Long Vacation - two unlikely souls make their way through life, forming friendships & finding love
Drama title : Long Vacation
No. of episodes : 11
Duration of watching : 1/5/2026 — 7/5/2026
I ended up watching this drama as I decided to take a break from watching The Epoch of Miyu (which I find a bit boring currently 😅). I actually have heard about this drama a few months ago, I think, and it's mainly due to its theme song, La La La Love Song by Toshinobu Kubota, which was a pretty famous song in the late 90s to early 2000s back in my country (or at least, I used to listen to it a bunch of times as a child).
I actually never knew that this song was used as Long Vacation's opening theme until a few months ago. However, it wasn't until I saw the drama's opening clip around last month that I really got interested in watching the series. I mean, how can I not be interested when the opening is like this?
When I first saw this opening, I felt intrigued by the cast because they seem like a bunch of cool adults with an interesting story to tell. However, my impression changed when I watched the drama and I began to glean the fact that they are essentially young adults (perhaps with the exception of Minami, but I still count her as a young adult), who move from one experience to another, all in the midst of figuring out their paths in life. At least, that's what I like to think when I see the main cast carry a suitcase each while walking straight ahead. I think of the suitcase as a symbol for their emotional baggage — their aspirations and also their worries — as they walk on in their respective paths in life.
I'm glad that I chose to watch this drama now because I feel like you have to be at a certain age and have to have the right mood to be able to appreciate what this drama has to offer. I feel like if I had watched it earlier, perhaps in my 20s or younger, I probably would see it as a rather boring drama, mainly because I wouldn't be able to relate to the characters as much as I did now (though some parts did have the potential to be boring for me when I watched it if I hadn't been in the right mood for it). This is because Long Vacation is a drama that leans heavily towards the slice of life genre with an emphasis on romance as we basically follow the daily life of the main cast throughout the series, with a large focus on both Sena and Minami. I usually like slice of life dramas but not usually when romance is a big part of the story (unless it's done right), which is what happened in Long Vacation. However, despite that, I quite enjoyed watching the series mainly because of the dynamic between Sena and Minami as well as the conversations that the characters have — they just feel so natural and relatable to me.
What's the drama about?
After her groom, Asakura, left her on their wedding day, struggling model Minami finds herself homeless and penniless after she gave away all her money to her ex-fiance in preparation for their now failed wedding. As a result, Minami decides to move into Asakura's now empty apartment room, much to Sena's — Asakura's housemate — confusion and surprise. Minami promises Sena that she will move out as soon as she is financially stable or marries another man — essentially becoming his housemate until she achieves either one of the two things. Hence, begin the story of Minami, a jobless and struggling model, and Sena, a pianist who often broods about his music career, as they navigate through life while slowly becoming each other's confidants and eventually realizing their love for each other.
Who should watch this drama?
— Fans of Takuya Kimura/Tomoko Yamaguchi
— Fans of the slice of life and romance genre
— Fans of 90s drama or just someone who wants to watch a nice and relaxing 90s drama
Characters
— Hidetoshi Sena, played by Kimura Takuya :
A reserved pianist in his mid-20s who is currently teaching music to children at a music school. A skillful and talented pianist, Sena is often encouraged by his professor to pursue his career further and realize his full potential as a pianist. However, true to his reserved character, Sena often broods and overthinks about his career as a musician. While not explicitly shown, it does seem that Sena is cautious about his future, afraid to mess up whatever opportunity that he gets which is why he initially prefers to continue teaching at the music school, explaining that he is not quite ready to grab those opportunities and would like to gain more experience from his job when in fact he is afraid to take that step forward, leading him to lead a mundane life. It wasn't until his encounter with Minami and the experience that he gets from his interactions with the other characters that Sena realizes that he actually wants to move forward in life and be a better version of himself.
Sena's arc is about a reserved person being too comfortable in his shell, afraid to take another step forward but eventually feels stuck in a mundane life. His relationship with Minami and the others change him for the better as he learns how to break the wall between him and the world around him, which later help him become a better version of himself.
— Hayama Minami, played by Yamaguchi Tomoko :
A woman in her early 30s with a sunny personality and often wears her heart on her sleeve. After her ex-fiance left her on their wedding day, Minami ends up living as Sena's housemate in order to rebuild her life. Early in the series, Minami becomes a struggling model with little to no job offers, mainly due to her age (31 isn't that old, though). She later gets fired from her agency as she got into a violent argument with a junior model that she was managing. Since then, Minami did her utmost best to a get job, going to more than 20 job interviews but failing every single one of them. Despite that, Minami always remains optimistic though she still has moments where she is sad, considering that she is still healing from the heartbreak of her ex-fiance leaving her for someone else. In the times when she lives with Sena, she learns a lot by Sena's insights on life as well as becoming sort of a confidant for him.
Minami's arc is about how an optimistic person with a sunny disposition like her still has her own worries and sadness. In Minami's case, she has to deal with and heal from her heartbreak and realize that she doesn't need to rely on anyone else first to be happy.
— Hayama Shinji, played by Takenouchi Yutaka :
Minami's younger brother who is the same age as Sena. His personality is almost similar to Minami in that he is rather friendly and outgoing. Shinji's part in this series is mostly to give Sena somewhat a love rival and the push that Sena needed to approach Ryoko. Ryoko ultimately falls in love with Shinji though it did not last long as Shinji has his own issue that he must overcome — he is unable to fully commit himself to her as he realizes that despite his feelings for Ryoko, he is still unable to fully let go of Rumiko. His issue with commitment is also reflected in the important moments of his life which he mentioned in the series, whereby he always fails during those moments (eg: he failed his college music entrance exam because he had to backed out, blaming his upset stomach). Deep down, Shinji realizes that he is a coward who is not brave enough to see something through to the end.
