Hola, this is a review for N no Tame Ni. I’m actually writing this only because it was such an outstanding drama that gave me SO MANY FEELINGS. I’ve been super busy with school and exams that I pretty much missed 2 whole seasons of Jdramas. I managed to squeeze in Subete Ga F Ni Naru (because of my never-ending love for Takei Emi and because dramafever was subbing it) and I just recently watched N no Tame Ni because a friend recommended it. I started with one episode just out of curiosity and then I found myself blowing off my homework just to watch it.
Anyways, lets get to the review aka me
throwing buckets of my feelings at you ;)
Synopsis
Taken from Jdrama Weblog:
Taken from Jdrama Weblog:
University students Sugishita Nozomi, Naruse Shinji, Ando Nozomi and Nishizaki Masato end up coming upon the scene of the murder of the Noguchi couple, because of a plan they had devised. Nishizaki is arrested at the scene and is given a 10-year prison term because of his voluntary confession. 10 years later, Takano Shigeru, a former police officer who has misgivings about the verdict of this case, starts to pursue the truth. He is convinced that it all began as a result of an incident caused by Nozomi and Naruse on an island in the Seto Inland Sea on the summer 15 years ago. "They committed a crime at that time. It was for the sake of each N."
Cast & Characters
Eikura Nana plays Sugishita Nozomi. Not
sure if you guys knew but I actually really disliked Eikura Nana before. I
watched a few episodes of Mei-Chan and hated it sooooo much that I swore off
both her and the drama. She is a good actress indeed but I just didn't like the vibes she gave off. Obviously I regret it now because I pretty much love
her now. This entire drama just made me fall in love with both her character
and her. It really goes to show how drama choices can make or break a person.
Well for me at least. Anyways, Eikura does such a great job at conveying the
feelings of Nozomi. Seeing her character grow up seriously made me tear up because of all the hardships that she had to go through. This is one character I'll never forget. It's really rare to find such a well-written character and have such a great actress play the part as well.
Kubota Masataka plays Naruse Shinji. Kubota is another sorta newbie actor in my book since I first saw him in the mess that was Summer Nude and then he had a supporting role in ST: Scientific Task Force. I did develop a liking for him through ST since his character was really cute. Buuut, I disliked his hair in both Summer Nude and ST to the max, so its safe to say that I was SH-OCKED at how handsome he looked in here. I was so pinning for Kaku Kento since he's always been one of my favourites but right off the first episode, Kubota got me like "Kaku who??" Naruse is probably my favourite character along with Sugishita and that's majorly because of Kubota's portrayal. Although his development slowed down a little after high school, I never forgot about him because of the impression he made while on the island. Needless to say, Kubota has shot of my favourites list with this drama just like several others. I'd also like to mention that his voice is just SO nice to listen to lol.
Kaku Kento plays Ando Nozomi. I've always liked Kaku Kento since his days in Asuko March but his character didn't hit me as hard as the others. Ando is the typical good guy character and I do admit the way he cares about Sugishita is pretty heartwarming. Buuuut since I loved Naruse so much, I did push Ando to the side a little bit at first. It wasn't until the scene where Ando brought Sugishita on the building lift where he kind of tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. His love for Sugishita is for sure touching but since I'm not a big fan of the one sided pining for a love, I much preferred when the drama focused on Sugishita and Naruse's personal development.
Koide Keisuke plays Nishizaki Masato. Koide is new to me as well. I might've seen him in other shows since I tend to see a bunch of the same actors scattered around in shows but I don't remember him at all. The problem with Nishizaki isn't with Koide's portrayal but rather with how the character is written. I really do not understand how he could love Naoko that much that fast. I do understand his choice to take the blame for the murder because of his past with his mother but I did not get his infatuation with Naoko. Eh, it's probably just me. Anyhow, it's quite interesting to see how every character has somewhat of a dark past and I think Nishizaki has probably had the worst.
Review & Thoughts
This drama falls under the mystery genre and I did like the suspense in guessing the truth, but what impacted me the most was the relationship between the characters and their own development. This is one of those dramas that give off that nostalgic feel because you can truly see how each character has moved on and grown up past their dark pasts. Friendship also plays a big role and we can see that from the strong friendship between Sugishita, Ando, and Nishizaki as well as the strong relationship between Sugishita and Naruse. Sugishita is definitely the true main of this drama as we see her change the most. From the island to Tokyo, her every experience impacts the audience in some way. I cried as she cried and I laughed as she laughed. That kind of connection with a character is completely based on the character itself and the actor. I would say I'm a pretty sympathetic person but when watching Sugishita, I just wanted to reach into the screen and pat her on the back. Towards the end of the drama, you can really see how many people she has met and became a support for her and it just made me tear up *sniff* *sniff*.
