Quick Review #152: Shiawase na kekkon - Summer 2025

Title: Shiawase na kekkon / しあわせな結婚　　　　　　　

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who are fans of the lead actors and don't mind a lacklustre attempt at blending a quirky romance with an overly simplistic suspense plot

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- The combination of Abe Sadao and Matsu Takako was what pulled me in at first and true enough, they were a pretty intriguing pair to watch. If not for their acting and chemistry, I think I might have dropped this after the first few episodes.

- The first episode which showcased the love story of the main couple i.e. from how they met till how they got married and just before the murder suspense subplot was probably the best part of the storyline.

Disliked: 

- Appearances are deceiving. If you thought that this was going to be a love story about the leads just like how I did initially, you might feel cheated to a certain extent. It turned out that the suspense simply overshadowed the marriage of the lead couple, both in terms of airtime and importance in the entire drama. If it had been that the suspense storyline was decent enough to warrant the shift in focus and be of a certain standard to satisfy my expectations, I wouldn't have minded this change in direction so much. However, if the suspense was this predictable (the identity of the murderer was such a dead giveaway because the female lead could never have been the culprit given how such stories usually pan out) and the significance/relation of the case to the marriage was kind of lost on me, I couldn't help but think that this was a total letdown.

- Perhaps due to the shift in direction (or maybe the scriptwriter had intended it to be as such right from the beginning), this was also what made the character development seem to be messed up with lack of logic. In particular, I thought that Sugino Yosuke's character was rather bewildering. On one hand, he seemed like this persistent police officer with a strong conviction for justice who was out to find out the truth but halfway through, he became a lovelorn guy hopelessly besotted with the suspect. In the end, I was still none the wiser about where and how he had a heart change or rather what triggered him to develop feelings for the female lead. And even if he did struggle with the conflicting feelings, it just wasn't shown properly and everything felt so superficial to the extent that he didn't come across as really pining for the woman. It was quite a pity though because I thought the characters in this story could have intriguing background stories but the plot just didn't flesh them out so they appeared to be so flat and their actions incomprehensible.

- I don't know if the Netflix version differs from the OA version by TV Asahi but I don't think I've ever heard the theme song by Oasis played during the drama or in the ending credits section. That made me wonder, how did this song fit into this drama and was it even necessary to choose this as the theme song when viewers hardly got to hear it? I'm sure the TV station would have paid a lot to get the rights for a foreign song to be used as the theme so why did this happen? Totally defeats the purpose!

Quick Review #148: "Imawa no kuni no Arisu Season 3" - Summer 2025

* Actually, I finished this a while ago - in fact, soon after it was released on Netflix. However, I have been rather busy so couldn't find time to write this until now.

Title: Imawa no kuni no Arisu Season 3 / 今際の国のアリス シーズン３　　　　　　　　

Rating: 6.5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who have been following this since Season 1, like the series so far and the cast members BUT don't mind the lack of a conclusion yet again

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- In terms of the scale of the games and intricate visuals, this series had plenty to rave about. Personal favourites for the visuals were the first game which Arisu took part in i.e. "Omikuji" and the final game "Mirai sugoroku". It's evident how big the budget was and how much effort was put into the CG and art direction as a whole in order to showcase all these things in a single drama series.

- Those who are fans of Yamazaki Kento and Tsuchiya Tao and/or want to see Arisu and Usagi together (at long last!) should be satisfied with this latest installment. Although the journey to being together for good (at least for now) was hardly smooth-sailing and they didn't get to spend a lot of time playing the games together.

- The star-studded supporting cast lineup with some surprises here and there should be quite satisfying to watch for most viewers. The part featuring familiar faces from past seasons in somewhat altered settings towards the end definitely stirs up some nostalgic feelings.

Disliked: 

- Given that there were two main plotlines in the earlier part of this season i.e. the Arisu's games subplot and Usagi's games subplot with Ryuji, it was inevitable that some of the games were shown only in "digest" format with hardly any explanation on the rules or the progression/outcome of the game. Coincidentally or not, it was Usagi's earlier games which were featured in this manner.

While Arisu's games tend to be the intellectual type, Usagi's games were clearly focusing on the physical aspect so she seemed to be able to sail through them pretty effortlessly despite being supposedly in a condition where she couldn't or shouldn't be involved in such punishing and strenuous activities. Ironically, her game buddy Ryuji was in a wheelchair so the fact that he survived till the end was kind of bewildering, even with Usagi's assistance.

Honestly speaking, some of the games had some "bugs" or obvious loopholes which meant that they didn't seem quite logical. On one end of the spectrum, the physical games seemed to be so easy to understand but there was also a very complicated one i.e. Zombiegari which was simply mind-boggling. As such, I didn't feel the same kind of engagement with most of the games as compared to Season 1 and even 2.

- Perhaps because the games didn't seem to be the focus in this sequel, that was probably why the pace of the game developments was so uneven. In contrast, there was a lot more time towards the end discussing this "big" issue which I thought was rather meaningless and too lengthy. Coupled with the fact that there was hardly any conclusion and there were still lots of questions to be answered, I couldn't help but feel that the ending was like click bait - looks like the creators are still not done with this series. I can't say for sure whether I still want to continue watching this but something needs to be done about the story and real/substantial answers should be given by now if the games are going to play second fiddle to the main plot going forward.

- I wonder if it was a smart move to keep Arisu and Usagi away from each other for most of the story and introduce a sinister third wheel to stir trouble for them. Personally, I was fine with them being separated since there was a significance to this setting but the third wheel development was somewhat redundant and rather annoying to watch even though I liked Kaku Kento's performance.

Quick Review #147: "Housoukyoku senkyo" - Summer 2025

Title: Housoukyoku senkyo / 放送局占拠　　　　　　　　

Rating: 1 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who have been watching the "Senkyo" series and don't mind the illogical developments and blatant attempt to stretch this franchise for as long as possible

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- Nothing.

Disliked: 

- Much as my expectations had been very much lowered especially after the pretty disappointing Season 2, this was really terrible in more ways than one. There were plenty of ridiculous developments such as someone suffering a seemingly life-threatening injury yet coming back as if nothing happened or that Musashi just seemed to emerge unscathed no matter what happened to him. Even playing this at 1.5x speed was a huge test to my patience and I kept wishing for this drama to end once and for all. Although I could have dropped this halfway, I guess I was being a bit "defiant" as well because I wanted to see how bad this could get and to give myself a strong reason to stop watching this series, if it does have a sequel in time to come.

