Review of Koori no Hana

Title: Koori no Hana
O.A. 6th and 7th of September 2008 (2-part SP)
Broadcast by: TV Asahi
Official website: here
Original novel by: Amano Setsuko




Cast:

Seno Kyoko (Yonekura Ryoko)
Seno Takayuki (Sakai Masato)
Toda Katsumi (Tachi Hiroshi)
Natori Etsuo (Watari Tetsuya)
Takizawa Kayo (Suzuki Anju)
Hamamura Yukari (Hazuki Riona)
Takahashi Yasuko (Takaoka Saki)
Ootsuka Miharu (Tomosaka Rie)
Sekiguchi Mayumi (Nakajima Hiroko)

Review:

This drama SP is full of twists and unexpected developments where you won't really know where the story is heading towards unless you get to the end. Well, I must admit that there are some parts which are rather easy to guess but overall, this is a rather good piece of work in terms of the suspense department.

Seno Kyoko is a woman who seems to have it all i.e. a career as a famous pianist, a husband, Takayuki who works as a surgeon and a big house to live in. However, things start to go wrong after her uncle passed away due to a hit-and-run accident. The case goes unresolved after 6 months and it is then when she starts getting calls accusing Takayuki of having an affair with a nurse, Sekiguchi Mayumi working in the same hospital. As a result, Kyoko plots to kill Mayumi who is said to be pregnant with Takayuki's child. However, Kyoko later realizes that there is more to meets the eye.

Yonekura Ryoko is good at playing women who are stylish, confident and with a tinge of evilness as shown in her past performances in Matsumoto Seicho dramas. This time round, Kyoko appears as if she is forced to react extremely because of the pressure exerted by others but towards the end, you may form a different opinion as to how Kyoko's nature really is. The only grouse I have is Yonekura's hairstyle. It just irks me to see half of her face covered by that bob when she could have done something to make her hairstyle appear better. Besides Yonekura, there are four more beautiful ladies in the lineup which could provide lots of eye candy to the male viewers. It is a visual feast checking out because people like Hazuki Riona and Suzuki Anju rarely appear in dramas these days.

Sakai Masato seems to be appearing everywhere these days and I'm seeing a lot of him recently e.g. in Triangle. He has this ability to play roles with an evil streak so well that I can't help but shudder when I see him on screen. He did very well in this SP too. I would love to see more of him but it's just too bad that he disappeared too quickly in Part 2 and it wasn't a particularly nice manner that he did so. Something more elaborate could have been planned.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 7.5 out of 10 (The tension built up a bit too slowly at the beginning.)
Acting: 7.5 out of 10 (Especially for Sakai Masato and Yonekura Ryoko)
Theme song: 6 out of 10 (Mostly instrumental classical pieces)
Visual effects / Scenery: 6 out of 10 (Nothing particularly impressive except that jetty by the river which caught my attention)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 7 out of 10 (The scene where Sakai and Yonekura had a mini-showdown before their separation was rather intense and the crossfire between Yonekura and Tachi is also worth keeping a lookout for)

Total: 34 out of 50