The episodes that took place in the island were my favourite. The relationship between Sugishita and Naruse just seemed the strongest to me. I realize that it might not fully be love in the end but their understanding and past with each other just trumps everything. That scene where Naruse was leaving the island and saying goodbye to Sugishita was just perfect. It was probably my favourite scene in the whole drama with the very last scene in the finale as a close second.
I really didn't think much about this drama as I began it but it really did blow me away. IMO one of the most important things about a drama is how it affects the viewers emotionally. In this case, the theme song played a really big role in giving me all those feels. The title song is called "Silly" by Leo Ieiri and it fits the drama perfectly. I found out about Leo Ieiri through her awesome theme song for Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo so I've been following her music. When I first heard "Silly," I totally wasn't aware it was for a drama and found the song to be just okay. Of course after watching the drama the song went from just okay to amazing. This is one of the reasons why songs from dramas have more impact for me because I always think back to the drama whenever I hear the song.
Something else I want to point out is the amazing scenery. Ever since Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo, I've been obsessed with Japanese islands. You get a lot of nice cinematography during the episodes on the island and whenever a drama has great cinematography it just makes my day :)
Kaku Kento plays Ando Nozomi. I've always liked Kaku Kento since his days in Asuko March but his character didn't hit me as hard as the others. Ando is the typical good guy character and I do admit the way he cares about Sugishita is pretty heartwarming. Buuuut since I loved Naruse so much, I did push Ando to the side a little bit at first. It wasn't until the scene where Ando brought Sugishita on the building lift where he kind of tugged at my heartstrings a little bit. His love for Sugishita is for sure touching but since I'm not a big fan of the one sided pining for a love, I much preferred when the drama focused on Sugishita and Naruse's personal development.
Koide Keisuke plays Nishizaki Masato. Koide is new to me as well. I might've seen him in other shows since I tend to see a bunch of the same actors scattered around in shows but I don't remember him at all. The problem with Nishizaki isn't with Koide's portrayal but rather with how the character is written. I really do not understand how he could love Naoko that much that fast. I do understand his choice to take the blame for the murder because of his past with his mother but I did not get his infatuation with Naoko. Eh, it's probably just me. Anyhow, it's quite interesting to see how every character has somewhat of a dark past and I think Nishizaki has probably had the worst.
Review & Thoughts
This drama falls under the mystery genre and I did like the suspense in guessing the truth, but what impacted me the most was the relationship between the characters and their own development. This is one of those dramas that give off that nostalgic feel because you can truly see how each character has moved on and grown up past their dark pasts. Friendship also plays a big role and we can see that from the strong friendship between Sugishita, Ando, and Nishizaki as well as the strong relationship between Sugishita and Naruse. Sugishita is definitely the true main of this drama as we see her change the most. From the island to Tokyo, her every experience impacts the audience in some way. I cried as she cried and I laughed as she laughed. That kind of connection with a character is completely based on the character itself and the actor. I would say I'm a pretty sympathetic person but when watching Sugishita, I just wanted to reach into the screen and pat her on the back. Towards the end of the drama, you can really see how many people she has met and became a support for her and it just made me tear up *sniff* *sniff*.
The episodes that took place in the island were my favourite. The relationship between Sugishita and Naruse just seemed the strongest to me. I realize that it might not fully be love in the end but their understanding and past with each other just trumps everything. That scene where Naruse was leaving the island and saying goodbye to Sugishita was just perfect. It was probably my favourite scene in the whole drama with the very last scene in the finale as a close second.
I really didn't think much about this drama as I began it but it really did blow me away. IMO one of the most important things about a drama is how it affects the viewers emotionally. In this case, the theme song played a really big role in giving me all those feels. The title song is called "Silly" by Leo Ieiri and it fits the drama perfectly. I found out about Leo Ieiri through her awesome theme song for Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo so I've been following her music. When I first heard "Silly," I totally wasn't aware it was for a drama and found the song to be just okay. Of course after watching the drama the song went from just okay to amazing. This is one of the reasons why songs from dramas have more impact for me because I always think back to the drama whenever I hear the song.Something else I want to point out is the amazing scenery. Ever since Umi no Ue no Shinryoujo, I've been obsessed with Japanese islands. You get a lot of nice cinematography during the episodes on the island and whenever a drama has great cinematography it just makes my day :)
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