Japanese Drama 2020

Boku Dake Ga 17 – Sai No Sekai De (Japanese Drama Review & Summary)

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• Genre: Youth, Friendship, Fantasy, Supernatural, Mystery, Romance
• Release Date: February 2020
• Origin: Japan (Special thanks to the subber: Irozuku Subs)
• Dorama: 8 Episodes

Cast

• Iitoyo Marie as Konno Mei
• Sano Hayato as Sometani Kouta
• Yuki Kousei as Ishikawa Lori
• Furuta Airi as Ogami Yuna
• Watanabe Yutaro as Yoshimora Ryohei
• Otomo Karen as Noka Hakura
• Yoshi as Shindo Naoki

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Episode 1

This drama really started very strongly with a good likable cast.  Just by this first episode, I would highly recommend it.

Anyway, it started with Kouta prostrate by the riverbank with a cut on his head.  He was trying to reach a yellow soft toy bag ornament from his school bag.

Jumped 2020…

This was seven years later.  Konno Mei at 24 now works in the basement of a high rise building in Tokyo (?).  She was busy at work when a woman came down to ask if she was Konno Mei.

As soon as Mei said that she was, a strong right hook got her in the face. The woman said that Mei should stop meeting her husband because if she continues, the woman would take her to court.

Mei was fired on the same day.  The husband of the woman tried to apologise to Mei but she was just so embarrassed she wanted to be out of the building asap.

At her apartment, she was watching the evening news when there was a report that a cherry tree in Yagami City which is famous for its flowers during wintertime and beloved by the locals and well-known that tourists would come to see and experience it would now be cut down to make way for urban development.

Suddenly, Mei remembered that her friends and she used to hang out under this tree.  Many students choose to confess under this tree because of a superstition that If you get together after a confession under the cherry tree, you will be together for life.

She remembered a particular incident that was so hilarious at that time.

Kouta was chilling under the tree when a very pretty girl approached him. He momentary thought that she might confess to him but no such luck.

The girl asked him to move away because she was going to confess to someone.

Kouta’s friends found out about this and they laughed.  They then tried to guess who was the lucky boy.

It turned out it was Lori, a member of their gang.

Lori said that he turned her down.

Lori has a crush of Mei and Mei likes Kouta. Kouta likes her back but they were childhood friends and it takes a little bit of guts to move to a different level of relationship.

Anyway, she and her friends decided to see a meteor shower.  Unfortunately, a heavy rain shower came first which canceled their plan.

Kouta was just about to sleep when Mei sent him a text after another saying that the rain had stopped and she was going to be waiting for him downstairs.

Kouta did not have much of a choice.  In his experience, it was easier to go along with whatever Mei wanted.

They sneak into their school and into the rooftop.

They were jubilant that they saw the falling meteors.

Mei said that they should make a wish as they started to get more comfortable under their sleeping bags.

Kouta asked Mei what she wished.

She said it was a secret but after a while, she said that she wanted for time to stop and that they would always be like this.

Kouta was actually moved and was about to kiss Mei when she pushed him at the last minute telling him to stop and not to get any weird ideas.

She then said that he was doing it the wrong way and that he seemed to have forgotten something.

The next day at school, Mei and Kouta were behaving awkwardly and were noticed by a rather jealous Lori.

Mei dragged Yuna to the temple to hang a wish charm which said “Hope he confesses to e before the cherry blossoms are gon.” ‘Konno Mei”

They were just leaving the temple when Mei received a text from Kouta.

I want to tell you something.  Let’s meet at 5pm tomorrow under the cherry tree.

Yuna was so impressed, she told Mei that she was also going to make a wish as she ran back to the temple.

Yuna helped Mei get ready for her under the cherry tree date.

Mei was there early.

Meanwhile, Kouta was on his way when Lori ambushed him and said they need to talk, which surprised Kouta.

Poor Mei, she had been waiting for 20 minutes and still no sign of Kouta.

Then started to get dark and yet she waited.  She tried to call Kouta but he was not answering.  Instead, she heard the sound of an approaching ambulance.

She got so worried she went to where the ambulance was going to.

