Season: Autumn 2022
Broadcast by: FujiTV
Rating: 5/10
Recommended for: those who like suspense stories about split personalities and fans of Yamada Ryosuke and Kadowaki Mugi
Liked:
- Episodes 5 and 7. I was about to give up on this drama after 4 episodes but Ep 5 convinced me to stay on and I got lured again to continue because of Ep 7. On hindsight, I should have skipped straight through to the last 10 minutes of the finale from Ep 7 instead of sitting through a couple more episodes.
- The acting of the cast especially Yamada Ryosuke (after B-1 started appearing more regularly), Kadowaki Mugi (Ep 5) and Sakurai Yuki (Ep 7). In Yamada's case, his integration of Eiji and B-1 at the very end was quite impressive. Kadowaki was so overwhelmingly good in one single episode but it was a pity that her character kinda fizzled out in the end. Sakurai also had her moment of brilliance but alas, it wasn't meant to last. Due to the way this drama was designed, you would need to wait around for a while before you can see the better parts of the cast's performances. Last but not least, Endo Kenichi was pretty good as well at the end but since he was supposed to play someone who had no feelings and empathy, it may draw a reaction from the other extreme i.e. you will either love or hate his performance for the emotionless acting.
Disliked:
- As a suspense thriller, I must say that I wasn't excited nor was I intrigued by the so-called suspense in the story. To have only 2 episodes as the highlight of the entire story and the ending being quite anti-climatic (it wasn't too difficult to guess the identity of the killer nor the motive), you would need to have a great deal of patience to sit through the fluff before getting to the good parts. I must say though, I haven't read the original so I can't pinpoint where the problem was. At the very least, there were some loopholes in the logic of the story which I mentioned before in my episodic review posts.
- While some cast members still managed to get a moment to shine, some were not so lucky. For example, Kawaei Rina was supposed to be the heroine who was Eiji's partner in investigating the case but Nami felt more like B-1's runner to do things for him in the second half of the drama after B-1/Eiji went on the run. Even at the beginning stage, the relationship dynamic between them seemed a bit lopsided at times so they hardly met the definition of partners working towards a single goal. As such, Kawaei didn't look like she had much to offer in terms of acting even though I think she's capable of doing more.
Likewise, Sano Shiro's character didn't make a lot of sense at first although his actions were more or less explained and justified in Ep 5. However, it felt like too little, too late in a sense for him which I thought was a pity. And not to mention Onoe Matsuya or Saotome Taiichi - there should have been more to see from them but too bad that their characters this time were not that pivotal to the story so their performances felt a bit flat and forgettable.
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