As I see it, the biggest issue with the story was the motives spurring the criminals who took over the TV station being terribly "trivial and stale". Actually, one common theme across all three installments of the Senkyo series was the injustice that people suffered or rather their loved ones did. As such, to rise against the rich and the powerful for causing those injustices was something I sort of expected to be a motivating factor for the three groups of criminals featured to date. Beyond this aspect, the underlying themes such as people being influenced easily by the mass media which present only one side of an issue (sometimes skewed, twisted or even faked) and irresponsible keyboard warriors who fail to realise the weight of their reckless actions are actually topics which can spur a lot of soul-searching and be analyzed in a meaningful and deep manner. However, this drama "packaged" the story in such a way that the significance and meaning of these issues were superficial at best. For example, the reason why the leader of the group bore a grudge against Musashi was for a reason that was no fault of the latter because he was just doing his job and that it was really a set of unfortunate coincidental circumstances that led to the situation. The lack of a compelling and convincing story to justify the actions of the criminals was really the biggest downfall of this drama. As a viewer, I couldn't care less for the group even when they were rounded up by the police and had to see their scheme fall through right before their eyes.

Although the drama's ending definitely hinted at a sequel by throwing up another BIG question, I think I've had enough. I don't think I can stomach another installment even in the name of supporting Sakurai Sho.

- While the concept of having a masked criminal group take over a key facility and the face reveal may have been refreshing and interesting in Season 1, the novelty had already worn off by Season 2 and it would take a lot for Season 3 to build on this predictable formula and introduce some new elements so as to entice viewers again. And I have to say, the cast playing the masked criminals just didn't spike the same level of interest and wow factor with each passing season. Unless you have someone who can really attract viewers' attention or at least have an actor who will make people excited seeing to lead the group, chances are, people won't bother staying on to find out who are the actors behind the masks. While the Internet was abuzz with netizens guessing who played who in Season 1 such as identifying Kikuchi Fuuma from the very first episode, I just didn't see that kind of fervent activity and interest during the runs of the sequels. And with each face reveal, it hardly left a dent and impression because it was pretty easy to guess especially from the midpoint onwards.

To keep bringing Kikuchi's Yamato back but not really giving his character much meaning to his motivations and depth in the story was a bad idea. It felt almost like the series was trying too hard to cling onto this character to be the thread that would string together all the installments in this series besides the lead character Musashi. It might have been better to move on and create a new nemesis for Musashi if all they are going to do with Yamato is just for him to appear periodically as a ghost haunting Musashi.

Quick Review #144: "Daitsuiseki Keishicho SSBC kyoukouhangakari" - Summer 2025

Title: Daitsuiseki Keishicho SSBC kyoukouhangakari / 大追跡　警視庁SSBC強行犯係　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 2 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of the cast members and don't mind a lacklustre storyline

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- What made this drama different from many other police detective stories was the integration of modern investigation techniques tapping on technology. As such, in this regard, it was a refreshing take on approaching criminal case investigations and was a nice contrast with the traditional methods doing so. There were quite a number of interesting technological concepts introduced along the way so I found that there was a bit of educational value amid the entertainment.

Disliked: 

- However, the biggest issue with this drama was the poorly crafted story. Considering that the entire drama spanned 8 episodes, as many as 6 could be considered as fillers which hardly contributed to the so-called hidden conspiracy/background story. And then things got wrapped up so sloppily as if the drama had to be wrapped up in a big hurry. I held out till the end and was anticipating a major twist or some grand conspiracy that could effectively write off the frustration and boredom brought about by the meek and predictable storyline in the first two-thirds of the drama. Not only did it fail to deliver that, how things ended just felt as if the characters went through so much for nothing. To be honest, I was also pretty upset about wasting my time on this title over the past two months or so.

- While I admit that one of my initial motivators for watching this was to support Aiba Masaki, I was also attracted to the fact that Oomori Nao was one of the three leads and the script was by Fukuda Yasushi. Surely this drama would be of a decent quality with these two elements in place? Despite a pretty stellar cast, the actors were indeed let down by the story which did not give much room for the characters' development. Most of them were very forgettable because there were not that many background stories and developments to help them make an impression on viewers. The three leads also did not really get to display a "bond" between their characters or become a trio who became great work buddies over the course of spending a few months together. If it had been that the characters were at least appealing or endearing to watch, I might have been a bit more forgiving in my assessment of the disappointing storyline.

Quick Review #143: "Watashi no otto to kekkon shite" - Summer 2025

Title: Watashi no otto to kekkon shite / 私の夫と結婚して　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of the original webtoon and/or Korean drama series OR like time-travel second-chance-in-life revenge stories OR are fans of the main leads

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original webtoon nor watched the Korean drama series.

Liked:

- While I am not a fan of time-travel second-chance-in-life stories and did not want to start watching the Korean series because it had so many episodes, the fact that the Japanese version was much shorter at just 10 episodes definitely lowered the barrier to entry. And as a result, the pace of the story was fast, especially in the first half and in a way, prevented the developments from being too drawn out. Although I was initially a bit concerned about this being a direct copy-and-paste from the Korean version, I'm glad to see that this Japanese version had the typical elements of Japanese-style storytelling and retained the Japanese societal traits so the story was a lot more palatable than I thought.

- The acting of the 4 main leads i.e. Koshiba Fuuka, Sato Takeru, Shiraishi Sei and Yokoyama Yu was simply brilliant. If not for the four of them, this story might not have been compelling enough for me to finish watching everything in 3 days. Koshiba's transformation, not just in the external sense but also the internal emotions of her character, was believable and extremely interesting to watch. Shiraishi went all out to play such an obnoxious woman throughout most of the drama but towards the end, managed to show the pitiful side of how her character became so warped. Yokoyama definitely showed very convincingly how his character pretended to be smart and had an inflated ego based on empty confidence yet was downright dumb till the end. And for Sato, I'm sure many female viewers will be quite besotted with him not just because his image this time was visually appealing but also because his character was so much in love with the heroine and did so much for her. I also thought that the chemistry between Koshiba and Sato was very good and they did look quite compatible with each other.

