Drama: And, Live (literal title)
Romaji: Soshite, Ikiru
Japanese: そして、生きる
Director: Sho Tsukikawa
Writer: Yoshikazu Okada
Actors: Kasumi Arimura, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Kang Ji-Young, Amane Okayama, Masato Hagiwara, Ken Mitsuishi, Kaho Minami
First just a quick heads-up, if you watch this just to see Sakaguchi Kentaro and Arimura Kasumi cuddling each other then you'll be disappointed. Yes, there's a romance but don't expect it to be a shoujo adaptation type of romance, it's more of a human drama, both characters have their own burdens to carry. It's the type of story where both characters help carry each other's burdens, so if you are into that more realistic type development love story then you'll definitely love this drama.
Toko Ikuta (Arimura Kasumi) lost her parents in a car accident, after that incident her uncle raised her alone like his real daughter. She's became a local idol who hopes to become an actress someday. Then she had this opportunity to go to Tokyo for an audition to make her dreams come true, but she was anxious to go, it's either she lacks confidence or worried that she will leave her dad alone if she get accepted. As she was about to go to Tokyo, Tohoku earthquake happen and tsunami hits Japan. She blamed herself because at the back of her mind she wished that something big will happen to delay her audition. It's her guilt that made her decide to do volunteer work in areas affected by tsunami.
There she met Shimizu Kiyotaka (Kentaro Sakaguchi), he's a bit of a mysterious guy at first, he smiles a lot. He's like one of the nicest guy ever. It turned out that being a volunteer is just a way for him to feel he exists as he desires to feel needed. His mother commits suicide when he was young which resulted for him to blame himself and thinks that his existence doesn't matter.
Both became a volunteer not only for the victims but also for themselves. The drama shows you that being a volunteer is not all about giving but you'll get something in return as well. It brings fun and fulfillment to your life. Volunteering also provides you with renewed creativity, motivation, and vision that can carry over into your personal and professional life like what happened with Toko and Shimizu in this drama. It's the irony that a big devastating disaster is what leads them to fix themselves as they get close to each other.
Kasumi Arimura and Kentaro Sakaguchi are not the best actors in the world but at least they are convincing and both of them are improving as time goes. They also have great chemistry and it's only one episode. All I can say is the acting is solid no complains here. Cinematography is very beautiful, those landscapes are very eye pleasing with matching uplifting music that adds so much to whole atmosphere of this drama.
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