Japanese
Drama
Good Morning Call (2016)
Grade:
B-
17 episodes, about 45 minutes each
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Viewing Platform: Netflix
High school student Yoshikawa Nao decides
to live in the city on her own in order to attend a decent high
school, as her parents now live in the countryside. Unfortunately,
Nao soon learns that she is a rent scam victim once she walks in to
find the school's resident “hot guy” also moving in to the same
apartment! All the girls dormitories are full by this point, and Uehara
Hisashi refuses to move back in with his now-married older brother,
so the two reluctantly agree to share the apartment and split the
rent. What happens when Nao's parents find out? Will the school find
out and expel Nao and Uehara before they can graduate? What happens
when Nao starts to have feelings for her cold, distant roommate?
*This drama had a very strong start
with lots of awkward falling-in-love moments, but it slowed
considerably towards the halfway point. There were also a few F-bombs
and a clearly lesbian character (if that bothers you – I thought it
was an interesting story arc), but the show stayed innocent despite
having two teenagers living together. I didn't see a lot of character
development for Uehara, however. He stays quite taciturn throughout
the show, belittling and insulting Nao when he does talk to a point
that even when he *spoiler alert* decides to commit to her, he's
still not treating her all that well. It feels like a shallow victory
for the viewers. All the guys' haircuts were distractingly bad, too.
I might watch this again.*