- Perhaps due to the fact that this was an Amazon Prime drama with a top production house in South Korea so the production did come across as more polished and refined in terms of its visuals, cinematography and art design (costumes and sets in particular). Guess having lots of resources (or rather money) does help in making things better than the norm. The BGM and songs used in the drama were rather suitable for the story developments as well. If joint productions do bring out the best from both countries, I surely wouldn't mind seeing more of such collaborations. However, that would only work if neither side tries too hard to push for their influences to be highlighted more prominently than the other despite the story not being positioned to accommodate that. 

Disliked: 

- I'm still not a fan of this genre despite the quality of this drama. It will take a lot more novelty and a refreshingly different approach to change my mind about this because I've seen so many of such stories over the years.  And if you are looking for a revenge tale which will be gratifying enough to see the evil being punished for their deeds, I think this drama did end on a rather meek note especially the parts which tried to "redeem" or justify the deeds done by the baddies. They might have certain experiences which you can sympathise with but still, it doesn't make their actions understandable nor forgivable.

- While I do think that Sato's character would be pretty appealing to most female viewers, I felt a bit uncomfortable about him trying very hard to suppress and lower the tone of his voice when he was speaking. Perhaps the script was designed in such a way that he had to act in this way to show the aloofness of his character so as to contrast against the strong love he had for the heroine (he spoke very nicely and often gently to her compared when talking to others). This is just me but I actually prefer a male lead who can be effortlessly kakkoii without having to speak in such a low tone on purpose and coming across as awkward. As such, I think not being swept off my feet by this loving buchou probably lessened my level of enjoyment while watching this drama.

Quick Review #140: Rakujitsu - Summer 2023

Title: Rakujitsu / 落日　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a decent suspense story with good acting from Kitagawa Keiko, Yoshioka Riho & Takeuchi Ryoma

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- Although the drama was very short with just 4 episodes, this length was actually beneficial in helping the story to stay on course and the pace to be maintained at just enough to lure viewers to continue watching without feeling bored but not too fast enough to confuse. It felt as if an onion was being peeled layer by layer as the facts came to light one by one so it was quite satisfying to be surprised at many junctures.

- The acting from Kitagawa and Yoshioka was very good. While their characters may seem subdued at first due to the emotions and trauma they had hidden underneath, the moment when their pasts and vulnerabilities were revealed didn't come across as overly dramatic as they maintained the balance very well. On the other hand, Takeuchi may not have appeared much but he also left a deep impression on me with how he managed to show both sides of his character convincingly.

Disliked: 

- The thing I find about Minato Kanae's stories is, they always start off brilliantly but I always find the endings underwhelming for some reason. Not sure if the problem had to do with bringing her novels to life in dramas and movies though. While I knew that this story would probably not be conclusive or offer any concrete solutions at the end, I thought that the way the ending was presented felt a bit odd and forced to resonate with the title. 

Quick Review #139: Ame ni kieta himawari - Summer 2022

Title: Ame ni kieta himawari / 雨に消えた向日葵　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a story about family ties and overcoming crime-induced trauma but don't mind the lack of suspense and/or would like to watch Muro Tsuyoshi and Sato Ryuuta's serious acting

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The good thing was that this drama was only 5 episodes long so despite the heavy themes about the difficulties of overcoming crime-induced trauma and how families grapple with their loved ones being victims of crime, I thought that the overall mood was emotional but not too draggy. By showing those who are embroiled in the current case vs. those who had supposedly emerged from the pain of past trauma, it provided a good contrast and conveyed the message that time is the best medicine to cure those wounds but everyone has their own way and timeline to do that.

- Given that Muro and Sato tend to act in more funny or somewhat eccentric kind of roles, it was a refreshing change to see them getting serious in this drama. However, I liked the fact that they didn't seem to be trying too hard to put on a straight face and their balanced acting this time would probably convince viewers that these two are indeed capable of good acting. Might take a bit of time to get used to seeing Muro hardly ever smiling in this drama though.

Disliked: 

- The thing is, the original novel is said to be a mystery story but there was really nothing to deduce especially with regard to the ongoing case featured in the drama. While this is one of the rare dramas which does not take a critical view of the police nor paint them to be unfeeling jerks when dealing with the victims and their families, you can't help but feel that the drama also didn't showcase them in a positive light especially when it comes to the investigation process. Somehow, I felt that the lapses in the process or how analogue their methods were just seemed to be quite illogical so that's why it took them so long to find the culprit and victim. As such, if you don't mind the lack of suspense or rather this element is considered weak in this drama, you might be able to enjoy this for the humanity aspect instead.

Quick Review #138: Nami uraraka ni, Meoto biyori - Spring 2025

Title: Nami uraraka ni, Meoto biyori / playe　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a cute and sweet love story and don't mind the predictability of the plot and/or are fans of the lead actors

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga.

Liked:

- While I never expected much from this drama right from the beginning, it turned out to be way better than I thought. To be honest, the plot wasn't anything new nor did it offer much surprises along the way. However, what made this a gem was really the way the story was presented. Amid the messy and dramatic furin and love triangle/multi-angled stories which are very common these days, there was really nothing much to derail the main couples from their journeys of falling in love with each other. Everything was straightforward yet it was so refreshing and relaxing to see how things were progressing. I guess bucking the trend and going back to the good old-fashioned basics of a love story, also thanks to the fact that this story was sent in the older days, really helped to make this a lot more palatable than expected.

- The cast was simply amazing in more ways than one. For a start, Yoshine Kyoko and Honda Kyoya played their characters so well and managed to convey the shyness, awkwardness and innocence of the lead couple as they "went backwards" by getting married first then falling in love with each other. Surprisingly, it didn't feel like acting because they were so natural in their performances and I have to say, I was really impressed. Likewise goes for Yamamoto Maika and Koseki Yuuta - at one point, I became a bigger fan of the Fumiko-Fukami pairing that I wanted to see more of them and their interesting interactions. Last but not least, Namase Katsuhisa's narration was so hillarious and provided much entertainment for this story which could be a tad predictable at times.

- The theme song by BE:FIRST was such a perfect fit for this drama and it's rare these days that I could remember a song pretty well and liked it enough to add it to my playlist just after watching the first episode.

Disliked: 

- Towards the end, I felt that the story was showing signs of losing steam and wondered if it could be more compact by shedding an episode or two. Much as I liked most parts of this drama, the finale came across to me as rather slipshod because I was expecting more to round things up nicely. However, that prolonged recap of Natsumi and Takimasa's love journey with those flashbacks got on my nerves. To make things worse, I wanted more of Fumiko-Fukami but there was no wedding scene! If not for the poorly-done finale, I think I would have rated this higher.

