Good Morning Call: Our Campus Days (2017) Drama Review

Good Morning Call: Our Campus Days (2017) was much awaited by me. Its release date on Netflix was continuously pushed back because unknown reasons (to me at least). The drama is the second season to the drama of the same name Good Morning Call (2016).

Genre: Romantic comedy, drama
Episodes: 10

Summary

We last left of in the first drama with Nao Yoshikawa (Haruka Fukuhara) and Hisashi Uehara (Shun’ya Shirashi) moving in next door to each other. They graduate high school and move onto their college campus days where new challenges are presented.

Review

Compared to the 17 episode original, this 10 episode drama easily stays consistent to the story line. Each episode contributes to the overall story. There isn’t filler episodes or at least it doesn’t feel like it to me (something I admire about Japanese dramas). 10 episode does leave me wanting more and the ending gives way to a 3rd season (please!…oh in Japanese Kudasai! hahaha)

Characters

Uehara and Nao have grown so much within the year that we had last seen them. I love how they are more mature, but they still stay true to who they are. Uehara has become more aware of/open about his feelings for Nao. He shows it very often in the everyday little days. He also says it to others without exactly saying it.

We still have some familiar characters: Marina, Mitsuichi, Abe, and Daichi. All of them haven’t changed besides maturing a little bit as well. Marina still doesn’t communicate her feelings to Mitsuichi and he is attending a university on a completely different island. So the long distance makes the relationship difficult. Abe is desperate about getting a girlfriend (still), but they don’t show him pursuing it as much. I think College has him too busy. Thank goodness. Lastly Daichi is focus on sports and still has a special place in his heart for Nao.

We also have a new cast of characters (yay!): Natsume, Ota, Saeko, and Nanase. Natsume is a friendly and thoughful (and good looking) guy who becomes really close with Uehara (the first of his kind) and Nao. Ota is Nao’s new college friend (who will never be able to replace Marina!). Saeko is a passionate lab worker that gets Uehara working in his field of Biology. Nanase is the team manager of Daichi’s handball team.

Story

I typically watch a drama twice before writing a review. Once for enjoyment and the second time to analyze it. The first time I watched it, I was filled with disappointment.  I read the manga before hand and I was expecting things to happened and they didn’t (similar to reading a book before seeing the movie). There were some similar things in both: the goukon (matchmaking party), the play, and the lab worker. But a lot of it was changed and I think it was for the better. The manga was really repetitive. Several of the things that happened in the first manga was also happening in the second. My opinion changed after the second viewing. I realized that the changes were for the betterment of the series.

The series has a lot of character growth. Natsume starts off as a player. He eventually learns that he can have a place is his heart for one girl. And I love the struggle that he goes through with that. He also very talented at saving himself from awkward situations. Nao and Uehara matured a lot. Their problems were real (and I like that). They showed the real struggles that couples have while dating. The same thing happened with Marina and Mitsuishi. They had real problems too.

Production and Acting

The production of the drama was really good. I do miss the iconic red bridge from before though. But in it’s place, they show cityscape of Tokyo. I know Tokyo is a big city, but I don’t think I have ever imagine what the city looks like from above. It’s beautiful. As far as acting, I think there are a lot of scenes where things are shown and not said. I like that.

Music

Once again I think the music played a big role in keeping the story lighthearted. The music is all instrumental except the ending song and opening song. I love the ending song by the way. I haven’t listened to Jpop recently, but this is a song I really the song by On and Go.

 

The Opening Song

After thoughts/ Recommendations

• Shoutout to Reiko Obayashi for her ability to adapt this story so well.
• Can we have a 3rd season? Puh-lease! I like these characters so much that I feel like I can watch them regularly. But I also know that is what makes a mini-series so great too. Similar to a novel.

Other series to watch:

• The original: Good Morning Call (and the Manga for the 1st and the 2nd).
• A second lead you’ll love: Mischievous Kiss, Goong (Princess Hours), Boys Over Flowers
• Netflix Original: Atelier, Million Yen Women, The Many Faces of Ito

Quotes

“Women are creatures who are constantly transforming themselves.”-Saeko

“We have our own timing.” -Uehara

“Tell me all the things you like and I’ll slowly learn all of them.” -Daichi (aww…sounds like lyrics to an R&B song)

Best Scenes

I really like most of the drama. I love when the actor showed emotions rather than say it, so it hard to exactly pinpoint what was the best in my opinion since this happened throughout.

Marina and Mitchan

 

Uehara’s birthday surprise

Drama-to-life

I like to learn more and try things I see. Here are some thing that interested me in the drama:

Goukon (it’s mention in the Good Morning Kiss Manga Culture article)
Travel locations
Nao’s pillow
Hambagu Recipe
Nao-Style Birthday
Cheering Flags
Daichi/Nanase (Nao/Natsume) date

Did anyone else wait as long as I did to watch this? What did you think of it?

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