Review of "Kodoku no Gurume Season 1" - Winter 2012

I know, I am a very late adopter of the "Kodoku no Gurume" series which already has 5 seasons to date. Much as I had heard of this series a long time ago, I was never really keen to check this out. Honestly, the storyline of watching an ojisan eat wasn't that appealing. Even Matsushige Yutaka said that he had doubts whether viewers would want to see a middle-aged man like him eat on TV. Well, I have been proven wrong. In fact, I am kicking myself for not discovering this gem much earlier.

To put things simply, there is only one main character in this drama i.e. Inogashira Goro played by Matsushige who snagged his first leading role through this drama. Goro is an importer of miscellaneous goods or sundries who often goes to visit his clients. As his is a one-man-business and he has no physical office (the reason why is mentioned in this season), Goro would go to various places to eat alone and enjoys discovering new and unique restaurants and eating places. He has his own philosophy on what to eat depending on what his stomach is craving for and would sometimes order more than he intends to. There is very little known about him other than the fact that he used to have a girlfriend named Sayuki who was an actress. In contrast to the real Matsushige, Goro is a big desserts lover especially wagashi and doesn't drink so Matsushige did mention in an interview that he found it tough at first to eat like Goro during the filming.

The drama operates in a more-or-less standard formula where Goro visits a town/area for business and goes for meals before or after the business meeting. In each episode, one restaurant or eating place is featured with a number of dishes showcased. At the end of the episode, the manga's author Kusumi Masayuki would visit the real restaurant featured and try the dishes introduced or those which were not mentioned.

I made the fatal mistake of watching the first episode past midnight on an empty stomach and was trying so hard to fight the urge to grab a late-night supper. As such, I strongly advise you not to watch this while you are hungry or in the middle of the night. Due to the timing when the drama was aired, it earned itself the nickname of "supper terror" for inducing viewers to eat when they aren't supposed to be.

In terms of the story, there really isn't much to talk about other than highlighting the quirky delivery of its plot which can be rather flat and boring if not done properly. Matsushige turned out to be more interesting than I thought even though you wouldn't imagine watching an ojisan eat could be that fun to watch. I guess the fact that I do eat alone quite often due to work and other reasons made it easier for me to understand why Goro went to so much trouble at times to find something which could satisfy his palate and stomach. To people who can't stand the idea of eating alone, they may find it hard to fathom but I actually find it more liberating and therapeutic than eating in a group. When you are with others, the tendency is to compromise on a mutually agreeable choice which sometimes isn't what I want to eat at that specific moment. As for the time spent deliberating on what to eat, I find myself doing that often too so I can understand Goro's thought process for something as simple as deciding where and what to eat. Perhaps this is why I enjoyed this drama more than I expected at first. Coupled with the delicious-looking food featured in each episode, I really can't find a reason to give this drama a miss and will continue watching the other seasons from now on.

Before I end this review, here are the dishes which I particularly liked from this season. Maybe you can compare your list with mine to see if we have the same preferences? ^__^

The yakitori featured in Ep 1

The yaki gyoza featured in Ep 3

The pork ninniku yaki in Ep 6

The napolitan pasta in Ep 7

The yakiniku in Ep 8

The tori no nikomi in Ep 11

The salt-grilled agu pork in Ep 12

Review of Tsumi to Batsu A Falsified Romance

If you are looking for some lighthearted fare or something which doesn't require you to do a lot of thinking, this is definitely not for you. If you find dramas with rather controversial themes like "Shokuzai" quite difficult to stomach, "Tsumi to Batsu" will take things up a notch especially the sickening human nature on display here.

This drama is based on the same-titled manga by Ochiai Naoyuki which was serialised between January 2007 and March 2011. The manga itself isn't an original work because it adopts the basic concepts of "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Of course, the character names in both works are different but the basic premise of a man who believes that he has the ability and the right to do certain things can be seen in the original story and this drama. Before I begin talking about how I feel about "Tsumi to Batsu", I think I should start off by introducing the key characters and a synopsis of what's to come. If you haven't watched the drama and would rather not know the storyline, you may wish to skip directly to the review section.

Synopsis:

Tachi Miroku (Koura Kengo) is an university student who comes from a small town in Iwate Prefecture and bears the hopes of his mother Yoshimi and elder sister Yoshino by making it to a Tokyo university. However, Miroku has mixed feelings about his family and the weight of their expectations. On one hand, he's proud of the fact that he has the ability to bring glory to the family but conversely, he also hates having to follow the path which his mother in particular wants him to take. He cannot understand why his mother would want him to admire his father who used to be a teacher when he was alive. This is especially so when he found out that his father had committed suicide with his student who he was having an affair with. Miroku knows deep down that he loves his mother and sister but he is extremely unhappy about the fact that Yoshino is going to marry someone who she doesn't love for the sake of supporting Miroku through his university education. Or so he thinks because Yoshino has never said so or expressed unwillingness about the marriage to her fiance.

