily on the issues of abled and challenged people. A sensitive topic portrayed without the extra-pity, nor is it borderline offensive.
11 1+ hour episodes to take us through their last year of uni yet never once you feel its dragged or too long.
Although, most j-dramas have this NEED to have someone move to another country and have the whole break-up--make-up back & forth, which is too much of a cliched climax. However, Orange days stands tall and proud with a sensible storyline &emotion to support it. It does not feel too forced for the sake of a emotional high.
The 1 star less comes from a rather trivial POV: they could have utilized Maho better. She literally goes to the same uni. A little screentime for her would have added more value and her entry towards the end would feel more natural. The other side character they could have utilized more was the Orange Days Notebook.