Summer Snow

"It's Summer Snow, in the deep blue sea."

Shinoda Natsuo (Domoto Tsuyoshi) is a young man who is raising his younger brother and sister, Jun (Oguri Shun) and Chika (Ikewaki Chizuru) since the death of their parents. He works and manages "Shinoda Cycle" their family business, while trying to be both an older brother and parent.

Katase Yuki (Hirosue Ryoko), a young woman with a certain ailment that restricts her from doing certain activities has just gotten her first job at a local bank.

Their given names mean Summer and Snow respectively.

As an avid scuba diver, Natuso explains Summer snow to Yuki. Plankton that appears as snow deep in the ocean during the summer months.Natsuo, Without knowing of her ailment, encourages her to learn to dive.


The story also follows the lives of Natsuo's younger brother and sister, Jun and Chika. Jun is deaf, but can hear with the help of a hearing aid.He is a bright student, however does not have the full support of his teacher when it comes to his choice of future career. It also shows the teenaged relationship between Chika, and her boyfriend Suetsugu Hiroto (Imai Tsubasa)


I first saw this drama a couple of years ago, actually it may be more than just a couple of years now. I think the year was 2003, and by then this drama was already close to 3 years old. Having aired from July 7th 2000 to September 15th 2000. Technically it was the second j-drama I had ever seen, however the first one I did not watch all the way through, so I like to say "Summer Snow" is my first,

Domoto Tsuyoshi who is in the Johnny's Enterainment pop group "KinKi Kids" and has been in movies such as Fantastipo, and Shanghai Puppet Story works well with Hirosue Ryoko (Collage of our life) I think they definetly have great chemistry. It is probably why they were both chosen to be in the drama "Moto Kare".

We also see a young Oguri Shun (HanaKimi, Stand Up!, Gokusen) and another Johnny's Entertainment group member Imai Tsubasa, who is in the group "Tackey and Tsubasa."

A lot of people said that when they first started to watch, they were afraid it was going to be a depressing drama where one has an disease, and how they deal with it. They comment that they were very surprised at how this drama turned out. When I started to watch I had no prior knowledge of J-dramas, and it was so long ago that I can't say what my original feelings were. I CAN say that I watch this drama very often, mostly in the Summertime of course, and I never grow tired of the story or it's characters.

The theme song, which is by KinKi Kids is catchy too. "Natsuno Osama"