Tatta Hitotsu no Koi // Just One Love (A Review)

Long time no bloggin’! Ah… it’s nice to come back again doing these things. Well, I just watched Tatta Hitotsu no Koi, known as My Only Love and Just One Love. But I prefer Just One Love because it seems sweeter and accurate.

The main characters are KAMENASHI Kazuya, AYASE Haruka, TANAKA Koki, HIRAOKA Yuta, and TODA Erika. Here’s the summary from wiki.d-addicts.com:

A story of pure love between the son of a man who runs a ship repair factory beset with financial troubles and the well-bred daughter of a national jewelry chain store owner. The backdrop of the story is Yokohama.

If you feel you have lost the purity of your soul by watching stories about womanizers seducing impudent women, or by carrying out calculated maneuvers in your own love life, here is a story for you. A boy and a girl from highly different social backgrounds meet and fall in love. Their love, of course, faces a lot of obstacles. The setting is in Yokohama, a modern port city known for its romantic atmosphere. Hiroto Kanzaki (Kazuya Kamenashi) works hard every day and night for the survival of a small ship repair factory (inherited from his father) as well as the survival of his mother and younger brother, who are suffering from health problems. Living such an underprivileged life, Hiroto has forgotten how to smile. In contrast to him, Nao (Haruka Ayase) is the daughter of a popular jewelry shop owner in a fashionable street in Yokohama. She attends a prestigious exclusive women’s college and grew up cheerful and blessed with affluent love. From the moment Hiroto meets her, his closed mind slowly opens up to Nao, who is so innocent that she utters whatever she thinks. Their three close friends, who are also 20 year old’s, play an important role in their developing relationship.

The scriptwriter is Eriko Kitagawa, who earned the nickname “The Goddess of Love Stories.” This classic love story enables those who are in the same generation to feel empathy, or be envious of the characters’ lives; and the rest, who were once 20 years old’s, to reminisce about their own “Love of My Life.”

The story might be like your stereotype kind of drama, but when I watched it, you’ll understand that the main “content” of this drama is very lovely and original. I’ve always liked stories about pure love rather than disgusting or “for mature persons only” type of drama. Just One Love is a very wonderful drama. NO DOUBT. I love how the story progresses, and how each characters contributed to the flow of the story. The ideas of how the main characters met and how they continued their relationship in spite of their differences and distance is so moving, stirring my emotions and making me cry and feel the character’s situation.

The actors and actresses… make me speechless. They are all so great and believable. They captured the personalities of their characters and made them their own, making them appear true and sympathetic. Kamenashi (KATTUN member) was excellent. He is so handsome and he fits the role. His acting is so superb and believable and I love his every movements which corresponds to Hiroto’s (his character) personality. And I’m also loving Haruka-san now. She’s so cute and down-to-earth (in real life, yes) and she fits her role, too. She’s a sweet one. Both of them make such good romantic scenes, especially the hugging parts. This is what I love about the drama. It’s very clean and pure. Their kissing scenes are innocent and sweet, not so long and adultish. Their embraces are heartfelt and emotional. I like how Hiroto loves his family more than himself, and how he becomes a guide to Haruka in her decisions. He always thinks about others more than himself. Nao (Haruka Ayase’s character) is a sweet girl who refuses to discriminate and proved true love by accepting Hiroto as he is. She’s an honest and sincere girl. Hiroto and Nao’s characters are VERY VERY COMPLEMENTING with each other. You’ll just have to see it to know why.

The others had done their share of great performances, too. Toda, Hiraoka, and Koki-kun helped in the development of the story and I like the three of them. Those who played the family members couldn’t be left out as well. They were amazing.

Yokohama was a good spot; it is one of the most romantic places in Japan. The sceneries were beautiful and the settings were just perfect. I enjoyed looking at them and it beautified the simple story. The music and sounds were different from the usual, and I liked it. And KATTUN’s Bokura no Machi (theme song)? Just perfect! The lyrics was very related to the story and it made very endings so poignant to me. I also liked their clothes, especially Haruka-san’s. And Kame-chan’s were really realistic of his poor status and it added to his handsome points.

Overall, I would rate it 7 out of 10. It was such a beautiful love story, so much values to learn and imitate. I’m tired of love stories which we haven’t heard but are poorly developed. I’m also tired of very weighty themes. This one is something you can relate to. And you will realize the value of true and pure love between two persons of different status in life. It’s a drama of persons you want to imitate and love.

It was simple, yet the simplicity and purity of the drama were effective elements in making the drama such a wonderful love story. It will teach you how to truly love someone without hurting other people.

So, watch Tatta Hitotsu no Koi. I prefer these kinds of clean stories than the too adultish or too immature ones. This is just right. I hope you’ll learn a lot from this.

Before I sign out, I want to tell you that I really love Kame now. He’s very energetic, friendly, and loving. He has a bright smile. Yes, now I love Kame and Nino.

Current Drama: Just One Love

To watch: Saigo no Yakusoku

credits: wiki.d-addicts.com, onlyroom.net, jdorama.com, posteando.com, tokidoki.animeblogger.net, dramajepang.com,