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Star-Crossed

The Japanese romance series On a Starry Night packs a lot of drama into just nine episodes. It also seems written by someone who loves polar opposites and wanted lots of conflict, as the main characters are Yukimiya Suzu (Yoshitaka Yuriko), a female OB/GYN doc, and Hiiragi Issei (Kitamura Takumi), an estate organizer who cleans up after someone dies. She's older by ten years, by the way, and he's deaf. Her mom dies early on in the series, and his grandmother falls seriously ill. There's another newbie doctor who is the widow of a pregnant woman who died along with their baby in childbirth, which Suzu attended. There's also a pretty vicious stalker whose wife died during childbirth, and who unsuccessfully sued Suzu for malpractice and still considers her a murderer. There are several other conflicts, too.

It probably would have been way too much drama for one series, had the main characters been conventional lovers. Suzu and Issei thankfully are not. Despite being profoundly deaf Issei is a strong, quirky, rather adorable young man who just plows through life full steam ahead. While she's more conservative, and is set up to be Issei's opposite, Suzu has basically the same kind of strong and determined personality, so their near-instant attraction makes sense. The romance alone would have made the series worth watching.

I can't really say throwing every kind of conflict plus the kitchen sink into the story created a problem for me. I would have winnowed it down a bit to give the drama more oomph, but it still worked. I did like the romance best, and wish it had gotten more screen time, as a hearing older woman and a deaf younger man probably shouldn't work so well as a couple. Everyone in the series is also remarkably receptive to learning sign language in order to communicate with Issei, which might not be realistic (although maybe it would happen in Japan, as everyone there has such nice manners.)

Despite a very quick and convenient wrap-up for all the conflicts in the end I liked the series a lot. Available on Viki.com.

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