Osozaki no Himawari

Peace be upon you.

“For flower to bloom fully, they need time...”

I had planned to watch this drama after the exam was over and finally I made it to watch this 10 episode drama series. With the breathtaking scene of Shimanto, as well as the friendliness of the folks and last but not least with a powerful cast, why not let us forget a bit about kdramaland and get to know a little bit about a town named Shimanto located in Kochi City, Japan. Little that I know of about jdramaland since I watched just a few of them once in awhile. I started to watch it since Nakatsu in Hanazakari no Kimitachi e ( a.k.a Hana Kimi ) was in it. His name is Ikuta Toma.  I love him so much in Hana Kimi and I just wanna see him as the leading man. But opps, when I watched the first episodes, I loved all the casts already!

Let’s meet Kodaira Jotaro. He will be turning 30 soon but never had any stable job after graduating from college. He was later being fired from his job in the big city Tokyo and being dumped by his girlfriend whom he dated for 7 years. While surfing the internet looking for a cheap house and a job too, he finally made it to become the member of Shimanto Revitalization Team. At first he took his job for granted because he did it just to get his monthly wages but later realized that his job plays important role to the people in Shimanto. This drama revolves around Jotaro and his journey to finally fulfil his dream. People regarded him as someone who never did well on what he does, but as he experienced a lot of ups and downs in Shimanto he finally made the flower in him bloom, though it's late. He finally discovered what he wanted to do.

 Kahori and Jotaro

Nikkaido Kahori was a doctor doing research in cancer immunology. Though she’s a doctor, she never practised as clinician and devoted her life for her research. However, due to lack of doctors in Shimanto, she was posted there and had to return to Shimanto even though she hated to be there. She thought her job in Shimanto will just temporary but her professor never called her back. Due to lack of clinical skills, she sometimes mismanaged the patients and become the gossip stuffs among the nurses. She was depressed with that situation but later she managed to buckle up and become a better doctor and being loved by the nurses and patients. In the end, she finally able to fulfil her dream to do research. Because it’s her dream, at the point where everything was doing fine and she loved Shimanto, she decided to go for her dream. 

 Fujii Junichi

Fujii Junichi, the character I like the most ( though I like Jotaro so much as well) was someone who had a lot of passion to save the Shimanto town from shutting down. He was the successor of a hardware store but devoted his life for the sake of people in Shimanto and with Jotaro they continued to rock Shimanto. 

 Hiroki and Ayaka

Imai Haruna, she looked like a childish girl but after we were revealed about her secrets and all, I think she’s a pretty strong character. The same goes to Nurse Morishita Ayaka and Matsumoto Hiroki, the rehab assistant who used to be a great baseball player 10 years ago. All of them have dark secrets but finally at the end, they were finally able to face it and brought light to their life. 

“He used to give up farming one day, but after he saw you fought wholeheartedly, he started farming again.”

 

Why do I love this drama so much? Because everyone in this drama is so kind and generous. They look on their own mistakes before started to blaming others. They reflected on what they did and quickly say sorry for their own mistakes. My heart was touched, watching this drama made me wanting to do good as well, like the characters had done. If I watched other drama, I can’t help but cursing the bad guys. It’s different in this drama. There’s no one who perfectly do good, but they reflected and aware of their mistakes. They’re so strong and brave to be able to realize their own mistakes. 

 

The scenes were definitely gorgeous. I wish I could visit Shimanto someday to see myself the beauty of  The Sinking Bridge. The town looks so peaceful and everyone is friendly to each other. 

 Junichi and Jotaro on ''The Sinking Bridge''

In summary, Osozaki no Himawari is a drama revolved about several young adults in Shimanto and their hopes and dreams shared together, to finally find their own self. It’s a journey of life and I think one of the most realistic dramas ever being produced. This drama motivates us to do the best of what we can do. 

“Age doesn’t matter, you can always start again”

And you know, how inspiring this drama had become to me. The English title is called, Late Blooming Sunflower – My Life Renewed!  Just face the hurdles and you’ll be on the other side, let’s face it!

“If we don’t face our past, we can’t move forward.”

Till then, take care everyone!

p/s: note that there's Ikuta Toma's screenshot overload. I just can't help it!