guyphoebus

My college days are far behind me. Yet, Orange Days took me back like no other show had done before. The storyline is centered around Sae, a deaf college student remarkably interpreted by Ko Shibasaki. Sae's vivacious, feisty, and very endearing personality earns her the love interest of Kai, a gentler, more reserved student. Along with three friends with bubbling personalities, the fledging couple forms the Orange Days group. Its members will share their college challenges and romantic entanglements until graduation. It is worth noting that in order to include Sae, her friends all learn sign language. The five actors did a great job learning and expressing sign language in a very natural way. The story moves along very smoothly and keeps its youthful atmosphere from end to end. A very endearing trip back to your twenties. The only aspect that might prevent you from enjoying thoroughly it is the need to read subtitles during sign language exchanges, which won't be a problem for anyone used to watching foreign language movies.

There is no question that this is a quality show. The cinematography is excellent. I particularly enjoyed the effort placed in the historical reconstitution and the limited usage of special effects. The political intrigue carved out by James Clavell is clever and engaging. I was, however, disappointed by the lack of emotions in the acting, which makes it difficult to care for the characters. Yes, reserve is a Japanese trait and often a quality in acting as well, but here, it translates to flat characters. In addition, the Blackthorn in this edition seems quite "thick" and one-dimensional. It is a bit hard to understand why the beautiful Mariko would fall head over heels for him. I have seen the 1981 version of Shogun and I recall many more emotional moments and a great chemistry between these two characters, even though the production was not as sophisticated. It had the epic human breath that this show lacks. The 2024 production of Shogun will not leave a lasting mark on my mind. I'll continue to remember the 1981 version as the reference.

This series is well shot and the storyline is quite interesting. Unfortunately, it suffers from the weakness of its too main characters. The main male character is flat and robotic; he doesn't seem to have any emotions and the minimal dialogue that he is given does not help to thicken up his personality. As for the main female character, she is fine as a student at the beginning of the show, but her acting and general attitude remains the same 15 years later when she is supposed to have become the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company. She lack an edge and is too meek and subdued to be believable in such a high profile executive role. I finished the series since it was quite short (10 episodes) but I don't believe I have kept going had it been longer.