She then saw someone being carried away in a stretcher and she saw the soft toy hanging on the bag in the stretcher. She was so heartbroken she failed to see Lori among the onlookers.

Apparently it was Lori who found the body of Kouta to the police.

Poor Mei was so devastated she had to turn back from going to Kouta’s memorial.

At the early hours in the morning in 2020, Mei decided to go see the cherry tree before it was cut down.

As she neared the tree, she saw her young self utterly traumatised having lost Kouta. She was asking him to show himself. She was begging him to stop playing around and show himself.

She promised him that she will always be waiting. He has to hurry to confess to her or even kiss her before he confesses, she will not turn him away.

Suddenly there was a shower of cherry blossom petals.  Then right before her was Kouta, in his school uniform.

I cried a lot in this first episode.  Brilliant.

Episode 2

Kota called Mei, who was so shocked, she screamed and ran off.  She thought she had seen a ghost.  A man holding a a cat was looking at them rather mysteriously.

Kota could not understand why Mei should have just run off.  He proceeded to his old school and entered his old classroom and went to sit at his desk.

He saw a copy of a favourite manga but he was flabbergasted when the book was for volume 41.  He remembered only having read 5 volumes and the 5th was the latest issue.

He was still pondering this mystery when a boy came into the room and told Kota that he was sitting on his seat.

Kota argued that it was his seat.  He then noticed that the boy was wearing a different uniform from him.

The boy, who was the helper at the temple, knowingly said that Kota must have had a time slip because seven years ago it was all over the news that a 17-year-old boy, Somotani Kota, had fallen from his bike into the cliff and was later found dead.

Kota was in shock, especially when Naoki showed him the news on his mobile phone.

Kota could not believe it and unwittingly ran off with Naoki’s phone.  He was running in the street when a surprised Haruka saw him.

He now understood why Mei ran off upon seeing him.

Kota went to his house.  He found out that it was been cordoned off ready for demolition as part of the Urban Development project.  He was told that the lady who used to live in the house had moved away right after the death of her son seven years ago.

Kota was in bits but finally, Naoki had caught up with him.

Naoki took him to the cemetery to show Kota his own tomb.

Mei thought that it was time to go back to Tokyo as she was even seeing ghost now.

Ryohei was surprised that she was leaving so soon.  She confessed that she saw Kota under the Sakura.  Ryohei was unbelieving until a mystified Haruka came running into the station to find Ryohei.

She told him that she had just seen Kota.

Ryohei looked at Mei and then Haruka finally noticed Mei.

Haruka said she saw a ghost but she knows that ghosts do not come back just like in films like Ghost and Be With You.  She really did see Kota.

Mei realised that she did not see a ghost either so she went back to the sakura to look for Kota but he was no longer there.

She went to the temple to pray.  She wish to see Kota one last time.

Lo and Behold, he was cleaning the backyard at the temple, wearing a Buddhist novice outfit.

They were both longing for each other.

Mei began to touch his face and then as her usual operands, she pinched his cheek.  The she was sure she was not dreaming.

Mei took Kota to the restaurant to meet up with Haruka and Ryohei.

Kota was shocked to note that Haruka and Mei were no longer the closest bestest of friends.  They also talked about Lori who removed himself from them especially after graduation.  Lori ignored all their calls and texts.

Haruka offered Mei to stay at her house for the moment.

Haruka went to the hospital to see Lori, who was now a doctor.  She told Lori that Mei was back but he was not interested.

Anyway, Naoki told Kota that wasn’t it about time to tell Mei what he wanted to tell her seven years ago.

Kota texted Mei to meet up under the sakura at 4pm.

Mei was early and excited.

Then someone arrieved.  it was her old married boyfriend who wanted her back and promised. to divorce his wife.

Kota heard this conversation and was put out.

His Mei had changed.

And he told he so when she came looking for him at the temple.

Kota said that she had changed so much, she was no longer the Mei he grew up with, who had so much confidence and self-respect, she would not be having an affair with a married man and would not just give up a job.

Mei was distressed with the truth of what Kota said.

She left him

Episode 3

Lori woke up from a nightmare of seeing the dying Koto by the lakeside.

