“Silent” is a 2022 Japanese romance drama directed by Hiroki Kazama.
Female Main Lead: Haruna Kawaguchi | Role Name: Tsumugi Aoba
Male Main Lead: Ren Meguro | Role Name: So Sakura. Genre: Melodrama Romance
There is something about watching dramas from Japan. I wish I could say they are the run-of-the-mill kind of drama. Sorry, not so! Their level of intensity scares me and puts me in an uncomfortable place for being frivolous in life.
But, it is their honesty to the main story or plot that make them truly exemplary and touching for my heart. We, Asians that is, may have similarity culturally, but we are unique in our own ways.
Some of the movies and dramas from Japan make me feel a little edgy, yet like a magnet it attracts my viewership. I am pulled over to see the visuals which are well done. Their lighting is soft and other worldly. It does not hurt your eyes like some other language dramas.
Getting back to the drama Silent. I rate this drama at 4.2 of 5 stars. As per Viki Rakuten my rating would be 9.3 out of 10 stars. It was an incredible experience for my kind of viewership. The conversation was minimal and signing language usage was well timed.
This brought back memories of the News bytes for hearing impaired which DD started around the ‘90s and I remember watching it with fascination. So, based on those memories, I felt that the drama ‘Silent’ used Japanese version of Sign language. The common one being JSL and more officious and minus emotional tags was the Signed Japanese. (a quick google search will give you this result)
While seeing this drama, I kept comparing the sign language with Indian sign language. The use of emotions was minimal, and it seemed to sometimes be an emphasis to the main verb in the sentence. So, I felt that the drama used sign language not in the same way betwixt the two countries. (India and Japan)
So, the drama as such, of course the premises of this drama was not so much about a straight-line storytelling but to splat you with colors of emotions. You may not hear your heart beating; but place your right hand over your heart you will sense the beat. This drama was just so.
It was so clean that I would not mind watching it with the youngest member of the family. I always felt that South Korean dramas though mostly romantic with western views was viewable by adult only. Those enjoy along with very young company dramas are possible because their skill extends to a repertoire that is wide and deep simultaneously. I am still waiting for Viki Rakuten to showcase drama which can be seen by all age group.
The enactment between the main leads and support character roles were interesting to watch. All put together, they created a feeling of romance in the air, but the central focus throughout was the impairment in not being to hear any sound. The impairment almost became a character in the drama.
The plot is about acceptance and our level of social acceptance. Resignation to situation while working out a solution to keep the channel of communication open always, that makes it a wonderful drama to view. The sentimental me was moved by the plot and its rendering. Our happy ending to see the main leads walking off into the sunset.
Well, the main leads agreed that in the future there are more problems in which the couple will have to face and sometimes these hurdles may handled alone even though they are in a relationship – that for me was a wonderful closure and beginning of a new relationship with changed rules.
Itinerant Storyteller 