To a large extent this drama is carried by Sumida Moeno playing the blind, deaf and mute girl Umi which she does with some aplomb. She manages to keep your sympathy and emotions on a tight rein. Watching her growth is thought provoking and heart warming.

There are some great moments and some laughs to be had but unfortunately the rest of the cast and story can't keep up with her. The occupants of the boarding house are too clichéd to really resonate and the main leads never quite pull you all the way in. The Rock Idiot is a little too stupid and Hana a little too unlikeable. A large part of the problem is the way the story is told, dwelling on uninteresting side character vignettes to illustrate the morals of the main story rather than letting the main characters and the story carry themselves. The narration works only haphazardly as well.

It's worth a try to see if the sweet outweighs the sour for yourselves.



Spoiler****Spoiler***

My real problem with this and why I couldn't bring myself to finish it was the whole fighting the ex recurring story arc. Without this I could have finished it and mostly enjoyed it, though perhaps mourning a lack of bite.

Watching the Rock Idiot get a pounding yet again this last? time with the rest of the cast as witnesses just left me cold. Even the longed for reward from Umi wasn't enough to make me continue. Whatever the writers thought they were evoking by that pointless bloody scene the result in myself was disappointment and bathos.

A shame - I will never watch it again.