Good Morning Call: A Heart-Warming Netflix Original Series

I’m not going to pretty it up even a little: I came to watch this show simply because I found out that Maimi Yajima, leader of idol group °C-ute, was in it. I was pleasantly surprised when I started settling in with the series and didn’t even care about my original reason for checking it out.

Good Morning Call is a Netflix Original Series drama based on the manga of the same name. The story revolves around the antics of an unpopular nobody who ends up being forced into a situation where she’s living with the most popular boy at their high school. This is a romance through and through, and being able to see as Nao and Uehara develop a strong bond and relationship despite coming from quite different worlds and lifestyles. 

The actors who play as Nao and Uehara do their roles beautifully, with all the exaggerated and silly actions that we’d see in a manga translating onto the screen in a very fun way. Let’s be real though, a television show is only as good as its supporting cast, since they’re usually the ones who help to develop and accentuate the main characters. Luckily, this show has a phenomenal supporting cast. They each serve a certain archetype and the actors fulfill their roles without a hitch. As the show moves forward, we get to see individual stories about most of the supporting cast, but told in a way so that it still enhances Nao and Uehara. This, to me, is one of the strongest points of the show. What this means is that I ended up caring about every single character and their feelings as I got deeper and deeper into the show.

The one downside of the show is that it follows many tropes of romance dramas as a whole, and as such is somewhat predictable. This is in no way a huge problem though, because the situations these characters are put into give the show a lot of heart. Every episode revolves around some kind of central issue that a couple might face or think about, especially if they are forced to live together. This choice to tell a different story with each episode while still enhancing the core story is a very clever way to keep the viewer invested. I’m not saying that the episode progression is different from a serial format, merely that it doesn’t feel like every episode is heavily tied down by the episode before and after. It’s not exactly a new approach, but it’s something I don’t feel is done enough in the realm of TV these days, and I welcomed it quite gladly. 

For better or worse, the cinematography makes the viewer really feel like they’re watching an adaptation of a manga. What I mean is that the framing, sound effects and visual cues feel like a manga…with moving pictures. Some may be turned off by this, but I found it especially charming since it made things a little more amusing.

​Not being familiar with the source material, I managed to enjoy Good Morning Call thoroughly. It was cute, funny, silly and endearing. I felt for every character and every character helped to enhance Nao and Uehara. I couldn’t ask for more from a show. Even if Maimi Yajima was the reason I started watching the show, she’s hardly the only reason I love it. If you enjoy romance dramas that make you smile uncontrollably, this is probably the one for you. The best part is that a second season has been confirmed to be in the works, so we have more to come. I can’t wait!

- Teepu