Review : Orange Days

• Name : Orange Days
• Year : 2004
• Genre : Romance
• Episodes : 11
• Theme Song : Sign by Mr. Children
• Actors : Tsumabuki Satoshi ( as Yuuki Kai) , Shibasaki Kou ( as Hagio Sae ) , Narimiya Hiroki ( as Aida Shohei ), Shiraishi Miho ( as Akane), Eita ( as Keita)

When I saved this show from my friend's laptop, he told me its about a dumb ( as in mute and deaf...not stupid) female violinist. I thought it will be something like 1 liter of Tears + Nodame Cantabille. I don't have very high expectation of the drama. To be honest i thought it would be a very BOOORING drama, but to my surprise it's good. What's so good about this show you ask ?

What it's About

Yuuki Kai is a social welfare psychology student. He is at his final year and he is in the middle of job hunting. So far he has no luck in hunting jobs. One day while he is in the campus, he came across a girl who playing the violin, and so Kai stood there listening to her violin. The girl, Hagio Sae ( unknown to Kai that time that she is deaf and mute ), held up her hand and demanded money for her performance. Having only an orange ( he stole it lol ) in his hand that time, Kai gave the orange to Sae as a payment and walks off.

Kai hangs out with 2 other guys, Keita and Shohei. The 3 of them, ( and later Sae and her friend, Akane) forms The Orange Society. As the story progresses all 5 of them established a strong bond of friendship with each other and they eventually became best friends. This drama talks about romance, life after college, the importance of friendship and perseverance. Life is not always simple and fun, and this drama portrays it very well.

It blends romance, friendship, perseverance and slice of life into one colourful combination ( not rojak ). It gives the viewer a nostalgic and warm feeling when they watch it. This drama is slow, but yet as you watches it, the story and plot slowly captures you. It isn't boring at all ( at least for me ). All 5 characters are at the turning point of their life, and each of them has a different story to tell.

Personal Thoughts

Being a psychologist, Kai is good at advising and calming people down. Every time Sae is down, angry, wallowing in dirt or throwing tantrum, Kai will be there to advise her. Some of my favourite scenes are when Kai scolded Sae for being impolite and rude to her mother and when Sae opens up her heart to Kai and finally broke down into tears. He has a girlfriend whom he later broke of with due to some misunderstanding, but nevertheless, as the story progresses, he falls for Sae.

Kai comforting Sae

Personally I love Sae. She is a very strong willed and stubborn woman. Despite her beautiful appearance she has some attitude problems. Ranging from smoking habit, bad temper and a vulgar personality. Lol. But really makes her shine is her perseverance. To no be able to hear and talk, its something very tough to go through (you imagine that ). She is a musician and being unable to hear is a pretty disastrous, and yet, she didn't give up her passion for music. There were a few instances where she was very down and nearly gave up, but Kai was there for her. She communicates through sign language and she hate being treated specially ( pride )for being disabled, and when i say hate, i mean she REALLY HATES it. For example...

When called to talk about her disability on stage. She starts by writing something on board.

And ends the speech with a finger. Epic.

This story focusses a lot on Sae. The most inspiring part is she taking up music again even after going through countless pains and dissapointment. Overcoming obstacles one and another.

As for other characters, Shuhei is also very special to me. He is a cool looking student and also a playboy. Sleep around. Figures. He works for a photographer ( has a passion for photography) and he has somekind of scandal with the model he is working with. But the truth is he is just a poor student and he has a younger sister at home which he greatly cares for. He later falls in love with Akane and it's interesting to see how he changes from a playboy to a better guy for Akane's sake.

Shohei

And there is Akane, Sae's best friend. She is very loyal to Sae. Even going to the extent of learning sign language to communicate with her best friend. She later falls for Shohei despite his playboy-ish attitude. She is pretty witty, as she is able to leave Shohei speechless everytime he tries to tease her. Not to mention that she is ALWAYS the one who catches Shohei flirting, kissing, necking...yaba yaba with girls ( AKA tangkap basah ).

Akane

Finally there is Keita. But seriously, I couldn't relate to this character. Neither am I interested in his story. But to be fair, lol, he is a cheerful and romantic boy. Writing poems and what not to Akane whom he had a crush on early of the episode. There isn't much story about him in the drama lol, so i guess it can't be helped.

Conclusion

In conclusion this is a superb show. I find it hard to review this show as it is 'slice of life' type of show. Some might find it nice and some might find it boring, but to me its a very nice show. Words can't do much justice on how good this show is. You must watch it to really appreciate it. Very few dramas could touch someone's heart with the abscence of speech as this show is usually narrated through sign language ( with subtitles of course to help you understand what they are speaking ). As for the rating, you rate it after watching it.