Proposal Daisakusen

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Proposal_Daisakusen

Alright, i just finished this one, so while it's still fresh in my mind i must write my thoughts.
First of all, i'm blown away by the idea of this drama, the plot is just amazing. We have here the classic childhood friends, but this guy never confessed to his friend, and even now it seems it is now too late. The drama starts at a wedding, her wedding. For 14 years, Iwase Ken has loved his friend, but never mustered the courage to tell her. He has regretted how he handled the relationship between him, and wishes he could go back to change it. When a slideshow starts up and he sees the picture, he remembers seeing the girl, Yoshida Rei, and knowing she was sad, and an overwhelming wish to go back and change it starts up. As this emotion boils up, the lights dim save for a single spotlight blinding him. In the background you hear "Hallelujah Hallelujah" (yeah that song), and a man appears asking if he wants to go back, and what he wants to do. So with the expression of his desire, he returns, but with the condition he has only until the time when the picture was taken to change the past. He ends up having several such chances, one for each picture in the slide show.
It seems that the final climax, the great ending, is that he changes his past enough and musters up the courage given the second chance, to confess and be the one at the wedding and be with Rei for the rest of his life.
Well i can tell you, the ending is not what it seems. When i saw this, i thought that it would end up like that, and that this would be a nice cute romance. I can say i was wrong, but not disappointed at how things turned out. I quickly opened my mind to the chance that something else could occur, and as the progressed that idea seemed more and more feasible.
I am not disappointed at the result for it is still a wonderful and magnificent and novel plot to work from. It is a story of growth and maturity and learning. Ken learns that rather than regret the past and try to change the past so the present will be different, one really experiences and finds miracles by taking the present and preparing for the future. Ken grows from a man with the past haunting him like inner demons to a man at peace with himself who can face himself and the girl he never could have. There is so much more that this drama offers, and in a way i am glad it ended up not being some simple romance. Although my romantic self would have liked a different ending, one more clear cut, the slightly cliffhanger ending suited the theme well, and the development was superbly done.
In terms of connecting to the audience, i can say this captivated me and brought me along for the ride. I found myself agonizing over ken's inability to express himself, and rejoicing at his slow maturation, and seeing him do the thigns he never could do the first time. I laughed when he did, cried for him when he messed up, i truly felt a part of it. I think that is really an irreplacable quality that good dramas MUST possess. It is nice to watch a story unfold, but unless you feel a part of it, unless it has that quality that reaches out to you and drags you along for the ride, to experience it just as they do, then it really cannot stand up to those that do.
Musically, there was only 2 main insert songs, one rock-ish, the other the instrumentals i love so dearly, and they were also well done. It seems a major theme with me, the importance of music. Without music it is too simple, but with the addition of music, it becomes so much more, so much more dramatic and meaningful. The acting is well done with a nice cast, namely 3 people i recognize off the bat. One was Mizuno-sensei from 1 litre (oh this has to be good they brought in 1 litre people), Yamapi from Nobuta wo produce (seeing him here was weird since i always will see him as akira from NWP), and a guy who played a friend of the male lead in Taiyou No Uta drama. So the cast has its well known people. It has awards to back it up, especially best drama and best theme song at 1 drama awards ceremony, and won best drama, actor and actress, both main and supporting, cementing what i have just said that the music and cast were solid.
Also do not think i am spoiling you, there is so much that happens that i cannot begin to put into words, the plot can be as deep or as superficial as you want, you can see only the plot, but also if you can look deeper you see a man changed, a man who by the end is completely different, he walks differently, stands taller, is more confident, but it's not apparent, but you can sense he is different, that he has grown up, and is ready for the daunting task and goal he seeks to achieve, more so at the end than he would have been at the beginning.
Truly a wonderful experience, it had to have been if i spent my whole day watching it all, yes 11 eps plus a special in 1 day :)

9.5/10 (a hesitant 9.5, i'd just as easily give it a 10)

edit: scratch that, this gets a 10 now
i just watched the special episode and i can say now i have nothing i can really complain about anymore. any things that slightly bothered me (which were few btw), were resolved completely with this episode, i honestly am speechless, i just might have honestly found a new favorite drama. Now it really has everything, it has the serious growth and maturity plot, the classic romance, a satisfying conclusion.