Skip to main content

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.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...
1 comment
Read more

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fabscrap for 2023

In December I made two orders from Fabscrap. The first arrived with this giant spool of variegated taupe yarn; it's more than enough to make a nice big wrap or a lap blanket. I also added two pounds of mendable sample garment tops in this particular order. I made a mistake and clicked on large for the size, and then later read that they were out of stock. I expected they would backorder my order, but instead they made some delightful substitutions. This pretty pink top doesn't need any mending or alteration. This is a dress, I believe, and it looks to be in perfect condition, too. A white eyelet blouse, also in new condition. Keep in mind that all these garments are $8.00 a pound, which works out to $4.00 each for this order. That's cheaper than Goodwill. I even got a coat. That neon green faux fur on the cuffs definitely has to go, but I love the coat. This is a yard pack of neutral naturals. The linen alone (on the right) is worth about $25....
Post a Comment
Read more