— Okusawa Ryoko, played by Matsu Takako :
Sena's junior in music college, possibly in her early 20s. An up and coming aspiring pianist, Ryoko's skills and talents seem to surpass Sena's for the most part (or at least, that's how they show it in the drama). Ryoko is pure-hearted, likely due to her young age, which is probably the reason why Sena had feelings for her in the first place. While Ryoko is shown to reciprocate (or at least tried to) Sena's feelings for her, she eventually finds herself falling in love with Shinji, which created quite the drama between the main cast. All in all, Ryoko's part in this drama is similar to Shinji's, where she is there initially as Sena's love interest, only for her to disappoint him (which helped him learn and understand more about his own feelings) and eventually going through a heartbreak herself as she calls off her relationship with Shinji for good because she realizes that their relationship will never work out. Those experiences help mature her a bit though.
— Oishikawa Momoko, played by Inamori Izumi :
Minami's junior colleague from her modeling days. She is probably around Sena's and Shinji's age. Momoko is a ditzy woman who is surprisingly pretty attuned with her friends' feelings, particularly when it involves troubles between a man and a woman. However, she can be rather tactless when approaching the subject, which sometimes lead to tense moments or an outright argument between the friends.
I have seen Inamori Izumi in Keiji Yugami and Mada Kekkon Dekinai Otoko where she is much older in those dramas, so it's a pleasant surprise to see her in one of her earlier works! (it doesn't seem like she aged much though)
— Himuro Rumiko, played by Ryo :
Shinji's girlfriend. Her role is pretty small compared to the other supporting roles so there isn't much to write about her other than the fact that she is mostly there to add a bit of drama between Shinji and Ryoko. I wish the drama had fleshed her out just a little bit more.
Things that bothered me/I don't like/feel that there's room for improvement
— Momoko's belief that a man and a woman can't simply be close friends :
I disagree with Momoko's views on this matter, though I guess even the situation that Minami and Sena found themselves in is quite uncommon (at least for me), which is the main factor that they had some kind of situationship for the most part.
— Sena and Minami ending up together in the end :
I don't hate them ending up together — in fact, I kind of ship them. It's just that I think I like their dynamic better as friends and I think it would make for a fresh ending if they just remain close friends in a platonic relationship, because not all friendships between a man and woman has to end up becoming a romantic relationship. But in the end, the drama decided to stick with Momoko's views while I wish they had challenged that notion.
— The supporting cast getting little to no character development :
The main cast is actually interesting for the most part, because every one of them has their own distinctive personalities. However, due to the limited number of episodes, a lot of the character development is given to both Sena and Minami, who are the core characters of this drama. This is something that I often see happen in J-dramas where they usually focus a lot of development for the lead roles by sacrificing the side characters' growth and it usually pays off for the most part because the lead roles became very well developed and because they are basically the face of the drama, I can easily accept this kind of shortcoming more often than not because I ended up enjoying the leads' growth by the end of the series.
On another note, this is perhaps one of the reasons why I enjoy C-dramas a lot because with so many episodes, they have room to explore and develop the supporting characters.
Things that this drama made me think about
— The feeling of feeling stuck in a mundane life, wanting to achieve more in life but doubting that we are capable or qualified enough to take that next step — which is exactly what Sena is going through the most part of the drama
— Long vacation :
When I first saw the opening clip, I really thought that this drama is about a group of young adults meeting each other while they are on an island trip or something and eventually forming friendships along the way. I mean, with a title like Long Vacation and an opening clip like that, someone would bound to think something like I did. However, the drama subvert my expectations as it brings me through the daily life of mainly Sena and Minami, which is mostly mundane but very relatable.
More importantly, the drama is title Long Vacation because it is just like one of Sena's views on life. I'm mostly paraphrasing here but at one point in the drama, Sena told Minami that sometimes there are times in life that we just end up failing or not getting the result that we wanted no matter how hard we tried, so when things do turn up that way in life, we just have to think of it as god giving us a long vacation — a time when we don't have to panic, don't have to rush and don't have to try harder, and to just take your own time and let things take their course — which is essentially what happens in this drama as a whole for both Sena and Minami, two unlikely souls who have their own challenges and struggles to overcome and eventually getting things in their lives in order after numerous attempts and failures.
Things that I absolutely love!
— The dynamic between Sena and Minami
— The OSTs :
I absolutely love the opening theme song, the BGMs and I especially love the song titled Little by Little! The OSTs evoke this nostalgic feeling as well as setting the perfect atmosphere for the drama.
— The conversation between the characters :
They all feel so natural and relatable.
— The series ending in full circle :
The drama starts with Minami running across town in her traditional Japanese wedding attire and ends with her running across town in her wedding gown with Sena. And of course, the fact that Minami stated that she's not into younger men but ended up marrying Sena in the end anyway.
All in all, I enjoyed this series for its relatable leads and the conversations that feel natural. I'm giving this a score of 8.5/10. I'm currently watching Nodame Cantabile and am really enjoying so far that I'm watching it at a pretty fast rate, so I'll probably be writing an entry on it pretty soon. Until then, see you in the next entry!