Quick Review #46: Nami yo kiitekure - Spring 2023

Title: Nami yo kiitekure / 波よ聞いてくれ

Rating: 6 /10 

Recommended for: 

For those who like a strong and unconventional female lead character in stories or are fans of Koshiba Fuuka

Liked:

- Koshiba Fuuka really carried this drama well despite my pre-season concern over whether she would be able to pull this off. I have no doubt that she can act well but my image of her till the point I watched this drama was more on the demure, clean and not very unconventional side i.e. totally different from Minare who dresses in a strong personal style, has a very hard-to-miss image and can be foul-mouthed at times. As such, it was such a pleasant surprise to see how she managed to play the character Minare so seamlessly. Those scenes when she rattled off lines sounding like tongue twisters on radio to lecture people and speak out on things were especially impressive. Her interactions with Matou (Kitamura Kazuki) were also interesting to watch - it felt like two skillful players engaged in a never-ending ping pong rally.

- The first three episodes of the drama - while bordering on slight craziness at some junctures - helped the story to begin with a bang and successfully maintain the viewers' interest in finding out how far Minare could go on radio (in terms of what she would say) and what kind of unusual things or deeds she would do.

Disliked: 

- Due to the fact that the drama began quite promisingly, I was expecting more but from the mid-point onwards, the spark somewhat fizzled out almost instantaneously. While there were highlights here and there, the moment when the limelight was spread out from Minare alone to the people around her, it felt like the razor-sharp appeal of the drama which pulled me in at first was quickly diluted. Usually, I am supportive of the idea of seeing more of the supporting characters (if they have interesting stories to offer) but what was presented didn't really keep me engaged or interested. As such, while I had a strong desire to drop off by Ep 5, I still pressed on till the end for the sake of closure and to see Koshiba in action. Coincidentally, I had mentioned in my review of Ep 1 that I felt that I might not stick with this till the end. Turns out my gut feel or first impression at that time was right after all.

Note that I have not read the original manga before so I have no idea whether the drama follows the source material quite closely or had deviated greatly in terms of storytelling style. As such, I can't tell what might be the problem especially the ending which made me feel a bit "meh". Considering that the manga is still being serialised, I can only guess that the drama's ending could have nothing to do with the manga.