Quick Review #137: Koi wa yami - Spring 2025

Title: Koi wa yami / 恋は闇　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch an engaging and romantic love story with murder suspense as a subplot and/or are fans of Kishii Yukino and Shison Jun

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- The romance i.e. koi part of this drama was definitely the highlight, thanks to the great acting of Kishii and Shison. Not only did the two of them look so compatible visually, their chemistry from the early stage of their relationship to when they were so deeply in love with each other was very engaging to watch. 

Disliked: 

- As I mentioned before in a post about my impression of Ep 1, this drama might have initially given off vibes as a romantic version of "Anata no ban desu" but sad to say, it just didn't have the same kind of engaging lure like the latter. One key difference between these two stories was the fact that "Anata no ban desu" did not hesitate to "kill off" key characters and often at very surprising paces and junctures of the story. And that's what kept viewers going on and talking about it online week after week even though "Anata no ban desu" stretched across two seasons and yet didn't feel draggy until the finale was such a huge letdown. However, the victims in "Koi wa yami" were not regular cast members to begin with so the serial murders just didn't have the same kind of "significance" to make viewers care about how the suspense plot would unfold. The only surprise was the death of the police detective Owada who figured out the real identity of the killer way earlier than everyone else. What made things even worse was the whole deduction process came across as "lacking in urgency" and there were so many loopholes in the plot along the way that it felt very anti-climatic by the time the finale came about.

- The same issue with "Anata no ban desu" was replicated here - the motive of the killer, modus operandi and Shitara Hiroki's involvement in the whole scheme didn't make sense or you could find lots of illogical stuff to find fault with. Pardon me for saying this but the motive just came across as terribly senseless and trivial for the killer to unleash so much hatred against the female victims over such a long period of time. And if Hiroki had been in cahoots with the real killer for as long as a decade, what happened to the murders that happened before the current string of 5+1 murders (1 survived the attack) was linked to one another by the police and media? And Mikuru's animosity towards Makoto initially - it was not as if she had romantic feelings for her half-brother so why did she behave like that at first? Why would Hiroki have knowingly let his father take the blame for him with regard to Hiroki's mother's murder (well, it turned out that the father went to jail actually not for his son but the real killer)?

Frankly speaking, it was not difficult to guess from the start who the real killer was because he already looked so suspicious in many ways. However, I find it hard to be convinced by his rationale so I couldn't help but roll eyes as I saw the part about his confession.

- NTV is up to its Hulu antics again - in order to find out why the killer behaved the way he did and possibly some new titbits in the romance department, there is a spinoff/special that's on Hulu exclusively. So if you are like me who only watched the full drama and have no intention to pay for Hulu just to watch this spinoff, you'll probably not be able to make much sense of the killer's mentality and possibly change your perception of him. Makes me wonder why NTV just cannot learn its lesson from the criticism it got some years ago by doing the same. Is it really that hard to tell the story in its entirety within the drama series instead of resorting to spinoffs that contain critical parts of the plot? 

Quick Review #136: Mamono - Spring 2025

Title: Mamono / 魔物　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who fancy the fatal attraction-type of romance involving an older woman and a younger man and/or are fans of Asou Kumiko, Shiono Akihisa and Kita Kana

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- As the drama was only 8 episodes long, the story didn't take too long to ignite the sizzling and fatal romance. At least for the first 3 episodes, this felt like a really mind-blowing rollercoaster romance until the deadly parts of this intense attraction surfaced as quickly in the second half of the drama. The ending was handled pretty well too especially the part of who-killed-the-guy making more sense than what was hinted at initially. I may have been concerned about this drama being draggy before I started watching it but thankfully, my worries were unfounded.

- The onscreen chemistry between Asou and Shiono was absolutely sizzling right from the onset and way better than I expected initially. As the romance soured due to the domestic violence inflicted by the guy, the tension between them changed and was very compelling to watch. Even the love-hate marriage which Shiono and Kita's characters were stuck in was interesting to observe from the sidelines.

While Shiono may not have left much of an impression on me with his past works which I saw before, I think this drama made me remember him in a good way. Likewise for Asou, I've seen her works many times to date but this was probably the first time that I thought she looked and acted very different from her past roles. Kita was pretty good at showing the multiple facades of her character and I thought she balanced these aspects well enough to make it believable.

Disliked: 

- This being a Japan-Korea joint production, I can understand if there's a need to include Korean influences and elements into the drama. However, inserting the names of Korean dishes into the sub titles for each episode just felt out of place and sometimes did not really gel with the main developments of that episode. As such, while I don't see an issue with featuring Korean elements in the story (despite this being set in Japan), it is best not to try too hard and end up spoiling the vibe in the drama.

- As the story was heavily centered on the two pairings i.e. Ayame-Iteya and Kanon-Iteya, the other characters felt more like an afterthought and didn't make as much of an impact, at least to me. I would have thought that the relationships between the Nada family members would be quite interesting to delve into but the story barely scrapped the surface of that aspect.

- While this was supposed to address the important question of who killed who that resulted in Ayame becoming the accused in a murder trial, I thought that the police's investigative work was slipshod. Ultimately, it depended on someone's confession for the truth to be out rather than the police doing what they were supposed to do. I would have expected the police to be able to force Ayame's side into a corner with more compelling evidence and facts to prove her guilt but alas, this didn't happen.

Quick Review #135: Caster - Spring 2025

Title: Caster / キャスター　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 2 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who don't mind watching a messed up story promising too much but delivering too little

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- While I do not have very nice words for most of this drama, some cast members did try their best to deliver their best despite the limitations they faced especially Otoo Takuma and Tsukishiro Kanato. 

- The production team's courage to pick up and cover some controversial real-life examples in the earlier episodes.

Disliked: 

- The biggest problem was with the story. As I wrote before, the fact that this drama had as many as 6 scriptwriters, the illogical settings and developments were the root cause that resulted in the story losing focus and going in various directions but lost its way at the end. Not only were the loose ends not tied up properly, the ending and so-called truth/revelations were just so slipshod that I wondered why I wasted three months on this. It felt like the production team couldn't wait to wrap up this whole thing even though the big topic in the end could have been dealt with in a deeper and more thoughtful manner. And to think that the ending hinted at the possibility of a sequel! I'm sorry but I don't think I can watch anything more from this series.

