Netflix’s ten-episode Japanese series Glass Heart is like watching Saiyaara in a foreign language with native tongue hijacked to an escapable alienation. It is predictable and pedestrian. It is like Saiyaara with an impenetrable rude and rule-breaking musician as the protagonist. Naoki (Takeru Satoh) is discernible, disoriented, and troubled by ghosts that are hard to define. He is repeatedly dubbed a “genius” musician. So his temper tantrums and moodiness are condoned by all those around me. Artiste, you see.
Since all the rock-stadia music and songs are in Japanese, I couldn’t really verify the ‘genius’ claims. But the actor playing Naoki looked constantly glazed, as though he had seen the future, and it wasn’t tempting. Somewhat like Jack without the beanstalk. Or Cinderella without her glass shoes.
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The real focus of attention is a wide-eyed drummer girl Akane (Yu Miyazak) who too has seen tomorrow and can’t wait for it. She is constantly excited and impressed enough by her own (unrecognized) talent to gaze pitiably at those around her who can’t see how brilliant she is. She is just not able to fit in.
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Both protagonists seem perched at very high levels of self-delusion, constantly playing and pounding the piano and the drums (depending on which side the wind is blowing). Not caring about who is listening. You see, Naoki and Akane belong to that rare breed of musicians who have to play because… well, the music beckons.
After two episodes of watching the band by her side acquire the shape of a foggy silhouette, Akane realizes what we knew all along: she is in love with Naoki. Ironically, Akane, the out-of-box drummer girl, is the series’ biggest strength and its most ruinous weakness. She is played more as a wide-eyed success seeker than the determined game-changer that she is supposed to be.
Perhaps it is a Japanese thing. Humility, etc. But the characters never seem to acquire the go-getting drive that underpins the musical odyssey. The songs are staged vigorously. But the drama that underscores the music and the effort to build Naoki as “another John Lennon” who can disappear any time, is shallow and under-fleshed.
The show is fetching to look at. But the characters don’t speak to us, even when they are singing their hearts out.
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