I just happened to bump into it the other day while looking at the just released Korean remake of it. So I decided to give it a try and watched the entire drama in a day. I am lost for words describing how beautifully made it was. Once again it reinforced my opinion that when Japanese make a good drama , it turns out to be so good that it quickly hits you how lacking the best of the best Korean and Chinese dramas are. Raw emotions(especially that of love) are never portrayed with such perfection in other countries.

Story:
The pacing is amazing. May be slow for some people but I am a sucker for slow , developing kind of dramas. So it is a total winner for me. The main leads fall in love and in forbidden relationships and lose everything in the process. The story doesn't try to cover or glorify any aspect of infidelity. The depiction is just so real and the emotions so raw that you just get caught in the story right from the first episode till the end.

Characters:
The characters were just a gem. All are 3D characters and hence so real that you live the story along with them. I was so mesmerized by Kitano sensei's character that I totally fell in love with him just as Sawa--san falls in love with him. The greatness of the characters is that you don't come to hate any character even though all of them are in wrong. I was drawn in the love between Sawa and Kitano. You come to realize that they just met each other a bit too late in life and they were always meant to fall in love. You are hopelessly wishing for them to be together all throughout. The beauty in the characterization here is that all of them are different in nature and disposition and that is depicted by their behavior or how they perceive things in life, not in a way that they is a live commentary that they are like this and that and you fail to see how they are actually through the story-line which is the case of most other dramas. The only people you start hating as characters are each of the main-characters married partners. It was excruciating to see how controlling they were and hence you understand how did it lead to infidelity.

Acting:
Superlative in every aspect and by everyone. I am in love with Saito Takumi's calm voice. Kichese Michiko was outstanding in the depiction and playing such a risque character. (No wonder she was chosen for Signal drama to depict the pivotal character of the Japanese remake). There is nothing more that can be said. They all were just outstanding hence, very difficult to pick. I only had complains about the voice of Sawa's mother in law. She has an extremely annoying tone and voice.

Music:
Haunting and so timely that you constantly feel the pressure in your head. It just makes the scenes so much more dramatic that you are unable to forget scenes.

Rewatch Value:
I only see myself watching the scenes between Sawa-san and Kitano-san when they fall in love. For one , it just too realistic hence you are not bound to forget anything easily, instead you will drown more into the misery that the characters go through.

Overall:
After watching this drama , I would personally find it too scary to even develop a harmless crush on someone once you are married. You never know how quickly things turn harmful. When something has that kind of effect on you, it's a winner through and through.