I really should have given up much earlier like what I did with "Get Ready!" which had a similar problem. 

And TBS does need to be more careful about using keywords like unconventional, break out of the norm or shocking in its promotional slogans. The sense of disappointment gets bigger when the actual product turns out to be much less than promised.

- To be honest, some may argue that the inability by many viewers to enjoy the drama arose from Nagano Mei's two-timing scandal which was exposed soon after the first OA. To be fair to her, the fundamental cause of this drama's failure was still the poorly-structured story. However, the fact that her character Sakikubo Hana was two-faced and had double standards when it came to dealing with issues dear to her or detached from her situation made her lines and behaviour in the story very difficult to resonate with. Her scandal only served to amplify how hollow her words and actions came across because they were like boomerangs that went straight back to her as thinly-veiled criticism towards her real-life actions (whether intended or not). As such, to see a heroine go on and on as if she is some righteous person on a crusade to take down the lead character - that just came across as nonsense and downright hypocritical.

- Although Kim Mu-jun's significance in this story wasn't big to begin with and I am not a fan of him, I felt that how he was effectively erased from the drama without a trace after the scandal broke was distasteful to say the least. 

- I watched this for the sake of Abe Hiroshi but sad to say, this really wasn't one of his best performances to date. My biggest grouse was, Shindo came across more as an investigative journalist rather than a newscaster and he simply didn't behave like a newscaster especially when it came to his posture and way of speaking on air. I get that he was supposed to be unconventional but the basics of being the lead caster weren't even there. Compared to his co-caster played by Tsukishiro who looked extremely convincing, the contrast was even harder to ignore.

Quick Review #134: Taigan no kaji - Spring 2025

Title: Taigan no kaji / 対岸の家事　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a meaningful story about respecting one another's life choices and lifestyles with a heartwarming vibe but do not mind it for being a tad slow at times

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- The drama stayed true to its central theme of showing understanding for people in different circumstances and one another's life choices and lifestyles. As such, the vibe of the story was thoughtful and meaningful yet it didn't prescribe a single solution to the problems featured nor push one school of thought over the other. I think this approach would resonate well with a wide audience regardless of your life situation and the feeling of being understood and heard made it enjoyable to watch this. And it was good that the drama did not try to push for a happily-ever-after and expected ending especially the part when Nakatani (Dean Fujioka) wanted to have time to think about when he was ready to forgive his mother.

- The casting was quite unconventional in the sense that Tabe Mikako was paired with Ichinose Wataru while Dean Fujioka played a couple with Shimabukuro Hiroko. While their acting was good and brought out the signature traits of their characters, I found Eguchi Noriko's character to stand out more as she managed to display the struggles and vulnerabilities of a working mother very well. 

Disliked: 

- The side plot which dragged on for a few episodes i.e. the threats against Shiho (Tabe) for being a housewife was terrible and totally redundant. I get that the issue featured was important in a sense but the mis-directed anger towards Shiho for nothing was hardly convincing. The so-called resolution to the situation was even more ridiculous.

- As a former SPEED fan during their heydays, much as I was surprised to see Hiroko act in this drama, the amount of airtime she had was simply too little and hardly satisfying even though the character had the potential to be quite interesting.

- To be honest, the story lost steam in the second half and I was getting a tad bored with the slowness especially when they spent so much time on the threats made towards Shiho. If the drama had dragged on for another episode or two, I might have given up before the finale.

Quick Review #131: Mukashi no otoko - Spring 2001

Title: Mukashi no otoko / 昔の男　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 4 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch an erotic/adult story about people who go crazy for love and/or like stories about people having affairs but masked as pure love

AND/OR

Those who want to see the key cast members i.e. Fujiwara Norika, Oosawa Takao, Abe Hiroshi and Tomita Yasuko from 24 years ago in a messy romance story

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I had actually watched this before a long time ago but didn't remember the details.

Liked:

- Oosawa Takao + Abe Hiroshi exuding a lot of sexy charm from 24 years ago is probably going to be a huge draw for the female viewers. As for the guys, there is Fujiwara Norika looking hot and gorgeous and Tomita Yasuko with a demure and beautiful look (not when her character goes crazy though).

- This being an adult love story and that there was quite a fair bit of attention on the physical attraction and desire between the characters, it was no wonder that there were a lot of intimate scenes. While I thought that there were too many at some point because it got so repetitive, I guess the sole saving grace was that they didn't go too big on the nudity so it didn't feel like a porn flick.

- Tomita's acting definitely outshone everyone else in the cast. Not an easy role to play because it would feel fake if she went too overboard so I thought that she did very well with maintaining a fine balance between the different facades of her character.

Disliked: 

- You might arrive at different conclusions and views on this drama depending on at which age or life stage when you watched this and/or in which era. Back then when this first aired, although I don't quite remember how I came across this drama and the details of the story, I do have a vague impression that I was pretty shocked by this. Not sure if it was due to the scriptwriter Uchidate Makiko's style of storytelling but I think I had a similar shocking experience when I watched another drama from her i.e. "Kegareta shita" in 2005. That was even more extreme than this drama, if I must say.

I was not an adult yet when this drama aired so I think my interpretation of the storyline and the characters naturally differed from how I look it at it now. There were probably many like me at that time who might wanted the lead characters to be together happily ever after despite the mess they created in the process. However, the me in 2025 just cannot see the lead couple in the same light anymore because the tinted glasses which I saw them through due to the way the story was crafted are gone. Perhaps it's due to having seen so many fictional and real-life affair stories in the Japanese entertainment scene over the past two decades that it has "opened up my eyes" to the problematic, immoral and sometimes evil behaviour which many of the characters engaged in. As such, it was difficult for me to feel for the characters, much less rooting for them.

I failed to comprehend how the lead couple could be having an affair so openly and selfishly while the people around them somehow facilitated or egged them or sort of turned a blind eye to what was going on. The mother-in-law who didn't blame her son for having an affair but directed criticism at the daughter-in-law? And what's with the boyfriend and the ex-boyfriend sitting together to have drinks in a pub talking about the same woman they were sleeping with?! A woman feeling like she got spurned but actually the man had never even expressed any interest in her before and it was one-sided on her part all along? And the current boyfriend helping the girlfriend go to taunt the ex-boyfriend so that the latter could be seduced by her again? All these things made it rather impossible for me to like this drama and instead, I found myself shaking my head at how ridiculous and nonsensical some of these developments were.

