No Spoilers Until Warning

You may be confused that I gave the story and acting 8's but the drama itself only a 6. This is because the story that I had full context for by the end was great, but the way it was shown seemed a bit messy.

Let me start by saying that I loved the first 45 minutes of this special. The plot was great throughout the special, but towards the end it definitely seemed like things were rushed. The flow of the story telling isn't always chronological which is usually fine, but in this case there are definitely some spots where the ordering of the story showed you some things without full context and then give more context later. And then in the last 5 minutes, they give more context for scenes throughout the whole special in the form of a reminiscing montage. I personally thought that if that montage scenes had been spread out throughout the special or at least shown earlier it would've given a lot more context for why people acted or felt a certain way.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

There are also some parts that just don't seem super fleshed out. In the first few minutes, they have a montage of the two main characters being friends throughout their childhood talking through their windows. At one point the guy is drying his hair in the window either shirtless or naked and then she sees him, screams, throws a stuffed toy at him, and then slams her window shut. And then they both seem annoyed at each other and don't speak again for years... until the first scene where her bike breaks and she flies a bit and then lands in his arms. It seemed a bit lazy to not clearly explain why they hadn't talked for years. But then they pick up right where they left off as super close friends. And then later on there's a single side plot that has basically no resolution and then they loosely tie it into the main plot. They show a flash of a quote from the side plot when the girl walks away in the climax, but they don't give you context for why the quote is relevant until a bit later so it's a bit confusing when you see it.

Speaking of the climax, it was my main issue with the special. I have no issue with what happened because it seemed very realistic. However, it seemed very rushed and also not fleshed out. Starting from the climax until the ending scene, every clip is cut up into short bursts of dialogue without super clear transitions. They don't have a continuous coherent conversation, but rather it shows pieces of a conversation as they go to school one day. And showing shots of leaves, trees, and grass also isn't a super precise way to convey how much time has passed so towards the end you kinda just have to infer from what the characters say.

All in all, I really appreciate the storyline and the overall plot, but the way it was presented kinda took a lot away from my appreciation of it as a whole. I feel like it could have been a completely different experience with a few different editing choices, a few extra scenes for more explanation and resolution, a more continuous climax, and just a tiny subtitle before the last few scenes saying exactly how much time had passed. With those changes I could see it being an 8 or 9 but given the director and writer's choices, I personally see it as a 6.