Drama Digest
The drama mainly focuses on a lady called Tenko. She, all by herself, runs a pension which is basically a type of guest house. Her pension is situated in a forest that exists in Nagano and is full of beautiful Japanese larch trees. All through the drama, for each episode a new guest visits the pension. Every guest has different job, belongs to different level of society, has different economic and ethnic group, etc. To sum it all up, the pension receives distinct guests who come from all walks of life, and Tenko interacts with all of them. The story primarily unravels those intriguing interactions.
The Feel-Good Part
The drama has a great soothing and healing vibe to itself which makes it extremely blissful. The location of the pension is breathtaking. The exquisite view of those mesmerizing mountains and forest is guaranteed to set a sense of calm in the audience. Although, the storyline is pretty simple, it still conveys many meaningful messages as we go through it. Thus, the drama is rather minimalistic and its simplicity is probably what makes it more alluring. Moreover, it’s a mini-drama and has just six episodes which are not of long duration; therefore commitment won’t be an issue. Everyone can manage to watch this short drama and enjoy the soothing and comforting ambience it provides.
The Disappointing Factor
The drama has such an outstanding start that although the last two episodes aren’t really that bad, but yet when compare them to the rest of the series, those episodes seem somewhat weak. Moreover, the story doesn’t really have any extraordinarily aspect to itself. It is quite unambiguous and does not really have any prodigious action or humor in it. Hence, despite its simplicity being its core strength, the drama might come out as slow and boring to many. Also, Tenko’s pension is quite large and even though it’s shown to receive a fair amount of guests, yet there is no such illustration. It would have been better if the audience could get to see some random guests freely walking around too.
In-Depth Analysis
The uncomplicated approach of the drama makes it appear as a breath of fresh air among the usual dramatic Japanese shows. It is undeniably a much welcomed break from the angst of real as well as drama world. This show is probably an ideal example of the, exclusive to just Japanese work, ‘Iyashikei’ genre. The showcase of peaceful lives in the serene environment is bound to have a healing effect on the audience. Not to forget, the drama also has exceptionally well made music. The ending credits song especially is very good.
Star Power
The great ‘Kobayashi Satomi’ does a phenomenal job playing the role of Tenko. Her gentle and warm acting is inevitably going to make you smile. ‘Motai Masako’ can be seen playing the supporting role. Whereas, different actors where seen doing the guest roles. ‘Yakusho Koji’ as Tsuneki in episode one, ‘Ishibashi Shizuka’ and ‘Bengal’ as Mitsue and Ogawa respectively in episode two, ‘Itaya Yuka’ as Fuki in episode three, ‘Yamanaka Takashi’ as Yamabiko in episode four, ‘Mitsuishi Ken’ as Koma-Chan in episode five, and ‘Miura Toko’ as Yamame in episode six.
Overall Opinion
It is an out-of-the-box kind of show. Therefore, anyone who is looking for something fresh which isn’t like your unusual dramatic dramas, but rather will help you to relax and calm down, should definitely check it out. You will also get to enjoy the added pleasure of the beautiful background music.
