First and foremost, the direction of the story seemed like familiar territory. It was obvious to see that a FBI investigator wouldn't come to Japan simply for an exchange program so there was definitely another reason motivating him to do so. And when something like this happens, chances are there will be a conspiracy plot most likely involving the Japanese police which is to be uncovered. The thing is, such a plot has been done so many times that I wonder if this drama is capable of dishing out something new?
As seen from the first episode, my suspicion was proven correct since it was revealed that Minami Hiromi (Fukuyama Masaharu) lost his sight as a child due to a supposed accidental fire that also caused the death of his parents. Towards the end of the episode though, it was obvious that there is definitely something more than meets the eye because of a prisoner currently behind bars and the fact that the Godous - Seiji (Terao Akira) and Kyougo (Kamikawa Takaya) know something about that fire and are worried about Minami's presence and motive while in Japan. The more alarming thing is, there is something about the truth that supposedly involves or will affect Godou Shintaro (Ooizumi Yo). Does this mean Shintaro is related to the culprit? Or was he related to Minami in the past? To be frank, I am more intrigued by this part as compared to what actually happened to Minami's parents. I am guessing that they were silenced or had to be gotten rid of because they posed a threat to the mastermind.
The second concern I had was how the combination of Fukuyama and Ooizumi would turn out. I think what worked in their favour was that they are quite different in terms of acting style and image in real life so this resonates with how things are between the vastly different Minami and Shintaro in the drama. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they interacted onscreen and the timing of their to-and-fro lines was quite impeccable for a first episode. Looks like they are "meant to be" for a good reason! The worrying thing is, there is a possibility of the two characters turning against each other. If it turns out that Shintaro is somewhat involved or related to the people who may have caused the fire, the bromance between them is bound to end. That's quite a pity though because it has been such a joy to see them getting closer especially through two scenes in this episode where the positions of where they sat at the dining table showed a growing bond between them.
In terms of the case featured this time, I would say that the process of leading to the culprit was more interesting than the actual case itself or the resolution. The usual prejudice against the handicapped or assumptions made thinking that nobody else does it better than the locals were aplenty to see so now that Minami had proven his worth, his counterparts in Japan might treat him with a bit more faith and respect. Nagase Ren's role Izumi didn't have a lot of airtime and simply came across as a stick-in-the-mud kind of elite. On the other hand, Imada Mio's Agatsuma who was supposedly helped by Minami in the past, might be a more interesting character to explore given that she seemed to fade in the background in the investigation team and was treated as someone whose views are not valued.
I may be thinking a bit too much into this but the title got me wondering if there's an unusually strong focus on the "blindness" of Minami. The word "zenmou" is typically not used to describe someone who cannot see except if we want to make it clear that the person has lost 100% of his/her sight. It then got me wondering, is Minami faking his blindness now? I don't doubt the fact that he probably did lose his sight during the fire in his childhood but he may be able to recover later on in life for all we know. The drama also didn't say for sure if his condition was totally impossible to regain his eyesight. It may seem like a far-fetched idea for now but when you look at his actions from the time he met Shintaro, it seemed plausible that he was making use of his "blindness" to get people to lower their guard around him and trust him more.
In summary, I would say that I am more inclined to stay on for the sake of the two leads because the story hasn't really gotten me hooked to the extent of lasting an entire season. However, if the story gets so bad or predictable, it might be difficult to sit through this even with the two of them doing a great job.
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