Air Dates: February 20th to April 2, 2020 Thursdays at 11:00 pm on Abema-TV
English translation is roughly 'Only I am 17 years old'
Episodes are about 34 minutes in length, subtitles were done by Irozuku Subs
Link to the drama's Abema-TV site: https://abema.tv/video/title/90-1342
Main Cast: All are 24 in age as most of the action takes place in 2020 though there are many scenes from 2013 when they are seventeen, however Kota who should also be 24 years old is still seventeen...
Marie Iitoyo as Mei Konno... has recently returned to her hometown of Yagami after being fired from her temp job in Tokyo, she had such a crush on Kota when he passed away in 2012
Hayato Sano as Kota Sometani.... died on April 12, 2013 at the age of seventeen but has he just returned from the dead?
Kosei Yuki as Iori Ishikawa.... these top five characters were all high school friends who drifted apart after graduating, Iori is now a doctor at his father's hospital
Karen Otomo as Haruka Noda.... Mei's best friend and was supposed to attend a beauty school
Yutaro Watanabe as Ryuhei Yoshimura.... the fifth friend of the group who remained in Yagami and works at the train station
Kenta Hamano as Daiki Shindo... head priest at the local shrine
Yoshi as Naoki Shindo.... son of the priest who is in training at the shrine
Yoshihiko Hakada as Kazumi Akaike... the mayor, was he involved in Kota's death?
Here's a slightly different drama that I've decided to give a whirl and think the decision was correct. Superb first episode and this series will be part drama, romance, fantasy/sci-fi and a definite tearjerker. Usually those aren't my ingredients for a solid series but this one does appear to be quite good which is the opinion of so many. Plus in the lead role is my #1 gal Marie so for me it was a must watch and as I just said think the decision was spot on in viewing this show, better stock up on Kleenex...
Don't know how the scenes will be in the entire series as I've only watched this episode. But there was so much going back and forth between the Spring of 2013 and 2020. It may be confusing for you readers if I go in order from minute one to the end describing the events, it'd definitely be confusing to me writing it up. So for this recap will tell you what happened in 2013 to give a background of the characters and then end off with present day which I presume is 2020.
As mentioned will be relating the events from 2013 first, then we'll move into present time. Think the time back when the series began was 10-14 days before April 12, 2013, on that date is when the tragic accident which is the main storyline in this drama took place. In that top screenshot are the main five characters who were all friends at Yagami high school. All are seniors and it appears their future plans will be splitting the group up. On the left is Haruka who is the best friend of Mei and wants to attend beauty school.
To her left is Iori whose father runs the local hospital and he's planning to follow in his footsteps. Iori is the most distant of the group as he's not all that close to the other four but does enjoy their company. To me it appears he had such a crush on Mei, he never revealed it to her and he's very jealous of Kota who she wanted to date. In the middle is our main character Mei who as mentioned had a crush on Kota though had only told Haruka of that though Iori can see it as plan as day. To Mei's left is Kota who can't see the obvious which are Mei's feelings for him. He wants to attend a photo school in Tokyo which would break Mei's heart as they've always been together. The fifth person is Kota's best friend Ryuhei who seems to be quite a nerd and kind of clings to Kota. In this show he's still living in their hometown of Yagami and is the only one of the group to do so.
Most of these flashbacks throughout the episode showed the five at school doing what normal teens do, talk about their crushes, prepare for their future studies and the like. Mei and Kota have been best friends forever it seems, she really wanted him to ask her out but up until the age of seventeen it's never happened, with him leaving for Tokyo Mei wondered will it ever? In the city is a famous cherry blossom tree as it blooms well before the time it should. Local legend has it if you confess your love to your heartthrob under the tree eternal romance will happen, Mei's current dream is to meet Kota under the tree with him confessing his love to her.
Slowly but surely Kota became aware of Mei's feelings, especially one night the pair spent together on their high school's roof. The five were going to spend an evening watching a meteor shower but a torrential downpour put an end to those plans. However it cleared up during the evening and Mei suggested to Kota that just the two of them should watch the occurrence which he agreed to. While on the roof Kota finally showed some spunk and tried to kiss Mei, to his surprise she turned away while letting him know that they had agreed to a certain order of events.
We presumed that the order was for Kota to first confess his love to Mei under the special cherry blossom tree but he was scared out of his wits to do that. He had written up a message on his phone asking Mei to meet him at 5:00 pm under the tree but couldn't find the courage to send it. That was until his friend Ryohei slapped him on the back which caused his finger to press the SEND button, thought in a way Kota was glad it happened. So wasn't Mei who was overcome with joy when she received the message and of course responded yes. She had got that message just a few minutes after filling out an amulet at the local temple, on it Mei wrote that she wished Kota would finally confess his love to her under the tree.
That time was just a few hours away and Mei arrived early jumping for joy and a beating heart. Kota had been on his way there but was intercepted by Iori who wanted to talk with him, could he have known of Kota's plan? Meanwhile the time elapsed quickly as it was well after 5:00 pm and Kota still hadn't arrived. Mei was at a loss on where he was when she heard an ambulance pass on the main road. Fearing the worst she ran off the hill where the tree was, her worst nightmare came to life as she saw Kota being carried away on a stretcher, dead from being hit by a car. How it happened, who did it and other details about the accident weren't been revealed but will be soon, some of those events are in the above screenshots.
Now it's present day or 2020, probably 80% of what took place in this episode occurred in 201. Mei had been working as a temp worker in a Tokyo office, that is until one day when she was canned. That's because an angry wife had stormed into Mei's office claiming she was sleeping with her husband, Mei didn't deny it so have to presume it was true. Mei wasn't too sad about the firing as it seemed she's a tad directionless at this moment in her life, is she still consumed with what happened seven years ago to Kota?
Seems she is as Mei saw a newscast one night about the special cherry blossom tree and how it was planned to be chopped down to make room for some buildings. With nothing else to do to at the moment Mei hopped on a train down to Yagami to relive once more that fateful day and to reminisce about Kota. That bottom screenshot is of Kota's best mate Ryohei who was the only one to remain in town and is working as a train station attendant. The pair did have a dinner together, Ryohei knows about the other pair in the group of five whose lives don't appear to be going so well though he didn't get into specifics.
Sure we'll be seeing much of those two, Haruka and Iori, in upcoming episodes but after that dinner there was one final scene. Mei had gone out to the hill where the love tree was and of course thought back to that dreadful day when the love of her life perished. As the show hit it's final seconds Mei stood aghast as somehow beneath the tree who should appear but the seventeen year old Kota! Was Mei seeing things or was it actually Kota, that will be answered in the next recap and now off to watch the second episode.
That was an enjoyable watch though not one you smile at for it is a sad drama which will become much more sadder as time goes on. Will give thanks to Irozuku Subs for doing this series, never thought a show like this would be done and the subs have been perfect. As mentioned above am now off to watch the second episode, then will write the recap up. Had planned on just posting two at a time but changed my mind writing this up and will have two batches of four recaps. There's just eight episodes so think that may help you readers follow the action a bit better.
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