While I might have thought in the past that Tomita's character as the cheated on wife was largely at fault for "indirectly" causing her husband's infidelity, I think that the other side of the story which might not have been apparent to my younger self had become more obvious and understandable to me now. If I was writing this review after the first time I watched this drama, I might have kinder words for it though.

Quick Review #129: Kounodori 1 - Autumn 2015

Title: Kounodori 1 / コウノドリ １　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a no-frills realistic take on the issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth with a star-studded cast and/or are fans of the MIU404 duo i.e. Ayano Go and Hoshino Gen in a hospital setting

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Currently showing on Netflix (availability subject to geographical location)

* I have not read the original manga.

Liked:

- Unlike a lot of medical dramas which tend to make the lead character-doctor appear to be almighty and can cure anyone or all medical complications/issues can be resolved no matter what happens, this drama came across as pretty down-to-earth and largely realistic because it showed both the positive and negative sides for issues raised. While there were some regretful developments which may be sad, the imperfection portrayed here mirrors how life is really like so I thought it was good that the drama did not try to gloss over things and push for a all-ends-well-eventually vibe throughout.

There was also a lot of useful and hardly-known information about pregnancy, childbirth and social support for childcare which I think would be beneficial for anyone to know and to understand that having a child safely and successfully is not a given. Most importantly, I think the story did not try to give a best or only answer for the topics raised and left that judgement to the viewers because we would probably think differently based on our circumstances and experience to date. As such, it didn't feel like the drama was trying to push for a single outcome or most acceptable solution to viewers.

- The drama boasted of a star-studded line-up with the regulars being all leading-actors level by now so if you are fans of them, you will probably enjoy watching this at least for the sake of seeing how they used to act 10 years ago. I also liked the bickering young doctors played by Matsuoka Mayu and Sakaguchi Kentaro. What was also good was that the drama didn't try too hard in making the characters look like super beings who could do everything so everyone was endearing and relatable in their own right especially the parts where their vulnerabilities were displayed.

- Among the guests, I would say that Oguri Shun and Yamaguchi Mayu left the strongest impression on me. Well, in Oguri's case, you can consider him to be somewhat like a sub-regular member of the cast because he appeared quite a number of times across multiple episodes despite being a guest. Not that I mind though because I really enjoyed his performance as a single father who had to take care of his baby daughter on his own after his wife passed away due to an accident. As for Yamaguchi, her scene as a teenage mother who had to give up her baby for adoption as soon as she had given birth - I thought her acting was really heart-wrenching and convincing despite her being a teenager as well at that time. Although the drama featured quite a number of sad moments, hers was the only one which really moved me.

Disliked: 

- Perhaps this might be more of an issue for people like me who watched "MIU404" first before the "Kounodori" series but I felt that the character setting for Ayano and Hoshino's characters was somewhat identical i.e. one hot and one cold. As such, there were quite a lot of times when I felt that I was watching "MIU404" in a hospital setting and I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching a different drama. Given that the gap between both dramas was a good 5 years and that "MIU404" did not have original content to be based on, I just found that the overlap in their character settings somehow gave a been-there-done-that vibe so the novelty factor in that sense was somewhat lacking. I wonder if I might have felt the same way about "MIU404" if I had watched "Kounodori" first.

- Much as I said above that the story was largely rooted in reality and didn't try to be too dramatic, I found the ending a bit too idealistic and seemingly in a hurry to wrap up everything nicely. Perhaps it might be better to maintain the imperfection e.g. how Arai (Yamaguchi Sayaka) did not return to work as she was taking a break due to burnout rather than try to make everything look so hopeful and positive such as the couple taking their baby home after being unable to accept him for a long time.

Quick Review #128: Bansan Blues - Winter 2025

Title: Bansan Blues / 晩餐ブルース　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a healing show featuring food and friendship amid the struggles of life

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- What really left a deep impression on me was how well the cooking scenes were done. While it may feel like I was watching "Kinou nani tabeta" at times, the style here was a lot more "calming and comfortable" because there was hardly any narration nor loud BGM to explain the steps involved in the cooking process. As such, I managed to focus more on the visuals of the food and natural sounds from the cooking steps which somehow felt very therapeutic to watch. Be warned though, don't watch this while hungry because it can be quite torturous to see the delicious dishes on display and the cast indulging in the food.

- The "blues" part of the story was handled with the right amount of heaviness and did not make the whole drama feel like a depressing tale. The struggles felt by the key characters in this drama were relatable and very real. As the story progressed and the trio rekindled their friendship through sharing dinner, the whole atmosphere became a lot more positive and hopeful even though there wasn't any definite or long-term solution given. This transition coincided with the season setting in this drama i.e. from the cold and bleak winter to a warmer and brighter spring.

- Inowaki Kai and Kaneko Daichi were very good in their respective roles. Inowaki managed to convey the lethargic and somewhat brooding character especially towards the end. As for Kaneko, I thought that he did the cooking scenes really well and showed the depressed side of his character with precision without going overboard. I must say, this drama has also changed my impression of Kaneko to a large extent because I honestly didn't remember much of his past performances in supporting roles even though he is a familiar face to me.

Disliked: 

- While it was good that the episodes were less than 30 mins long, I thought that it could have been a bit shorter because the pace was a bit draggy towards the last few episodes. This probably coincided with the twist in Yuuta's (Inowaki) psychological state because he had been the one who was more "cheerful" at first so the atmosphere became a lot more heavier compared to when it was Kousuke (Kaneko) who was in the doldrums. Perhaps keeping it to between 6 and 8 episodes might make the story a bit more succinct.

- As I pointed out above, I liked the cooking scenes for being "no-frills" which allowed me to enjoy them more. Towards the end when more people started to cook with Yuuta, it got a lot more noisier and there were some parts which had narration so I didn't quite like this change.  

Quick Review #126: Tengoku to Jigoku ~ Saiko na futari ~ - Winter 2021

Title: Tengoku to Jigoku ~ Saiko na futari ~ / 天国と地獄～サイコな２人～　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a soul-switching suspense story with great acting from Ayase Haruka and Takahashi Issei

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- While I am not a fan of stories involving switched souls especially when it involves a man and a woman, I thought that it was smart for the story not to focus too long on the inconveniences and trouble experienced due the characters' souls changing to a body of the opposite gender. This subplot may have created some comical relief here and there but I didn't want to see the drama become a half-baked comedy so it was great to see that the story didn't deviate too much from the main plot of investigating the serial murders.

