SUMMER NUDE

Summer 2013

Summer Nude is a drama about a young man named Asahi Mikuriya (Tomohisa Yamashita) who has been waiting patiently for a girl named Kasumi Ichikura (Nagasawa Masami) to return home after leaving the seaside town 3 years ago. Every day he greets a billboard with Kasumi's photo on it believing she will return to him one day. One day Asahi who is a professional photographer takes pictures of Natsuki Chiyohara (Karina) during her wedding. Unfortunately, Natsuki's husband-to-be runs away with cold feet. Later, Asahi asks Natsuki if she can help out at a small beach front restaurant since she used to be a cook. Natsuki befriends Hanae Taniyama (Toda Erika) who is in love with Asahi for the last 10 years, but Asahi only thinks of her as a friend. Natsuki decides to help Hanae capture Asahi's heart, but will he be able to forget his only true love?

Recommendation: So just a warning, but I'm going to be adding some spoilers so stop reading if you haven't seen the drama yet. I had high expectations for this drama. First of all, it was a "Getsuku" (Monday at 9 pm) drama from Fuji TV and second of all, it had a great cast. I couldn't wait to see Tomohisa Yamshita, Toda Erika, Nagasawa Masami, and Karina together in one drama. BUT, although it wasn't a terrible drama, it was disappointing for me. Even the title, "Summer Nude" made me think it was going to be quite exciting, but the whole drama was quite slow. I liked how the drama started off. You have a young man waiting for a woman that he's had a crush on for 3 years. You have a young woman having a crush on that same man for 10 years and then you have an out of town girl that was dumped on her wedding day who starts to have feelings for the same man. It seemed like an intriguing drama, yet, the direction and pace couldn't keep the tension up. I felt like the problems that were presented were solved too easily and I could see the outcome way before they actually occurred. I like Tomohisa Yamashita, but lately it seems like he's coming down to earth. I mean I don't know if it was his acting or his character, but he was too laid back and unexciting. There was hardly anything to like about him. I think this was the case for most of the characters so I blame the director and script writer for not having more scenes to develop the characters. I did like Toda Erika's character and I hardly ever see her in these types of dramas where she is not serious all the time, but her eventual lover, Kirihata Hikaru (Kubota Masataka) was hardly developed and I didn't care for him at all. Karina was good, but Yamashita and her characters just didn't build enough emotional equity that made me want to feel glad that they finally got together. There were a lot of scenes that reminded me of summer nostalgia, but those nostalgic feelings were not aroused in me when watching this show. Nagasawa Masami is hardly in it either. If you like the actors in this drama (and the acting wasn't bad at all) then take the plunge and watch it, but for others wanting even a tiny bit of excitement, skip it and go to the beach instead.

Story: 1.0
Acting: 1.0
Directing: 0.5
Character Development: 0.5
Emotional Factor: 0.5

3.5 Out Of 5.0 Crowns