Fight Song (2022)

Heartwarming Encouragement

I'm sure the synopsis will explain the romantic plot and the struggles/growth the characters go through, but I think it's really important to highlight just how heartwarming this show is. It felt like a big 10 episode hug.

It's been a while since I watched a drama that is an original script and not adapted from book/manga. Not to say adaptations are bad (not at all!), but I really liked how the actors got to actively collaborate on creating their characters. It made it feel real for me.

Also, there isn't a bad person in this story! The support they provide to each other throughout it is such a lovely reminder to be kind to others. Nothing is a burden and characters are quick to consider adapting things or situations for their friends, family and loved ones.

While it seems like a lighthearted romcom on the surface, I think there's much to be learnt from this drama.

Happy viewing! And keep your spirits up! Fight!!

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♥ ファイトソング ♥

Fight song is about a girl Kisara Hanae, who has just stopped karate due to some hearing problems. One day during her work she is a cleaner, Hanae meets Ashida Haruki he is the songwriter of a song she used to listen to before every match. Ashida Haruki has to make a new song which will sell otherwise he has to leave his flat living now. Hanae's childhood friend, Natsukawa Shingo who is always watching over her gets involved and a love triangle develops. He is in love with Hanae since they were kinds, he is always next to her and watching her without making a move. Hanae has a "secret" that she can't tell anyone, she tells everyone after a while. Haruki-san finds out about her hearing problems but keeps on loving her.
Kiyohara Kaya and Mamiya shotaro are my favourite actors and they make such a cute couple ♥ ♥ ♥

This drama was amazing it shows how true love can fight everything, even if you are sick if you are with the love of your life nothing else matters ♥ I hope I find my own prince soon too ♥

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A drama full of good people

Completed - 6/3/2022

"Fight Song" is a light-hearted drama about two individuals who have hit rock bottom in their respective lives. They met through chance and decided to start a time-limited relationship to help each other out. We especially cheer for our female lead because she's so full of life and spirit. She faces both professional and personal hardships in strides, and becomes the role model for many.

The romance between our leads is cute, awkward and adorable. With two novices in love, they navigate their unique time-limited relationship with a lot of curiosity and naiveté. Their interaction is really adorable. However, I do feel that their relationship is lacking some romantic vibes. For once, I hope the drama is a little longer, so that we have more time to see how they slowly develop feelings for each other. I would have loved to see more romantic and heart-fluttering scenes.

I do recommend this drama if you are looking for something positive and cute. This is one of the very few dramas that I remember, where every single character is a good person. No annoying co-worker, parent, or love interest. I also like the two songs, esp. Star Train. Our male lead has a great voice and I very much enjoy the acoustic version, though it might just be a tad overplayed.

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Decent drama, terrible romances

Title says it all, really. This is a good slice-of-life with good acting, good leads and a great backup cast, and a lot of interesting things going on in it. It's staged around a fake-romance trope which it subverts by not having the stock happy ending. This is believable, due to what happens to the FL, but the problem with setting up that particular trope is that viewers are led into wanting a happy ending! - and it feels disappointing when we don't get it. I came out of it feeling very sorry for the musician - and the SFL - thinking how sad it is when people unwisely invest such a lot of time in loving people who don't love them back, and how I would much rather watch something where they do. There were some heartwarming relationships in it - the 'house mother' of the children's home, the nice deaf friend - and it was well-made and had some pertinent things to say about hearing loss (if this is why you're watching, Silent does that better imo), but if you're looking for a comforting romance to watch, this probably isn't going to satisfy.

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Good Enough

Japanese Drama " Fight Song " is a drama with a warm, sweet story and brilliant leading lady.

And yes, the drama had a weak, boring love triangle that was predictable and had nothing to offer. However, the friendship was sweet and a nice touch, with warm relationships between the characters.

As for the romance, it was cute, and had some weak points, but it was nicely blended with the main storyline, which was the health problems of the main lead and her struggles to accept her reality and make amends with her future. That part was well handled with sensitivity and without overdoing it with the emotional factor.

As for the performances, they were all great, but the leading lady was the star of the drama.

So, overall, 6 out of 10.

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My drama bent right now is human stories, stories that give you a glimpse into another person's life, their struggles and challenges and relationships, in a way that is both heartwarming and honest. I spent a long time watching almost exclusively Kdramas, and most of the dramas I watched were 1. heavily romanced themed, and 2. certainly not makjang (not if I could help it, anyway) but still often dramatic in some way. I still enjoy dramas like this (I'll always be a lover of the romance genre), but I've begun to appreciate dramas that are more interested in telling realistic stories about realistic people without all the high stakes or added dramatics.

Fight Song definitely fits the realistic human story description. The female lead has an interesting balance between vulnerability and softness mixed with mental and emotional toughness. The story addresses issues such as being an orphan, death of a parent, child abandonment, dealing with the possibility of losing one of your basic senses (your hearing), family and found family, overcoming difficult trials, and learning how to embrace/accept/make peace with what life brings. And all of this plays out over the backdrop of everyday people going about their everyday lives in the way most of us do. I loved all of the messages this drama presented, the gentle and kind way it treated its characters, and how down-to-earth everything about it is.

I have one caveat, and that is that the age gap between the leads was difficult for me. I came around to it by the finale, because you take the age gap away and you have an extremely likable couple that you can't help but root for. But it still took me till the end to do so, and that's because I just don't see why there had to be such a vast age difference between them. I guess, technically, he would have to be older than her to some degree in order for her to have heard and cherished his song when she was a child, but I still think the writers could have found a way around this.