- Although I must say that the truth behind the serial murders was somewhat obvious i.e. Hidaka (Takahashi) couldn't have been the culprit, I felt that the rationale/motive behind the murders was actually rather interesting and meaningful. And the fact that this was in sync with the title beyond the circumstances which the lead characters were in i.e. Hidaka and Azuma's fates were decided just due to a 15-min difference in birth order, I thought that it was a nice round-up to the concept of heaven vs. hell.

- Ayase and Takahashi delivered great performances albeit in slightly different manners. I felt that Ayase was probably more outstanding in terms of showing the transformation in a more physical and visible manner while Takahashi absolutely nailed it in terms of subtle mannerisms and facial expressions especially when it came to the more emotional scenes. Fans of Ayase would be very pleased to see her looking really gorgeous after the body-switch because her original setting as Mochizuki was supposed to be someone who didn't pay much attention to dolling up. And Takahashi did look quite good in this drama - a welcome deviation from the recent roles I saw him which tend to "cover up" his good looks.

Disliked: 

- The use of Beethoven's "Symphony No.5" as the BGM got on my nerves a fair bit. Sometimes, when the vibe of a scene was comparatively serious, the entry of this piece at such junctures was a big distraction and sort of weakened the atmosphere build-up as a result. In addition, the opening title segment was simply too drawn-out so I had to skip this part in every episode.

- As a suspense story, I thought that the complexity of the case could be further improved. Right from the start, the use of Sakoda Takaya to play Azuma already suggested that this character couldn't be an insignificant one so it was a dead giveaway on the importance of this role. 

Quick Review #113: Boku dake ga inai machi - Autumn 2017

Title: Boku dake ga inai machi / 僕だけがいない街

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who like time-travel or time-loop stories with a suspense element

* Disclaimer: I have not read the manga nor watched the anime or real-life movie versions.

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- The child actors especially Uchikawa Reo and Kakihara Rinka who played Satoru and Kayo respectively were very impressive. Coupled with the fact that the childhood arc was quite concentrated in the earlier part of the drama, it further accentuated the impact of their acting as compared to the adult arc which were very scattered and comparatively disconnected until the last few episodes. I especially liked the friendship formation phase of Satoru and Kayo as it was heartwarming yet bittersweet at the same time.

- The beautiful snowy scenery in Hokkaido during the childhood arc was such a joy to admire.

Disliked: 

- The suspense was quite a letdown since it was too obvious from the start who was the culprit. Going by the rule of "the most unexpected person closest to you is the most suspicious", it was a no brainer that the teacher of Satoru's class was the one who had the biggest advantage of being able to execute the scheme of killing children. As such, the part until Satoru reached the answer was quite yawn-inducing. Even the confrontation at the end finished on a weak note.

- As mentioned above, the adult arc didn't feel so engaging to watch because it was so disconnected and that the constant time travel disrupted the slow of the story. This also made it difficult for me as a viewer to enjoy the performances of the adult actors so they didn't really leave a deep and good impression on me. I wouldn't say that the adult actors didn't do well but it was more of their characters not growing on me and the story arrangement didn't work in their favour.

- The length of the drama could be shorter. Despite the fact that each episode was about 30 mins or lesser, 12 episodes still felt too dragged out and the suspense/excitement factor was inevitably lower due to the length of the drama. The ending also felt underwhelming as the ex-teacher's fate was not clearly indicated and there wasn't any gratification felt about nabbing the culprit. To begin with, since I'm not a fan of stories about time travel and repeating the experiences in life, I would have preferred this drama to have half the number of episodes so that the pace of the storytelling could be faster.

Quick Review #112: Private Banker - Winter 2025

Title: Private Banker / プライベートバンカー

Rating: 6 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who are interested in a finance & investment-themed drama with mind-boggling concepts packaged in easy-to-understand formats, want to see a family fight over their fortune and inheritance and/or are fans of Karasawa Toshiaki and Suzuki Honami

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- I liked how the drama managed to break down very difficult and complicated financial and investment concepts into very easy-to-digest and perfectly understandable titbits while not sacrificing the entertainment factor. While I already knew most of the topics mentioned in this drama, it was refreshing to see them explain things in this manner so you will still pick up some knowledge and new understanding of the things you may already know very well.

- Karasawa Toshiaki's acting as Anno was very interesting on various levels because he could be dorky, charming, serious yet somewhat sinister and switch between these facades at ease. His chemistry with Suzuki Honami who was like his mentee and assistant throughout this drama was intriguing and fun to observe from the sidelines. Her character also served as a representative for viewers and asked seemingly silly but very useful questions to make the financial explanation parts flow more naturally. I also thought that the parents of the Tenguuji family played by Hashizume Isao and Natsuki Mari were especially brilliant and definitely carried the family feud part of the story very well. 

Disliked: 

- Due to the fact that the family feud part of the story took up a significant share of the airtime, it was essential that this had to be exciting enough to hold the viewers' attention. Unfortunately though, it was not meant to be and the way things were going, it was easy to see where it was heading towards i.e. nobody in the family would win the fight. The sole saving grace was seeing Suzuki's character Iida Kumiko i.e. the unexpected outsider taking on the role of being the new president of the company which I thought was a nice ending note to a somewhat meh part of this drama. It would have been disastrous if Anno ended up taking this post for himself because that defeated his purpose and mission as a private banker.

- While Hashizume and Natsuki were great in their roles, their children and the actors playing them were comparatively weaker both in terms of onscreen presence and within the story. It would have been better if the kids gave the parents a run for their money instead of being overpowered completely since this would have provided better dramatic effect to last the entire season. A tug-of-war featuring equally matched-sides is better than an one-sided affair where the winner is clear from the start. Nonetheless, I liked Tamaki Hiroshi's guest appearance as the meek son-in-law who stood up for himself in the end but it was too bad he only starred in one episode.

- Given that Anno is a key figure in this story, I was disappointed to see that there was very little about his background and his motivation for being a private banker. At the end of the story, there was a hint suggesting that he works for someone even more influential and has darker motives when compared to the Tenguuji patriarch. It looks like TV Asahi is leaving the possibility of a sequel or SP open for now depending on the response to the drama series but the incompleteness of Anno's narrative left much to be desired, at least for me personally.

