Review of Majo Saiban (The Witch Trial)

Once again, my usual disclaimer. If you have not watched this drama, please refrain from reading this review if you wouldn't want to see the story developments and ending beforehand. I try to avoid spoilers when it comes to reviews but for dramas like this with a suspense element, it is difficult to talk about it without referring to the story. I seek your understanding in this regard.

First of all, this is not a new drama after all (in fact it was from the spring 2009 season) so you may be wondering why I finished this drama only today. The main reason was a lack of interest. Don't doubt what you are reading now because I did think of dumping this drama into the trashcan. Majo Saiban was really boring, especially in the first five episodes. And that makes it half of the drama. Why do I say so?

Majo Saiban's storyline was basically about a woman labelled as Majo (literally translated as evil woman) by the media being on trial for the alleged murder of her elderly lover. From then on, it seems like the scriptwriter had no idea where to go. As such, it resulted in an overly ambitious attempt to cover multi facades of the issue about having a jury system. To think that this script was written by someone who came out with other good dramas like OUT, Ningen no Shomei, Hyouheki and Maou? Hmm...what could have gone wrong here?

Majo Saiban had the critical weakness of having lesser airtime as compared to the regular season dramas. Each episode was shorter by at least 15 minutes than most regular episodes and we are looking at a difference of 150 minutes for 10 episodes. Given the limitations, it would have been good if the story stuck to a key plot and put less importance on the sub plots. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter seemed to have problems deciding which was more important. As such, the first part of the drama dwelt too much on the problem of the jury being threatened while the second part dived straight into the suspense part of whether the accused was indeed guilty. The stark contrast was hard to ignore.

Frankly speaking, I wasn't too interested to see how the jury was being threatened. For stories about the jury, the threats and bribery are constant fixtures which usually offer little excitement other than the fact that you can know which character has what type of secrets. That could have been discussed in full within one or two episodes. Instead, it dragged on and on until I decided that I had enough. That was why I stopped halfway for close to one year before I continued watching. Thankfully, the second part of the drama had a faster tempo so it kept me interested enough to finish the drama. I was already expecting Majo to be acquitted but I was more interested to see whether she was really the culprit. I've never believed her to be innocent but the story offered a surprise and did score in terms of showing how manipulative Majo can be.

One thing which I was always puzzled about is how brazen the so-called jury consultants were with their fairly open threats. I mean things like pasting photos at a public place is enough to attract lots of attention. Surely someone would have reported this to the police before the character sees it? OK, logic doesn't work in drama-land but it's just ridiculous at times when you think of it. And another thing is, how can the jury go running around like a detective and even try to meet the accused? From what I've read in John Grisham's books in the past, the jury in the U.S. are barred from going home during the trial and cannot contact anyone. Comparatively, the jury in Japan are easily subjected to harrassment and can do whatever they like? I think the drama doesn't offer an accurate depiction of what's going on in Japan. My advice is, take whatever you see as mere fiction. The whole trial proceedings feel like a joke to me especially when you see all these illogical things happening.

Much as the story offered a little bit of surprise at the end, I think two big questions still remain. Maybe the TV station wants to try that antic of making a SP someday but I thought it would have been good if these were answered. Firstly, after Toru (Ikuta Toma) knew that he was manipulated, what happened? I think most people would have been interested to know the change in Toru after the trial. Secondly, the burning question of how Izumi (Kato Ai) would react to her husband's true identity was left hanging in the air. I would really want to know how it develops from there. Too bad the ending offers no clues to these questions.

With regards to the cast, I have to say that most of them offered little surprises. Ikuta Toma's role wasn't that eyecatching while Kato Ai's character was too goody-two-shoes to make an impact. In my opinion, there are three actresses who were quite good despite the circumstances namely Ishida Yuriko, Kutsuna Shiori and Higa Manami.

1) Although the trial was centered on Majo, Ishida Yuriko did not have a lot of airtime. Nonetheless, she attracted attention each time she appeared. One moment, she could look gentle but she could change to a cold expression within seconds. It was obvious that she went without makeup for this role but she could still look relatively good which I think it's remarkable for her age. During the climax, action speaks louder than words. Looking at her expression speaks volumes, literally.

2) I didn't know much about Kutsuna Shiori until I watched Sotsu-Uta's first part. Actually, young actresses with this innocent and sweet look are aplenty in showbiz. I did think that she didn't have a distinctive feature to catch my eye. However, the last episode showed me that she had the potential to take on a scheming or baddie role. Hopefully, she can try various types of roles in future to make an impact.

3) Higa Manami was relatively new to me although I did see her in Code Blue. Now that's another drama I did not finish YET because of a similar problem with Majo Saiban. More on that if I do finish Code Blue one day. Anyway, Higa was very convincing when she showed her possessive side in trying to stop Izumi (Kato Ai) and her boyfriend Toru (Ikuta) from getting closer. Of course, she was just being jealous for nothing because she had been manipulated by Majo. Nonetheless, I thought she was good in showing the different sides of her character.

With regards to the theme song, it felt like a mismatch at times. Such dramas would probably need a high tempo number to build up the tension. Unfortunately, I didn't like Kesshin and it didn't leave a deep impression as well.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 5 out of 10 (If not for the small twist at the very end, I would have given this drama a fail score in this aspect)
Acting: 5 out of 10 (Some sparks here and there but I had expected more)
Theme song: 4 out of 10 (A misfit...nothing much to talk about)
Visual effects / Scenery: 5 out of 10 (What can you expect when most of the action is in the courtroom? So I won't give a failing score because this is something which cannot be helped.)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 2 out of 10 (Nothing particularly gripping or fascinating. Each character seems to be doing their own thing.)

Total: 21 out of 50

Conclusion: Even for hardcore fans of Ikuta Toma, I have reservations as to whether they can finish this because the drama doesn't really project him as someone who will make viewers swoon. If you are thinking of Toma like when he was in HanaKimi, get that idea out of your mind now. His character here is not as appealing as then. Get started from the middle if you only want to see the mystery unravelling. Otherwise, I doubt most people would have the interest to sit through this.