That being said, I still have to praise this drama. I can't say I love it as much as dramas such Neechan no Koibito and Shizuka-chan to Papa, which both deal with serious topics in an equally heartwarming/healing manner, but I greatly enjoyed Fight Song and all of its characters. Its message was one of perseverance and hope, and I can always get on board with that.

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Binge watch worthy

This is my first review so bear with me .
The show is overly good but like most romcom jdramas it lacks somewhere but i can’t point what it is, the Acting of the FL is incredible she really nailed it so is the ML he played an awkward character so naturally well without exaggerating plus i wished he pulled his hair up so we could see his handsome face well, but what actually really bugs me is that we only heard one song through out the whole show even though the show somehow revolves around music but maybe that’s because of FL condition and how she said she only listened to this song in her entire life, I would give it a 9/10 lost one point because i expected more development in their relationship or more chemistry between them.

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Love Grows Out of an Experiment of sorts

9.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2022 Japanese drama with 10, 45-70 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Kisara Hanae (Kiyohara Kaya) did not let being abandoned to an orphanage hold her back for long, she began self-teaching karate, until a local dojo saw her passion and took on her training.  Her career was just taking off when tragedy struck and irreparably damaged her career as an athlete.  After a long period of mourning the loss of her former self, she goes to work as a cleaner for a fellow orphan and childhood friend, Shingo Natsukawa (Fuma Kikuchi), who started a cleaning business.  As she re-emerges and begins living life again, she encounters Ashida Haruki (Shotaro Mamiya) who is known as a one hit wonder who so happened to write the song that Hanae credits with getting her through her difficult childhood and motivating her in her athletic career.  Haruki is about to lose it all, his management firm, his apartment and his career if he doesn’t produce a hit song.  Desperately trying to think of how to salvage his career, his manager suggests if he experienced love it might give him inspiration to write new songs.  Hanae caught his interest when she was shadow boxing in the courtyard and winds up at his house cleaning.  He asks Hanae if she will be his girlfriend to inspire him and she agrees as long as the relationship is over by a set date.  What she does not tell him is something life changing is going to occur for her on that date.  Will their fake arrangement result in real feelings?  Will their love experiment result in musical inspiration and also change Hanae’s life.  

Review

This was a predictable, but sufficiently complex romantic drama with a few comedic elements.  It was on balance happy and had a happy ending.  I would watch it again and would highly recommend it to those that like romance, sports dramas, idol drama, and shows where a main character has to overcome a major health challenge.  

Spoilers

I really liked Hanae but was really frustrated with her when he leaned in to kiss her and she basically told him he needed to ask.  To me someone asks in the slow approach.  You don’t want the kiss?  You just dodge it.  I mean naturally if someone grabs you unexpectedly and mauls you that is unacceptable but the slow lean has been the signal forever.  This “ask me” is such a modern thing and is likely why so few long term couples form these days. So, I was disappointed when that ideology was incorporated in the script.  It’s not romantic to me to have to ask“may I kiss you.”  So, that disappointed me in that character.  She made him feel bad, like he had done something wrong, and there wasn’t a thing wrong with him leaning in for a kiss.  

I got incredibly frustrated with her not telling anyone about her upcoming surgery.  I mean, you might be deaf afterward, that is going to be a little hard to hide.  When she did finally tell her family and they did the “punishments” I totally understood why they were like you did wrong, because it was wrong of her to keep that from the people that loved and cared about her.  And she only told them when they literally had her backed into a corner.  Only after they essentially already knew.  For her not to tell Haruki why she wanted to end it with him was not being very kind toward him.  She made the decision for both of themthat he should not go through it with her.  I mean tell him and give him that option.  I was upset she broke his heart a little and he was just such a nice guy.  I don’t like lies or selfishness and I felt like she was lying to him and being selfish in what parts of her life she shared.  

I was a bit surprised that none of the deaf characters used sign language.  It was all lip reading, voice to text or writing the message down.  They seemed to get along fine with a combination of methods which makes me wonder if that is a true depiction of modern hearing impaired.  

 #FightSong   #KayaKikyohara  #ShotaroMamiya  #FumaKikuchi  

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Joli drama sensible et feel-good

Un joli drama avec une "healing romance" entre un musicien (en perte de popularité) et une sportive blessé, obligée d'arrêter le karaté et de retrouver une raison de vivre.

Dans cette série, il n'y a pas de méchant. Chacun essaie de vivre le mieux possible.
Je ne suis pas sûre que les orphelinats soient tous aussi chaleureux, accueillants, aidants,... que l'institution présentée dans ce drama. Mais, admettons !

Tout est présenté avec finesse, sensibilité, à petites touches, comme savent le faire les réalisateurs japonais...
Bravo aux acteurs, qui font vivre cette histoire avec talent !

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*O quanto um dorama pode te tirar da realidade ? O quanto um dorama pode te distrair das coisas ruins da vida ? O quanto um dorama pode te ensinar ? Gente FIGHT SONG me prendeu, me encantou, me distraiu, me ensinou, me emocionou, me motivou, que linda história ?, que personagens incríveis, Kaya Kiyohara e Shotaro Mamiya super combinaram OSU OSU , Fuma apesar de ter ficado na friend zone , foi o apoio constante da personagem da Kaya e a animação do dorama, para maratonar ele com certeza é daqueles doramas que vc revira a noite, dorama perfeito , redondinho, que soube com delicadeza, tratar um assunto da deficiência auditiva, parabéns ❤️❤️❤️❤️.
Só fiquei esperando ouvir tb a canção Fight Song ? , mas entendo que a música está no coração*

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