Quick Review #111: Yutori desuga nani ka Junmai ginjou junjou hen (Drama SP)

Title: Yutori desuga nani ka Junmai ginjou junjou hen / ゆとりですがなにか 純米吟醸純情編

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who want to see an update in the lives of the Yutori trio and the people around them after watching the drama series

Liked:

- If you enjoyed watching the Yutori trio in the drama series, this is a must-see for the sake of seeing how their lives have changed one year after the end of the drama. The friendly banter and humour were still present in this SP although there were some issues that cropped up which ended up being largely resolved. 

- The acting from the cast again was the highlight here - in fact, more so than the story itself. Keep a lookout for the cameos here which I thought were pretty surprising.

Disliked: 

- Since the SP was a continuation of the drama series, not watching that beforehand or forgetting the prior storyline might make it difficult for you to remember some of the past references made in the SP. As such, there were quite a lot of flashbacks to the series in the SP. In my case, I watched the SP straight after finishing the series so the high proportion of such flashback scenes got on my nerves at times since these disrupted the flow of the SP's story to a certain extent.

- Given that the SP felt more like an update rather than a new story, it felt as if the goodness or tricks from the series were "rehashed" so the novelty factor was somewhat lacking. It made me wonder if some developments were included as fillers because there surely wasn't a need to split this SP's story into "two episodes" and could have been squeezed into a single 2-hr special or even shorter. For one, the part about Akane's pregnancy which was so obvious just seemed simply ridiculous since there were people in the Sakama household who had gone through pregnancy before and could certainly have noticed the change in her appearance way before the revelation. That hoo-ha over the brewery's survival was also too drawn out.

Quick Review #110: Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita? - Winter 2025

Title: Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita? / クジャクのダンス、誰が見た？

Rating: 2 / 10

Recommended for: 

Those who are fans of the cast and don't mind watching a frustratingly slow and illogical suspense-mystery

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Disclaimer: I have not read the original manga

Liked:

- I admit that my primary motivation for watching this was Matsuyama Kenichi and as expected, I felt that he did a decent job as Matsukaze. Surprisingly, I enjoyed his interaction with Hirose Suzu as their characters developed a comradeship which somehow evolved to being that of a father-and-daughter dynamic with some funny and heartwarming moments.

- The part when the Endo father-and-son pair were reunited after 22 years was so bittersweet but such a joy to watch because of Sakou Yoshi and Narita Ryo's acting. I also liked their interaction with Kamii (Isomura Hayato) who was a key driver of their hard-to-come-by reunion.

Disliked: 

- I certainly did not expect to give such a low score to this drama because it did start off pretty promisingly - at least up to Ep 2. However, things spiraled downwards really quickly as the subsequent episodes felt like teasers with some miserable bread crumbs dropped along the way but nothing major or significant ever happened. This was further aggravated because of the fact that I was watching this one episode at a time and had to wait an entire week for each new release. If not for the fact that I really wanted to find out what was the truth and for the sake of watching Matsuyama, I would have dropped this around Ep 5 or 6. The pace then picked up considerably, in fact it felt like information overload in Ep 9. And yet, the ending was so underwhelming. How boring to learn the truth in this manner! What was even more damning was that there were so many questions which I felt were not properly addressed or the explanation felt unconvincing. This may have to do with the fact that the manga had not been completed until recently. 

Just to name a number of them:

• Why on earth and how did Haruo even get started to re-investigate the old case and arrive at his conclusion that Kyoko was involved? In order to live as a father with pride and not lie to Komugi anymore?
• The Hayashikawa family murders - even though this case was a key event that set a lot of things going wrongly, what and how it happened felt like an afterthought from how the truth was presented in the last episode.
• Same thing goes for Matsukaze's father Kuze - was that all to it? Nothing to do with the family murders?
• Why did Endo Tomoya not reveal that he was called to go to the scene of the arson when he was arrested? And why did he do that anyway?
• Why did Haruo move the baby to the second floor and hide this fact from his colleagues? The action itself wasn't bad or wrong so I fail to understand why.
• Endo Rikiro could hear the baby's cries from outside the house but didn't hear the commotion between the Hayashikawa couple and Kyoko? Seriously?
• How on earth did Akazawa know nothing about Kyoko's secret life? She set up a company, probably put her baby son in childcare, became pregnant with another man's child and disappeared for a while to give birth! By the time she brought the baby Uta to the Hayashikawa residence, that was 6 months after her birth. That means she must have been living apart from Akazawa for at least a year or so. Wouldn't Akazawa have attempted to see his son during that period and simply let her do what she wanted? And if she was still legally married to Akazawa, what about the birth registration of Uta?
• I didn't quite get how Haruo managed to adopt Uta who was in a welfare home before she was about to be adopted by her money-crazy uncle. If there was a family member or relative, I struggle to understand how Haruo could have adopted Uta legally even with the forged birth papers because he was effectively a stranger. And wouldn't the fact that he was an interested party i.e. one of the investigators of the case make his adoption act seem a bit questionable? The police had no idea on the whereabouts of Uta who was the survivor of such a serious crime?
• Where and how did Kyoko and the lawyer Narukawa link up? Did I miss something?
• What was the reason for that letter Haruo left for Komugi? He foresaw that he was going to be killed for re-investigating the old case and wanted Komugi to expose her birth mother? Seriously?

In view of the above, unless you are going to watch when all the episodes have been released and don't mind the suspense being so half-baked, I would really suggest that you steer clear of this drama.

- Given that there was such a star-studded cast, I felt that the story did not allow them to shine as much as they could. It felt like a total waste of talent other than making everyone look suspicious up to Ep 8 but the ending was such a letdown. What was all that hoo-ha about if there wasn't really a mastermind or big baddie at the end of this journey?

- Nowadays, many dramas do not have a separate credits roll and simply integrate that into the ending scenes of an episode. The problem with doing this with this drama's theme song playing in the background was that the volume was not adjusted properly and often interfered with the scenes when characters were still speaking. The part when the singer was hitting the high-pitched notes simply was jarring to the ears. This really got into the way when viewing the episodes and inevitably caused me to be quite annoyed. That was a pity though because I do like the theme song itself but not when it prevented me from hearing what the characters were saying.