For me, a relative newbie drama watcher, this drama is ancient history relic. And if it had not been for the Drama Discovery Challenge (perfect title!) I would have never had the idea to consider watching this let alone watch it. And I would have missed a real gem of a drama.

The plot is fairly basic: two lonely people get to share an apartment. This forced cohabitation makes them grow and change as individuals and discover real love and affection. Nothing new under the drama sun but this one was excellently written and produced, the cast is perfect and the plot moves forward smoothly without a hitch!

The characters are all too human. Minami, the FL hides behind her cheerfulness the frustration and unhappiness as life seems to pass her by. At the beginning her forcefulness and brazen behaviour are very annoying but in contact with Sena she mellows down a little bit, just enough to become likable and still remain a strong woman and a force of nature. Sena is a pianist, looks like a lost puppy, who wants to become a professional player but has hit the wall which inhibits him from expressing emotion through music that would give him that special something to lift him above the rest. Seta, in contact with a talented but robotic and emotionless student realizes the flaws in his piano playing but still does not know how to remedy it. Minami finds cracks in that wall and breaks it without him ever being aware of it!

The support characters are equally interesting. Minami's brother, a happy-go-lucky Shouji falls for Sena's fellow straight laced pianist. Their relationship is on the lines of extremes opposites attract but can they stay together or will they just bounce off of each other. And then there is this minor character, Sena's piano teacher who has a way with words and uses them to poetically describe piano playing. Beautifully written!

The relationship between Sena and Minami goes through all phases: from acquaintances to reluctant friends to lovers . Since Minami is older, she never really considers Sena a boyfriend material until it is too late and they are deeply in love. They try dating other people only to realize that it is too late for that! They had found the missing part of themselves in each other.
The writers managed to avoid those pesky drama tropes that last for too long: misunderstandings, break ups etc. They are there, otherwise there would be no drama, but they do not take up too much time.

This drama is 27 years old and it shows on a technical plane: the format, the cinematography, the fashion (poor guy and his oversized suits! Awful!), the habits (everyone's smoking everywhere!) and no mobile phones (trying to reach someone on the phone was not easy!). I watched it in poor quality but it was worth it!

The problem that I have with j-dramas in general is the music: too loud, too much of it, sudden changes of tune, wrong music which does not correspond the mood of the scene. I found all of it here. There were some nice original piano pieces as background music. And then there was this tune (which turned out to be a song in the last episode) which played repeatedly in the background with different arrangements (harp, piano, violin, flute). The thing with that tune is that it sounds like a mash up of Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton and Blowing In The Wind by Bob Dylan. The resemblance to these songs made it very distracting and I found myself listening to the music instead of following the story.

Anyway, this has been a great watch and a beautiful story of facing challenges, deciding what you really want to do with your life and going for it!