OMG: Long Love Letter squee
WHOA.
My heart is still racing.
All right, I have to write about this, so even though I hate to give away the premise...
Long Love Letter is about a Yokohama school that vanishes from 7 January 2002, leaving behind an enormous crater where the school once was, and appears in a black desert wasteland...somewhere - somewhen else.
Yes, my first Japanese drama with science fiction stylings.
The drama does focus around a main couple, Asami and Misaki, who met a year ago at a bookstore, hit it off, but never saw each other again because Asami's cell phone was stolen later that night. A year later, they run into each other at the school where Asami now teaches. We later learn that Misaki was once a teacher at the same school, but she was fired for hitting a student (although she faked the assault because she was trying to protect her student from being expelled for fighting when she knew he was defending himself).
The drama spends the first episode building relationships between characters and revealing the characters to us so that by the time the first episode ends and we are staring at this enormous crater where the school once was, and the students and teachers in the school discover that they are suddenly in the middle of a wasteland, the loss is palpable.
From the second episode onward, we alternate between 2002 and whenever/wherever the school has "landed" in time and space. I love this because it allows us to see the reactions of the trapped students and teachers as well as everyone who was left behind to cope with their disappearance. There is disbelief and numbness throughout the second episode as students and teachers alike struggle to come to terms with their fate.
The third episode begins to ratchet up the drama.
Reality sets in and they begin to come up with solutions for their lack of resources, like electricity, food and water. The crazy woman teacher, however, has holed up with pretty much all of the food which she made off with during the first night. She's a total loon. What is worse, however, is that the PE instructor commits suicide, setting an ominous tone for episode 3. Later in the episode, the principal and his assistant decide to take one of the cars and drive out to find supplies - they ask for a student volunteer to accompany them (Takamatsu decides to go), and Misaki also goes along at the last minute. While they're out, they come across a student who has a lame leg: she feared that her disability would make everyone gang up on her, so she decided to keep walking until she found something else. While Misaki and Takamatsu are talking with the girl and trying to persuade her to join them, the principal and his assistant try to run them down with the car!
Yes, they went mad!
It's crazy. The three manage to escape into a series of caves but they are followed by crazy principal and crazy assistant who they tussle with in a high chamber overlooking some kind of valley. Misaki is almost strangled to death twice by crazy principal. I was dying, white-knuckled and all.
But here is the coolest part. While Misaki is being strangled the first time, she calls out for help with her little air. Somehow...she calls across space and time. Her father hears her, and somehow, so does her former student that she got herself fired for. Her father goes nuts, and follows her voice into a downtown Yokohama hotel room where he is sure her voice came from. The next day he goes back with Takamastu's girlfriend and together they bury the bottle opener that Misaki used to hit the student when she was fired (which the student has given back to Misaki's father) in the wall of the hotel room. And when Misaki is being strangled the second time, she gropes around in the rubble and finds it. *glee*
Meanwhile, Takamastu has set off the emergency flare that Asami gave to each of the students, and Asami has seen it and is already on his way. He manages to arrive in time to help Takamatsu and Misaki fight off the crazy principal and his assistant who finally scurry away. Of course, Asami and Misaki want to know why the two are trying to kill them...and the crazy principal says something like 'we're all going to die, so I should kill you guys first." (paraphrased) Scorched earth much?
The fourth episode is a bit quieter and focuses on them figuring out a bit more of what is going on: Asami and Misaki find the plaque with the school name out in the sand, and realize that it looks rusted and old which leads them to formulate different ideas about what has happened to them. They run out of water, only to remember they still have a swimming pool, and they finally take back the food from the crazy woman teacher who gets locked into a locker by two school bullies.
Everything feels so real: the despair, anguish, confusion. The drama keeps alternating between the school and the friends and family left behind in 2002, which lets us really feel the loss everyone is experiencing. I love it so much. And lest you think this is all one big angstfest, it's not: there are lighthearted moments as well, and moments of joy, each time they discover a solution to a problem.
I'm utterly captivated by where this drama has taken us so far, and with where it may lead us! The end of the fourth episode saw three strangers descending upon the school, so I wonder how the students and remaining adults will react to these natives of the time and space where they have "landed." I hope no one else gets hurt or dies. And I hope the girl who left her contacts in for three days takes them out! ;)
I love this drama so much, I really do. I've been bouncing around, gleeing over it and also freaking out at every scary thing. I'm so glad I've found something new to get this excited over!
A few images from the credits and ep 3 & 4 that I liked.