Mei’s married lover had come to see her and gave her a return ticket to Tokyo.  He said that she should go back with him.  He had decided to divorce his wife and Mei can work in his company.

He said he will be waiting for her at the station the next day.

Mei had told Haruka about her Tokyo boyfriend.

Haruka was shocked to know that Mei actually knew from the outset that he was married and still went into a relationship with him.  It was very unlike the Mei she grew up with who had a good sense of what is morally right.

Anyway, Haruka apologised to Mei for the past.  She said that she should have kept in touch with Mei but at that time, Haruka thought that it was better for Mei to start over and forget everything, the sad traumatic things that happened in the past that’s why she did not contact Mei again and she realised that that was wrong.

Koto was curious what had happened to Lori so he went and waited for him in the hospital but Lori ignored the message he received that Koto was waiting for him.  How can a dead person be there waiting for him.

Koto, Naoki and another helper at the temple got talking about coming back from the dead.

The helper said that

There is nothing as coincidence.  Everything happens for a reason.

No matter how trivial or insignificant it is, there’s surely a meaning to it.

Koto was pondering this as he looks at the photos of Mei from the camera film he had all those years ago still kept by Ryohei.

Mei was full of life.  Smiling.  Happy.  So different from the Mei now.

He went to look for Mei but could not find her.

Haruka told him that Mei was leaving for Tokyo.

He saw her by the riverside and showed her the happy girl that she was in the photo seven years ago.

Mei did feel nostalgic about how happy she was.  She went to the station and met her ex-lover to send him off.  She said that he should do what he wanted and live well but she will not be a part of it.

Meanwhile, Lori saw Koto running in the street while he was driving.

He thought he was hallucinating and got so depressed. He went to a bar and started drinking.  The barman called Haruka from Lori’s mobile to ask her to come to get her friend.

When Haruka got there Lori was drunk and maudlin.  He confessed that he killed…

Koto.

Episode 4

The friends visited Koto at the temple.  They grilled sweet potatoes and were having a good time.  They got talking about what they hope for the future.

Koto said that he would like to become the best priest as well as find a job so he could support himself.

Their merriment can be heard by Lori who was nearby in his car.

Koto was talking to  Mei about his mother.  He told her that he misses her.

Mei said that his mother really was in a bad way after Koto was gone.  She stopped giving cooking lessons and had become so insular, she developed depression.  To get away, she had to sell the house.

Koto was given the task to sort out the signed petition against the cutting of the sakura tree.

One of the signees was his mother and her full address in Tokyo was in it.

So he went to Tokyo immediately and found where his mother now lives.

There was a little girl there who said that the lady he was looking for was her soon to be stepmother as she was marrying her father, who was a doctor.

He then saw his photo with his mother as well as another picture frame of his mother with a man and the girl.

His mother called the girl, who said that they have got a visitor.

The mother told off the girl for allowing a stranger into the house.

The girl said that he was not a stranger, he looks so much like Big Brother.

Anyway, Koto did not expect that his mother had moved on with another family so he left dejected but he saw Mei.

He picked himself up and told Mei that he wanted to see Tokyo and can Mei be his tour guide.

They had a fun time.  They took selfies and then they asked someone to take their photo together.

A gorgeous guy obliged to take their photo, he was Kento Yamazaki in a cameo role.

Koto said that Tokyo people were so nice, he then looked at the blurry photos taken by Kento and said that Kento can’t take a photo well. 🙂

They went back home.  They were still at the station talking to Ryohei when he noticed that Koto’s mother was there.

Mei went to meet Koto’s mother who said that it bothered her so much when she heard that someone like koto was at her house.

She then said that she was getting married again but she was not really sure that she should do it because she felt guilty that Kot might be feeling alone and lonely.

Mei said that Koto would have not minded,  He would have liked his mother to find happiness with someone.

Mei later found Koto under the sakura,  He was looking all forlorn.

Mei gave him the inari sushi his mother made to be offered in his grave.  As he bit on the lovely sushi, he started crying and Mei started weeping with him as well.

Mei was crossing the road when she saw a girl got run over by a car.  she went to the hospital with the girl where she met Lori.

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