Nagareboshi (Review)

Hey y'all! This is a review on Nagareboshi, meaning shooting star, which came out in 2010. I wasn't going to do a review on it but I found myself re-watching it constantly even though I just finished it all last week. It's the type of drama that kinda stays in you for a while after you watch it. And this drama is pretty underrated so I have decided to share it with all of you! :) 

Also, I have decided to follow a more consistent route with how I post reviews. From now on, I'm going to talk about things in a certain order and I will also be giving you any important links on whatever drama I'm talking about, so it's more convenient for you guys! :D

Click here for the DramaWiki page and here for the AsianWiki page :) Remember what I always say about synopsis' !

Click here to watch the drama at Gooddrama.net (PS, I'm going to do a post soon on where I watch most of my dramas ^.^)

Official Website

Here is a MV that I love love love. It kind of gives you a little taste of the drama :)

Synopsis

Okay, here is the synopsis from DramaWiki and AsianWiki combined with some retweaking by moi. 

• Kengo Okada (Yutaka Takenouchi) plays an aquarium employee. His sister is very important to him and has an illness that requires a liver transplant. He offers to be a donor, but he is not compatible. After asking everyone they could, he ends up asking his fiancee, who ultimately rejects, leading to their breakup. Risa Makihara (Aya Ueto) works in the sex trade to repay her brother's debt. Her circumstances lead her to try and commit suicide, but she is stopped by Kengo Okada. Afterwards, these two people get into a contract marriage purely for the benefits. Risa, who wants to pay off her debt decides to become a donor for Kengo's younger sister to receive thirty million Japanese yen. As they overcome various troubles together, their relationship begins turning into true love. 

Cast & Characters

Yutaka Takenouchi plays Kengo Okada. Kengo works at an aquarium and is very passionate about his job. He especially loves jellyfish and is very knowledgeable about all things jellyfish. He lives on his own, but begins to live at his mother's house with Risa after getting into a contractual marriage. He loves his younger sister a lot and is a very caring older brother who would do anything to save her. This is my first drama with Takenouchi and I must say that he is SUPER GOODLOOKING. He did a very good job playing Kengo, but I have to say that his character annoyed me at times. It was mainly because Kengo never really expresses his feelings directly until the end of the drama. And he always had the same facial expression. Despite so, I still loved him :P

Ueto Aya plays Risa Makihara. She works at a hostess club (I'm really not sure what to call them). The synopsis is kinda misleading because she never really has sex for money. Rather, she does these weird things like massaging customers lol. I'm not really sure what she does exactly. Anyways, she works as a hostess to pay off the debt her brother created. She almost ends up committing suicide because she couldn't find any meaning in her horrible life. Her personality is pretty laid-back and she is a little bit sassy in a chill way. She doesn't really express her feelings that much either, but she does end up changing in a good way towards the end of the drama. This is my second drama with Ueto Aya with Kou Kou Kyoushi being the first one. After this drama, I can now say that I am a fan of her. For some reason, I've never really liked her before despite the fact that I've never watched her dramas. But I think she did a great job depicting Risa as the girl who isn't really living, but rather just existing. I'm probably going to watch a lot more dramas with her from now on <3

Kie Kitano plays Maria, Kengo's younger sister. She is kind of a free spirit and loves her family very much. Even with her illness, she still lives with a smile. There are certain times in the drama where you can still see how childish she is with the way she handles her emotions, but you can definitely see how much she grows by the end of the drama. She is very open to everyone and isn't judgemental at all. I've watched a couple of works with Kie Kitano. I've had neutral feelings about her but I think she did pretty well here. In fact, the only scene where I cried was the scene where she was crying. Gawd, I cried pretty bad. 

Thoughts & Feelings

This drama was pretty slow, but that's actually what made me like it so much. For some reason, I have this love for slow dramas where each event happens quietly. Mainly because it's more realistic and shows life in a day for each character. I love love love the scenes where Risa and Kengo look at Jellyfish and have conversations because those are the scenes where they begin to fall in love and change each other for the better. I also love the contrast between them with Kengo being a very formal and responsible man and Risa having a 'whatever' kind of attitude. 

This is a prime example of why I love Japanese dramas the most. I think that Korean dramas and Taiwanese dramas are sometimes more entertaining and well written, but they heavily lack the atmosphere of some Jdramas like this one. Japanese dramas like these always leave me with deep thoughts and not just pure changes in emotions. My emotions were pretty much the same throughout this whole drama but it ended up making me think about how I would live if I were the characters themselves. This drama tackled morals in the medical field and how strong family is. Korean dramas or Taiwanese dramas might have the same themes but they are always, and I do mean always, covered up by superficial conflicts that are there to please the audience (eg. jealousy, twists, birth secrets, yadayadayada). 

OST (Soundtrack)

The BGM was pretty enjoyable but my favourite has to be the main theme. It's called 'Ryuusei' by Kobukuro. It's played throughout the drama and I just fell in love with it because it's always played at those heart-tugging scenes :)

Extra Screencaps (*SPOILERS)

OTP <3

I was sorta confused by this scene at first. But when I realized what she was saying, it became one of my favourite scenes. It was weird but meaningful!

Just Takenouchi looking spunkin

I can't believe that Shota played a doctor here! ITS SO WEIRD LOL

I love the eating scenes! Risa is so funny when she's defensive about her cooking :D

lolol Shota again. I dunno why but I find it really funny that he's in this drama.