Majo No Jouken

English title: Forbidden love
Episode: 11
Producer: TBS, Japan
Time: 1999-Apr-08 to 1999-Jun-17
Actors
Matsushima Nanako as Hirose Michi
Takizawa Hideaki as Kurosawa Hikaru
Bessho Tetsuya as Kitai Masaru (Michi's fiancee)
Kuroki Hitomi as Kurosawa Kyoko (Hikaru's mother)
Tsuji Kazunaga as Hirose Kenichi (Michi's father)
Download (English sub): torrent link (d-addict) (thiếu tập 5)
Online (English sub): on mysoju

The first impression of this dorama is the introduction in the beginning. A couple is sleeping very peaceful, hand in hand, in vaporous setting and their feet are bound by a chain. The introduction gives viewer a high curiosity and makes a lot of question, such as who are involved in the forbidden love? how does it happen? and how do they deal with society's judgement?is the forbidden love beautiful, romantic, paintful and unseparated like a tale? or is it really forbidden, unacceptable?

So, who are involved in the forbidden love?
The forbidden love happens between a female teacher and her male student. The main character is Hirose Michi (played by Matsushima Nanako). She is 26 years old, a beautiful, gentle high school math teacher who engaged with a bank worker. And Hikaru (played by Takizawa Hideaki, aka Takky), 17 years old high school student, was expelled from previous high school because of his bad behavior.

How does the forbidden love happen?
After transfering into Michi's class, Hikaru find out that nobody in class respects and listens to her. The more they interact, the more they understand each other. They relize that both of them have lost themselves to the pressures of those around them. All things of Michi were arranged by her father, her mistakes were covered and she cared too much about others's opions. Hikaru betrayed his friend in the past so he blamed himself, he couldn't make friend and smile. His father passed away when he was 7 and his mother cared about him but didn't understand his feeling. Whatever mistake he does, he's never been expelled because his mother had arrangment with school's head master. This common make them very close, and of course they fall in love, both of them want to reach a free world where they can to be themselves.

How do they deal with society's judgement?
The story continues to show how Michi and Hikaru face society's judgement for the forbidden love between teacher and studend. At the first, they keep it in secret but what is done by night appears by day, their love is quickly discovered and standed many snears and revilements by their schoolmates, colleagues and family. I'm not going to judge this love is right or wrong, because love is love. My concern is how they deal with society's judgement and how strong their love grow up. I love the way they look at each other and say "what did we do wrong?" and the way Michi stands in front of whole school, courageously, tell them that she loves Hikaru and she doesn't quit the school because if she does, it means they are wrong.They overcome many obstacles like society's snear, hunting by Michi's fiancee and Hikaru's mother, suicide of Hikaru's mother ...

The latter half of story is quite disapointed to me because all they want is escaping to live together without feasible plan for their future. Hikaru is just 17 years old and doesn't graduate from high school so what he can do for their own living, being washing-cars worker doesn't make any sense. After Hikaru leaves Japan to studying aboard in L.A, Michi finds out that she's pregant. I understand the reason why she leave her home to live by herself. But when everything become worse and worse: Hikaru leaves her to look after his mother, she has to work overtime, her health is very weak, she even must to choose between keeping her child and her life, she still refuses the help of her family. Michi say that she will do everything to keep and protect her child but look at her actions, I don't understand Michi.

Matsushima Nanako was very brave when she accepted Michi's role because this drama mentions a sensitive story. Nanako protrayed very good and made her character grows up, from a gentle,weak woman to independent one. Takky was at the same age of Hikaru when he protrayed this role. Hikaru's Takky looks very handsome, innocent, cute but his look doesn't fit bad student image. His acting is weak, immature so that his character doesn't change much from the begin to the end. His love isn't quite unpersuasive, sometime I feel sorry for Michi.

At the end, everybody understand their pure love but the continuation of their love story is open like a dream. The viewers have their own endding depend on their thought.