Review of Shokuzai Ep 1

WOWOW dramas never fail to amaze me (well, most of the time I would say). The selection of material and actors are what you normally won't see from TV networks such as FujiTV, TBS, NTV or TV Asahi. People hogging the lead roles on the basis of their popularity rather than acting skills are rare here and you are always treated to a visual feast of very exceptional actors in leading and supporting roles. NHK has been churning out very high quality shows as well in recent years but WOWOW has an advantage in challenging very controversial themes since they are not burdened by the tag of national broadcaster.

What attracted me to this drama were two main reasons: the story and Koizumi Kyoko.

The story is based on a novel by Minato Kanae which is written in the same way i.e. different lead characters each time being the narrator just like Kokuhaku, another of her hit novel which was made into a movie starring Matsu Takako. Starting from 15 years ago, we are introduced to this little girl Adachi Emiri who moved to a suburb town due to her father's transfer and becomes close friends with four of her classmates namely Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuka. One day while playing in school, a male stranger approaches the group and asks for someone to accompany him to the stadium to carry out some works there. He selects Emiri from the group and she follows him alone despite her friends volunteering to come along. However, Emiri is killed that evening and the four girls discover her lifeless body in the stadium.

Being the only people who have seen the suspect, the girls cannot recall how the man look like and thus the police make no headway in finding the murderer. One day, Emiri's mother Asako invites the girls to her place on the pretext of celebrating Emiri's birthday and berates the girls for being useless thus causing the police to be unable to find the killer. She demands that the four of them make amends to Emiri in return and makes them promise to do that in their own ways.

As there are only 5 episodes in this drama, the first four will be centered on the lives of these four girls 15 years later i.e. present day. The trauma of Emiri's murder plus the haunting promise they made to Asako creates a tragic spiral of events for each of them as Asako continues to hunt for her daughter's killer.

We begin episode 1 with Sae's story. At the time when the girls found the body, Sae was tasked with staying behind in the stadium to keep watch on Emiri's body. It could be due to this that she seems to be really edgy around men and keeps a distance from them. One day, she is introduced to an eligible bachelor Otsuki Takahiro who decides to accept her for what she is but it turns out that there is more than meets the eye...

I won't go into the details of what exactly is wrong with Takahiro or what happens to Sae at the end because that will spoil the fun of watching. What I can say is that, there is some violence although not explicit and it can be really uncomfortable when it is revealed how Takahiro is really like and how Sae chooses to go along with his requests. Do not be surprised when you see that the colour balance on your screen seems to be less vibrant than usual. It seems to be a deliberate attempt to show the darkness of the theme and how the lives of the leads are like i.e. Sae being constantly in fear, Takahiro having a secret that he can reveal to Sae only and Asako still being consumed by the fury over being unable to catch her daughter's killer. Even the wedding scene seemed very much like a funeral to me with its dark colour mix.

Koizumi Kyoko is great as Asako especially when she appeared as a fashionable and happy mother in the beginning but changed to looking more like a black widow after Emiri's death. It was terrifying to see how she behaved so menacingly in front of the girls as if she wants them to pay the price of her daughter's untimely death. I'm getting the idea that Emiri's death is not coincidental after all since the killer chose Emiri to go with him. It will be worth checking out how Koizumi will potray Asako as the truth is revealed.

Aoi Yu plays Sae and I have to say that she's perfect for the role. Other than the fact that Aoi usually plays those gentle and quiet girls on screen, I think she managed to capture Sae's insecurity and how she grasped at the chance to get out of her current situation and continuing to bear with things even when it was clear that her happiness is just a front for others to see. Her last encounter with Asako as she leaves her apartment in the morning shows a lot of Sae's desperation as she asks Asako if what she has done is enough to make it up to Emiri.

A pleasant surprise would be to see Moriyama Mirai in the role of Takahiro. My impression of him so far has usually been confined to more comical or cheerful types of roles but he totally changed my opinion of him through this single episode. I don't know if he deliberately lost weight for this drama but he looked really gaunt and a bit creepy even though he's supposed to play a high-flying executive who seems to have it all. When you finish watching this episode, you will then realise why this is so. I think he and Aoi had really great chemistry as a couple in this drama (not in the romantic sense though) and it was truly amazing to see how they could handle such complicated characters so well.

One word of caution, if you are looking for fast-moving action, you might be very disappointed. Most of the story developments take their time and there are some scenes where there isn't much dialogue to convey how the characters are feeling. Coupled with the dull colour scheme, there would probably be people who doze off while watching this but I think the storyline and great acting is worth checking out even though I also had the temptation to press the fast-forward button at times.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the series and finding out the truth to Emiri's death which promises to be a rollercoaster ride for everyone especially Asako. Next episode features Koike Eiko as a teacher and I wonder how her character is affected by Emiri's murder?