If you ever watched Calling You, Sky of Love, I Gave My First Love To You, etc. ... all Japanese teen romance movies with a life-death theme going ... if you liked those, then this is a movie you would probably like too. Those, for me, were all tear jerkers (I'm an extreme softy). This one, I would say isn't to that level of tear-jerking sadness. It tells a wonderful and romantic story, but it doesn't tug at you so much that you would get the feels. You would still feel sad, maybe on the verge of tears if you are an extreme extreme softy (but I'm already pretty extreme and I didn't really get the feels very badly like in the movies I mentioned before) but it just doesn't make you cry. It isn't there yet.

Acting ... I don't have any complaints or compliments. The acting is basically on par with most any other JP teen romance movies. If anything, there are many other teen romance movies that are unexpectedly great in terms of acting. This one was just in the average level. I would say what made me gave it such a high rating was the story and the motivating and inspiring motifs behind it.

Music ... this whole movie is about the female lead's love for music and how she captivates others and expresses herself with it. After watching this movie, I saw that recently there was an American remake of it and I really agree with something that was said in the American trailer of that version of Midnight Sun. Kaoru is like the once younger version of Taylor Swift, the more innocent version. Nonetheless, the music/songs in this movie were good. I loved it. Very motivating. Worked with the story really well.

COMING UP ...
(somewhat of some spoilers but not in detail, just the frame of it, so don't be scared to read these last few thoughts, but just in case, you've been warned.)
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The ending was very soft and nice. It sort of rounded the story so much so...like it didn't want you to take pity on the characters. You will probably get what I mean when you watch it. Everything ended very "peacefully". I don't know if that is the right word to explain it.
My only complaint is the transition near the ending. It was horrible and it could've been better, in my opinion. When you see it you may have a small OS, thinking...wtf that was fast. When you watch it, you will probably catch the moment that I'm talking about. In their defense ... and I'm just thinking the most plausible random reason here ... they may have had to cut out some stuff because of timing ... maybe. It was just weird to me how they transitioned it. Totally a rushed moment. It just didn't feel right.


Overall, I would definitely re-watch it. And, I'd totally recommend it, if you are a JP romance junky like me.