Anyone who has ever watched Japanese anime cartoons knows that there is a strong streak of fantasy in the national character of Japan. Those wide-open eyes of the characters suggest innocence, wonder, imagination and any number of things. But they are not things that usually occur to people of other nationalities. That may be one of the things that makes Japan interesting to the rest of the world. MagicBell Communications is now showing a program that captures that spirit.

“Mama died and went to the star Argive, but after a year, during the rainy season, she will come back.” Before Mio died, she made a picture book to leave behind, which Takumi and Yuji treasure. Then, one day the rainy season comes. Takumi and Yuji find themselves in woods that look just like the one Mio drew in the picture book. As they set out walking, they suddenly find themselves in the midst of a beautiful rain falling while the sun is still out, when they see Mio sitting inside some strange ruins.

Yuji runs up to hug her, while Takumi is confused by what he is seeing. But in front of Yuji and Takumi, Mio is even more confused. For some reason, Mio has completely lost her memory.
To return to the TBS website, it goes on to say that, “Fantasy, love and family bonding are the three essential elements contained within the original work. In this episode family bonds are especially important. People of our present age, no matter who they are, long to be happy, and those seeing this drama may find themselves saying under their breath, ‘I want to get married, too’ or ‘I would love to have a child.’ It is this sense of wanting to ‘share my happiness with someone’ that this drama is sure to awaken.”

Just to give a little more background of the story, which can be a bit confusing, Mio’s maiden name was Enokida. She was raised in a conventional way by her father, a municipal office worker and her mother, a home economics teacher at a middle school.When Mio was young, she was introverted and found it hard to talk to people. However, inwardly she was very strong and if things came to a crisis, she had a surprising ability to act decisively and publicly

During her days as a middle school student, Mio joined the rhythmic gymnastics team and the art club, where she met Aio Takumi and fell in love with him. They ended up marrying and having their son Yuji.
As for Takumi, he is an employee at a public library. When he was young, his parents divorced and he went to live with his mother. However, after graduating from elementary school, his mother sent him to live in the home of his grandparents.

When he was a middle school student, Takumi was active in sports. He fell in love with his schoolmate, Mio, but when it was time to go to high school, he went to Tokyo to attend school there and he and Mio found themselves continually separated.
Further troubles followed when the grandparents who had lovingly looked after him died one after another, and Takumi found himself plagued by psychological problems. After a multitude of complications, he and Mio got married.

As stated before, this drama has great elements of fantasy in it, and sometimes the situations can be confusing. However, the overall impression one gets when watching it is of the deep love that people can share after growing close. There is a sweetness to the drama, although it does have an undercurrent of melancholy to it as well.

Be With You shows ordinary Japanese family members facing a series of extraordinary situations, with a touch of fantasy thrown in to give it a unique touch. It should be watched, if only to see the kind of drama that is well-loved by a wide spectrum of the Japanese television audience.