Nakuna Harachan: Mid Season Thoughts

Long time no review!

I’ve been meaning to write weekly reviews on this drama since it started but I hadn’t had the time to do so. Now that the drama has finally reached it’s mid season mark, I felt that I should churn one out and get the ball rolling.

For those unfamiliar with the drama, the story is a fantasy set in a fishing town in Kanagawa Prefecture. The main character, Echizen, is a shy woman with a lack of self confidence who works at a small kamaboko plant in town. She isn’t respected by her coworkers, she still lives at home, and her family seems to be oblivious to her inner plight. Luckily enough for her, she manages to take out her frustrations by drawing a manga where a character named Hara-chan lets out his frustrations to a group of drinking buddies at an izakaya.

One day, this Hara-chan appears in her world without any explained reason and its through this fateful encounter that Echizen, and the people around her, begin to really discover themselves and look at the world they live in from a whole different perspective.

When I first heard about this drama, I thought it was going to be some wacky slap stick adventure. Manga characters coming to life? The only stories that have that plot, that I know of, involve slapstick wacky humor that seem entirely dependent on the ridiculous interactions between humans and the animated characters. I didn’t have doubts about Nagase pulling this off either, because Nagase is a versatile enough actor where he can play an idiot and make it funny. My worry was the story and writing. After watching the first episode, the drama ended up impressing me with a story that wasn’t entirely slapstick but with a cast that seemed to not particularly stand out.

The second episode set the pace for the drama and fully introduced everyone. That was when I realized this drama wasn’t going to be an average comedy.

Naku na, Hara-chan (or Don’t Cry, Hara-chan) is an adorable romance-comedy that pulls your heartstrings in all the right places. Hara-chan is completely innocent and ignorant of the real world around him. His reactions are adorable, his questions are cute, and his own self discoveries are heartwarming. Hara-chan is like a child finally growing into themselves, discovering both the cruel and wonderful things of a world they were created in.

” What is love? ”

” What’s unrequited love?”

” What’s illnesses? ”

” What is death? ”

You see him learn more and more and you can’t help but simply cheer him on as he discovers or protect him when he realizes the pain behind the discovery.

The rest of the characters, from those that live in the real world to the four that live in the manga world, also add an element to Hara-chan’s self discovery and quest for Echizen’s heart. As Hara-chan is learning, so are they, and you want to cheer them all on, laugh with them, cry with them…. Naku na, Hara-chan seems more and more like a human drama and less of a comedy, though the comedy is done tastefully well as its not a distraction but more of a cute, warming scene of happiness and innocent laughter.

The acting in this drama is great, while not entirely ground breaking. Everyone plays their characters well and you can see that the cast enjoys what they’re doing. No one particularly stands out but it’s okay because everyone’s role is dependent on the actions of Nagase’s character. Rather than Nagase be held up by his supporting case, he supports them in his lead. Its a good chemistry which leads to a good drama.

Though the one thing that stands out the most to me is the music. I absolutely love the music in this drama. The music helps carry the scenes, the moods, and the overall feel of the drama. You can feel the smallness of the fishing town, the innocences of Hara-chan, the frustrations of Echizen, the obliviousness of Tanaka, and the determinations of Kiyomi, aka Akuma. Then, Nagase’s penned song, Ririkku (Lyric), performed by his band TOKIO, brings everything to a final close every week.

What keeps me watching this drama is not the love story. It’s the human elements. This drama just makes you appreciate things for what its worth. This week’s episode, number 5, really validated why I truly enjoy Naku na, Harachan. It’s a bittersweet episode with a very deep and often troubling message, but the ending is something that you just can’t help but sit there crying with a smile on your face. I just hope this trend continues; a pure drama devoid of any useless, unneeded  drama just for the sake of it.

Keep Hara-chan pure. Let us rediscover life along with him.