Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
There are so many things to love about the Japanese series ‘Glass Heart’, which follows a rookie drummer’s rise to stardom after she is invited to join a band of genius musicians. But it’s the familiarly bland romance that holds this series back from being binge-worthy.
Based on the novel “Glass Heart” (グラスハート) by Wakagi Mio, the Netflix series spans ten episodes, and is directed by Kakimoto Kensaku, and Goto Kotaro. The plot follows the adventures of ‘TenBlank‘, a four-member band formed by musical prodigy Fujitani Naoki (Satoh Takeru), alongside renowned session guitarist Takaoka Sho (Machida Keita), genius pianist Sakamoto Kazushi (Shison Jun), and little-known drummer Saijo Akane (Miyazaki Yu). However, the band’s rise to stardom is fraught with multiple problems, including sabotage by rivals and naysayers.
“Glass Heart” is heavily focused on Saijo Akane, since she is the only non-famous musician in the band, and has the toughest time fitting in. Even the band’s manager Kai Miyako (Karata Erika) has little faith in Akane’s skills, cruelly claiming she will pull ‘TenBlank’ down. Yes, the manager is over-dramatic in the show, and pretty unprofessional. However, the first episode establishes an instant musical chemistry between Fujitani Naoki and Saijo Akane, the two performing an impromptu jam at a rain-soaked venue, which serves as a magical ‘meet cute’.
Within the first few episodes of ‘Glass Heart’, the imbalance between the band members becomes disappointingly apparent. The spotlight is almost always on Naoki and Akane, while Sakamoto Kazushi and Takaoka Sho are sidelined, despite being interesting characters I would have liked to see more of. Satoh Takeru dazzles as the “tormented genius” Fujitani Naoki, even if the character borders on cliché: he is obsessed with music, constantly composing, and “eats, drinks, and sleeps” music.
Satoh Takeru’s Naoki shares an easy chemistry with all his bandmates, as well as with Sakurai Yukino (Takaishi Akari), a singer he frequently collaborates with. But that’s the thing, it’s musical chemistry. Forcing romance onto his character didn’t quite mesh with his personality. It made sense for the young, impressionable Akane to be swept away by his talent and fall hopelessly in love with him, but there seemed little reason for Naoki to reciprocate. He looks at her the same way he looks at Yukino, Kazushi, and Sho.
Miyazaki Yu is adorable as drummer Akane, she infuses the character with a youthful, endearing energy. But also, she is the least interesting character among the four band members in ‘Glass Heart’, but gets the most screen-time. Machida Keita looks every bit the rock-star guitarist Takaoka Sho, but is criminally underused. Shison Jun gets slightly more space as Sakamoto Kazushi, who is basically the younger, saner version of Fujitani Naoki. Suda Masaki plays rival musician Shinzaki Toya, who has an unexplained beef with Naoki, and is fun to watch as an over-the-top arrogant rockstar. Takaishi Akari steals scenes as Sakurai Yukino, a pop star with a crush on Naoki, who gets some of the best songs in the series.
Except for a few dizzying shots where the camera-work spins to give viewer vertigo, the cinematography for “Glass Heart” is excellent, especially the concert scenes, that capture the pulsating energy of live rock shows. The soundtrack is the heart of the series, it ranges from generic sounds of J-pop hits, to some very memorable, catchy tracks. The one song that stood out best to me is titled ‘A Song for Us to Sing’, which Naoki and Yukino jam to in episode 4. But the track deservedly gets featured again in the climactic episode.
“Glass Heart” reminded me a little of Prime Series “Daisy Jones and the Six”, which had a better soundtrack by the way, and again, not a very strong plot. which, by the way, had a much stronger soundtrack, though not exactly a solid plot either. But this Japanese drama is even more vanilla and starts to feel unrealistic and sluggish from episode six onward. For instance, episode six features a ridiculous twist: a character gets stabbed, and an eyewitness chooses to attend a concert instead, while in the real world they would’ve been at the police station to record their statement.
Then in episode seven, we get the predictable “terminal illness” twist, you know, someone is dying of something but chooses to hide it from everyone else. “Glass Heart” clearly aims to be a tearjerker in its final stretch, but the storytelling doesn’t deliver an emotional payoff. With key characters sidelined, their grief barely registers and a very bland love triangle only makes things worse. I cried buckets watching the Japanese film “Drawing Closer”, but this show’s climactic episodes only managed to draw sighs of boredom.
But well, beautiful cinematography, foot-tapping music, and strong performances by the lead cast make this show worth a one-time watch.
Watch ‘Glass Heart’ on Netflix.
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