Drawing Closer: Heartache and Tears
Drawing Closer, now available on Netflix, is a touching romance filled with tears good enough to shed them. No matter the age, this terminal-high-school-romance between dying teenagers, shall draw you in. Akito, a gifted painter, is preparing for an art competition that will secure a career for him when he finds out that he has a terminal illness. He meets Haruna who’s given only six months to live, the day he learns that he can expect to live a year at most. She moves him to overlook his afflictions to help her. He is confused but smitten; is love even a possibility, or is it reckless, with a time constraint?
While trying to keep his condition under wraps, Akito hopes to grant Haruna some of her unfulfilled wishes during the time they have, like introducing her to a childhood friend. Ayaka has been estranged from Haruna for years, the fight was petty and with Akito’s help, they can resolve the issue now. After that, the two visit Ayaka and they become Haruna’s daily visitors and gradually bring joy back into her deserted room.
Among themselves, they schedule a high school festival out of three remaining wishes for Haruna and provide her with companionship and amusement. Akito, being a gentleman, stays idly beside Haruna while Ayaka performs a play to entertain her. Due to her mother, the head nurse of the hospital Haurana tries to take it easy, but with Akito’s assurance, she agrees it is important to go for a fun day. They can’t quite pinpoint how much she has left.
Based on the best-selling manga by Ao Morita from 2023 Yomei Ichinen to Senkoku Sareta Boku ga Yomei Hantoshi no Kimi to Deatta Hanashi the story of how I who was told I had a year to live met you who only had six months to live which even though has a revealing title is hard to draw readers, showed strong performance by selling more than 450000 copies and continue to delight readers.
King & Prince’s J-pop singer Ren Nagase (Hold My Hand at Twilight, Alice in Wonderful Kitchen, The Last Man: The Blind Profiler) stars in the drama as Akito. The role of Haruna, the main character, is performed by Natsuki Deguchi, who played Haruna in Ao Haru Ride S2 and Till We Meet Again on Lily Hill. It is directed by Takahiro Miki, a director well-known for romantic films such as Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight (Netflix) and My Undead Yokai Girlfriend (Prime).
Making the film more meaningful and suitable to the theme is the colourful imagery. The softness of the animation is because of the Faber-Castell pastel set, which complements Haruna’s set and assists in expressing delicate feelings. This is complemented by beautiful and quite emotional music by Seiji Kameda, whom the audience remembers for his work on Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight with Director Miki.
Poking fun toward the end of the press release this week, Nagase commented and said, “What the Japanese title says, is quite simple, it’s a story of two people who are living for their last few days. They are two clean people, Love as they are, motivated only by Love, the feeling of it, nothing but the feeling. I think the audience can sense it. But we warn you, very emotive elements are there, but please focus on the two and I am sure at the end you will feel content.”
This was also the very first movie of his which went on Netflix Worldwide. “Click this will be for everybody who has ever been in love because it’s an underlying theme universally, regardless of citizenship, gender or age. Although it is said to be the story of two people who are short of time, it is also a story of love, quite positive about how to spend that time. The story is so engrossing, that a warning should be used when watching on a handheld device, or else you are likely to be late for a train or walk into the street (laughter). You might be best off doing this in the comfort of your own home.
I’ve allowed myself to watch Netflix for the first time while enjoying the strong presence of the platform, but now as an actor in a romantic film.
A romance is usually developed between two people, and as Akito takes his time with the bedridden Haruna, she prefers to gently nudge him towards other women whom she believes will outlive him for them to realize their dreams of being artists together. But that doesn’t mean that their hearts don’t show. For instance, his feeling when sending her a bouquet of six gerberas does not require an explanation: “I am falling in love with you”. And when she finally does pass away, and there is no other way to interpret it, what should have been his regret is her emotions that were left in the afterimage of her footsteps.
Did you like Drawing Closer? Think that people would like it’s interesting several fans of this book right at the beginning of the title. We invite your opinions in the comments below. If you want a more in-depth look at Nagase Ren, spell out in the comments what you would like to see from him in connection with his May preview story on Drawing Closer.
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