Review of Ryuusei no Kizuna

Frankly speaking, I had mixed feelings about this drama right from the start because of several reasons.

First of all, putting Higashino Keigo and Kudo Kankuro left a big question mark in my mind. As we know it, Higashino is very good at suspense thrillers which focus a lot on the emotions of the characters. One particular outstanding work from him was Byakuyakou, which was truly a dark tragedy from the start to the end. However, Kudo is more known for his unique brand of humour as seen from Kisarazu Cat Eyes, Tiger and Dragon and Manhattan Love Story. To put it in another way, not everyone appreciates Kudo's way of writing stories so that's why the critical success of his works are usually not reflected in the ratings. As such, I really wondered how Higashino and Kudo could be put together in the first place.

Secondly, the trio of Ninomiya Kazunari, Nishikido Ryo and Toda Erika wasn't really what I expected. I had always held the belief that Toda is still far from the level of acting that Ninomiya and Nishikido are capable of. Although at the end of the drama, my impression of Toda has changed to a certain extent, I still don't consider as very outstanding yet. She will get better over time, provided she gets the good roles. Anyway she has youth on her side.

Coming to the story itself, I have not read the novel yet. Well, to put it more accurately, I have only read a few chapters where the trio i.e. Koichi, Taisuke and Shizuna are still kids. Compared to the drama which alternated between adulthood and childhood and uses a lot of flashbacks to describe events in the past, the novel seems to be taking a sequential approach, at least from what I'm reading now. That is why I was rather frustrated by the drama's way of handling things. I would prefer a sequential approach rather than be confused by the constant shuttling. This is a major grouse I have about the story but you can be sure that this problem will go away as the story progresses.

Like what I said just now, I was very worried about Higashino's style vs. Kudo's humour. In the first few episodes, the small drama-within-drama directed by Koichi did not really blend well with the central theme. I guess Kudo wants to keep the story light at some points instead of making the drama dark as what Byakuyakou did but I didn't like the contrast at times. The first trick scheme was kinda boring and corny but the Takayama version was fun. Luckily, they toned down on the humour towards the later stage or I could have given up halfway. I wanted to watch this drama for the heavy emotional plot, not for humour.

With regards to the ending, I think it was pretty well-done. I suppose it is similar to the novel but I will make a comparison between the genres after finishing the novel. Right from the start, if the murderer was known, there would be no fun along the way to keep the viewer hooked. True enough, the truth is not as simple as it appeared. I'm glad to see the twist at the end. It was great, really. However, the only grouse I have is that the clues showed up too late. Until the last episode, you would probably not have seen the twist coming. I had my suspicions when that culprit lit his cigarette and was visibly shaken by the revelation that he had inevitably screwed up at the crime scene but could only confirm my guess when there was a close-up shot of the umbrella in question.

This is one drama where I reinforced my belief that Nino is easily one of the best actors in Arashi, or maybe in Johnny's Jimusho. The most memorable scene was when Taisuke (Nishikido) asked Koichi (Nino) whether he was OK with the fact that Shizuna (Toda) is in love with Togami (Kaname) and he shouted that there was no way he was OK with that. Bravo! さすが、ハリウット俳優! ^__^ No wonder, Clint Eastwood got him to act in Iwojima kara no Tegami. Other than Ohno who displayed the same intensity of acting in Maou and Ikuta Toma who is very versatile, I think there are not many actors in the same batch of JE guys who can do as well as Nino at the moment. Nino has certainly strengthened his reputation as a good actor through this drama.

As for Nishikido, too bad that he is overshadowed by Nino this time. However, he has managed to put up a performance in stark contrast of what he did in Last Friends. The only thing I don't like is probably the fact that he emphasized too much on the frivolous and carefree side of Taisuke. He should have been given more time to show Taisuke's sensitive side.

With regards to Toda, she displayed great chemistry with her "brothers" and should be a big visual feast because of her cos-playing. To be frank, she did look very pretty in some of the outfits. However, her acting flaws show up when she's with very strong actors so she may need more time to bring out the essence in her performance.

One person I must mention will be Nakashima Mika's role, Sagi which means trickster. Well, her role is not in the novel so she's probably there more for comical relief. Although that scene of her singing in George Clooney's restaurant's staircase was quite cheesy, I think Nakashima's presence was quite interesting. This character is really different from the Nakashima who sings. Her interaction with Nino is also worth looking out for.

As for the theme and insert songs, ORION is a better fit for the atmosphere of the drama and grows on me over time. On the other hand, you can only hear Beautiful Days at the beginning of the drama or when the trailer runs so the influence isn't that strong. Nonetheless, both songs are good by their own virtue.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 8.5 out of 10 (Although I didn't like the first 5 episodes or so, the extremely well-done finale and climax scenes deserved this score.)
Acting: 9 out of 10 (The trio were good in their own ways but this 9 is mainly for Nino.)
Theme song: 8 out of 10 (I prefer ORION though.)
Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out of 10 (Not much variety since they are mostly set-scenes but I like the rooftop above George Clooney's restaurant and the hill where the siblings saw the meteor shower.)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 7.5 out of 10 (The siblings deserve a 7. The extra 0.5 is for Nino's great work with the real culprit in the last episode.)

Total: 40 out of 50