Kimi Ga Kureta Natsu ~ 君がくれた夏

I don't know why but I have soft spot for SP dramas and will happily watch it no matter how similar the story line is from year to year. I mean, if you've seen Nino's Sukoshi wa, Ongaeshi ga Dekitakana, Ryo's Niini no Koto wo Wasurenaide and many others, you'll say yeah, this is a typical SP drama and you know what you'll see at the end, well, you already sort of see the end on the first 3 minutes of the drama anyway... but each time, I'll happily watch it and sobbing with my tissue box throughout the whole 2 hours. So, is this SP worth your time though?

This drama is about Kizaki family, a young family with 2 sons. Mom and Dad had a shotgun wedding, so you can guess how young they are. But, somehow the family managed to get by happily until the first son, Nao, was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 5. The drama is about how Nao fought with the cancer and also how his young parents dealt with the issue.

So, what I find interesting how the drama depicts the parents behaviours in dealing with Nao's illness. All parents will be in despair when they're told that their son/daughter has cancer. You'll see Dad's denial and even try to run away from the reality (sigh, man...) while the Mom seems to force herself to put herself together and try her best to deal with the situation (sigh, can't rely on her man...). Mom is lucky in a way that Dad starts to change, face the issue and eventually helping her out with taking care of Nao and making sensible decisions (aka growing up :p). Worst case scenario is illustrated to what happened with Riko's family where the dad couldn't deal with the reality and just ran away with the savings (what a scumbag!). You'll also see the difference of how the parents dealing with such issue. In other SP drama, you'll see the parents will do their own research, familiarize themselves with the illness and take action in finding other alternative treatments etc. But in here, you'll see the parents really depend on the doctor's knowledge to tell them what to do. The way I see it is that parent's level of education makes a difference in dealing with the situation. In this drama, both parents didn't finish their high school, so, off course, they'll rely on the doctor because they have don't have the knowledge or maybe even to think of doing research etc. They probably are more concerned in how they'd come out with the money for the treatment and who’ll take care of Ryo when Nao is in hospital.

What compelled me while watching this type of drama is the children’s acting. In this case it’s Nao’s. I felt a pang during the scene when he asked Dad, what’s the purpose of him being born, is it to get sick? And Dad couldn’t answer that question and holding his tears, he ran away so that Nao won’t see him crying, and me: huaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Another scene is when the Grandpa told Dad that Nao’s persevering with all the treatment and fighting his illness because he didn’t want to see Mom and Dad fighting, while he himself knows that he probably won’t make it as well. You’ll feel this scene because you’ll have flashback that for the past hour, you’ve seen Nao endured all those treatment and pain and you know the reason now, and me: double huaaaaaaaaaaaa. Towards the end, before Nao’s last moment, on his first and last school trip with his brother, Nao gave his insect book to Ryo. We only know at the end that in that book, Nao wrote messages and advices to Ryo. For a little boy to be able to care for his little brother to that extent while he himself is suffering… me: more huaaaaaaaaaaaaa…

Fangirling moment? Off course, we have Tackey here :p. He's not so scrawny here so it's pleasant to the eyes, and Kyoko Fukuda is not pouting like what she did on Kamisama Mou Sukoshi Dake, so it's all good :d...

So, yeah, with all the tissues, that’s why even though I know the ending, I’ll still happily watch these types of SP dramas, and it’s much more worth my time than watching Ranma ½ SP (a total waste of 2 hours and I can’t even remember what I’ve watched after that 2 hours).