恋はつづくよどこまでも

Love Lasts Forever (Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Dokomademo) is a live action of the manga. It aired in the first three months of 2020.

Sakura Nanase (Kamishiraishi Mone), while on a school trip to Tokyo finds her future path when Tendo Kairi (Satoh Takeru) helps her aid an old lady who has collapsed.

After discovering he’s a doctor, she spends the next 5 years becoming a nurse. Instead of finding the kind and smiling man she met, Sakura ends up confessing to the man referred to by his colleagues as the Devil. Tendo Sensei is a hard working perfectionist who expects the best at all times from those working around him.

Sakura is hardworking, but often clumsy leading to tension between herself and Tendo. Despite this Sakura is spurred on to capture his heart and become a great nurse worthy of standing by his side.

I wasn’t planning on watching this drama, however, I kept seeing it on twitter and couldn’t help checking it out. I caught up in a single day! There is a lot of hospital drama and I cried a lot, but I smiled and laughed more.

This isn’t to say it’s flawless, so I’ll talk about what I liked and disliked.

What I Liked:

• The Characters
  • From our mains to the side characters, everyone makes the drama a pleasure to watch. I especially loved the nurses on the ward who support each other as well as help each other grow (especially in regards to Sakura).

• The Feeling
  • This drama gave me definite Itazura na Kiss vibes and I loved it! Tendo is a definite cool guy who is mean until you strip away all the layers. And Sakura is a good-natured woman whose kindness and loyalty makes her precious to those around her.
  • There was a lot of cute and heartwarming moments, both between our leads and between the patients and the main characters. I loved that the episodes never really left on cliffhangers and problems were resolved relatively quickly and often within the episode. It made me feel content and happy at the end and eager to start the next to keep the warm, fuzzy feeling alive.
• The Acting
  • While nothing overly special, this was a well acted drama. Kamishiraishi Mone was a treasure and her character/acting was the reason I was so invested in the drama and couple. I also adored Karina as Ryuko ♥ (although I would have liked more from her storyline…). And it goes without saying that I loved Satoh Takeru!

What I Disliked:

• The Pacing
  • These episodes were around 50 minutes long, however due to the normal jdrama format of 10 episodes it takes a great writer to utilise the time. While I enjoyed the cute scenes, it would sometimes be confusing as to how we got there. I think this is most notable with Tendo. His personality changes somewhat quickly, and it meant some of the kisses and progression in the relationship in general with Sakura felt disconnected to what was going on elsewhere.
  • It also doesn’t help that there isn’t a clear sense of how much time is passing. I would have liked more structure which would have helped clear some confusions up.
• Plot Points
  • Some of the plot points felt unnecessary. Personally, two major events in the last two episodes just felt like drama for the sake of it. I understand that these are probably taken from the manga, but I think this is again where the pacing issue comes into play.

Even though my dislikes are quite prominent things, I still really enjoyed this drama. My main issues are about the last 2 episodes, however, I think with a full binge rewatch some of these may lessen. I would highly recommend this drama simply for the cast and wonderful cozy feeling each episode left me feeling!

If you have any recommendations similar to Love Lasts Forever please let me know! ♥

Credits:

• Director: Tanaka Kenta
• Writer: Kaneko Arisa, Enjoji Maki (manga)
• Network: TBS
• Release Date: 14th Jan – 17th March
• Episodes: 10

Thanks for reading! I hope you’re having a lovely day~