Without his family's knowledge, Miroku drops out of school and goes around doing virtually doing other than dreaming of becoming a great writer some day. In fact, he won a literature award for a short piece "Shuukakusha no Shikaku" (The Qualifications of a Harvester - the article is about a hypothesis of the likelihood of some people having the ability and right to do certain things which others can't and his reasoning why it holds true) but since then, nothing much has happened to bring him closer to his dream. While out at night, he meets Shimazu Risa (Ono Asuka), a senior high school student, who offers to sleep with him for money. Although Miroku rejects her proposition, his interest is aroused when he realises that Risa is forced to be a teenage prostitute by her fellow schoolmate Baba Hikaru (Hashimoto Ai). Hikaru runs the prostitution business involving her friends like a professional pimp and contributes the takings to a gang. Miroku doesn't understand why Risa has to do Hikaru's bidding and later finds out that Hikaru had earned Risa's trust initally when they first met but later engineered an episode to make Risa the victim of gang rape. Using Risa's dependency on her for friendship and the gang rape to undermine the importance of her own body, Hikaru managed to force Risa into the sex trade despite her reluctance. As a result of this discovery, Miroku comes up with a plan to "set things in order" because he regards himself as someone having the authority and qualification to do so.

Miroku sets up an elaborate scheme to kill Hikaru and rob her of the money she earned from managing the prostitution business. However, as a fate would have it, Risa's sudden appearance at the crime scene causes Miroku to lose control and he also kills Risa who misunderstands that Miroku did everything for her. As Miroku wanted the whole scheme to be perfect and for him to be in perfect control of the situation, he simply can't stand Risa's unexpected behaviour and her assumption that Miroku's actions were for her sake i.e. not as noble as he wanted his cause to be. Although he manages to escape detection (Risa's mother had been working somewhere else but returned home on that same day when Miroku killed the girls), the stress brought about by what he had done causes Miroku to collapse on the street and he falls into a deep slumber for a couple of days.

While in a coma, Miroku dreams about his past and what happened a year ago. He was an intern at a company then and came to know Sudou Kai (Tanaka Tetsushi) who graduated from the same university which Miroku was from. Sudou gave Miroku the impression that he was nothing more than a womaniser but strangely enough, when Sudou came to read Miroku's article, he could understand what Miroku had in mind and even had contrasting viewpoints to point out the contradictions in Miroku's hypothesis. On one hand, Miroku thought that Sudou was a weirdo who kept egging him on to acknowledge his desires for no apparent reason. Sudou evidently saw that Miroku wasn't one who was content to discuss his hypothesis on paper but rather, he had that hidden pride in himself and belief that he was superior to others. As such, Sudou wanted to bring out Miroku's desires to prove himself as someone who's qualified to do certain things. Before any of that could have happened, Sudou disappeared after killing the female president of a company. Unknown to Miroku, Sudou had been the sex slave of that female president and also had secret ties to the underworld which was contrary to Miroku's impression that Sudou was a mere company employee.

When Miroku wakes up from his sleep, he finds himself in the hospital ward with another man Ameya Kikuo (Horibe Keisuke) who's being treated for alcholism. Ameya decides to tell Miroku his story and what led to his alcoholism even though the latter does not seem interested. Kikuo has a very young and pretty wife named Echika (Mizukawa Asami) which earns him the envy of many people. However, the circumstances which led to their marriage were far from ideal because Kikuo had betrayed Echika's trust.

Echika used to be Kikuo's student back in high school and she found an unexplainable affinity with him because he unwittingly offered her a place to take refuge from her stepmother's ill treatment. In return, Echika spent a lot of time with his family and young kids which in turn gave her a chance to taste family warmth and feel needed. However, Kikuo's excessive drinking habits caused him to be blackmailed by the school bully at that time and he was forced to set up secret cameras at various spots in school which allowed the bullies to have access to compromising images and videos of the female students. Even so, the bully was still not satisfied and turned his attention to Echika because he could see that she meant a lot to him. Kikuo pleaded with the bully not to harm Echika but was threatened that if Kikuo did not rape Echika in front of him and his cronies, they would gang-rape her instead and expose Kikuo's drinking habits. Having no choice, Kikuo tricked Echika to come to the school's laboratory where he forced himself on her and caused her to be beaten up by the bully's gang.

However, the bully still did not let Kikuo off and sent the video of Echika's rape to the school management. Although Kikuo was going to be fired for what he did, Echika unexpectedly told the school that she was a willing party and she was going to marry Kikuo after graduation from high school. Kikuo didn't think that Echika would do this and was shocked when the latter confessed that she would never forgive him for betraying her and she would make sure he remembers what he did throughout their marriage. Ever since then, Kikuo has never been able to hold his head up in front of Echika who gets involved in the sex trade to support the family. In a way, Echika is also punishing Kikuo by abusing her body because the latter was the culprit who reduced her body to something worthless.

Miroku is intrigued by Kikuo and Echika's story but still maintains a straight face in front of Kikuo who he regards as someone he would never see again. When Miroku is discharged from hospital, he is horrified to see Goi Kurodo (Ibu Masato), a prosecutor, getting close to him on the pretext of being interested in his award-winning article. Miroku knows that Goi is suspecting him of being involved in the killings of Hikaru and Risa. Unable to confide in anyone else and being close to succumbing to the stress of worrying when he will be arrested, Miroku contemplates killing himself rather than suffer a humiliating end in jail. However, just as he is about to fling himself off the bridge, Kikuo happens to see Miroku from the other side of the road and hurries over to stop him. Just then, a car drives towards Kikuo and he is killed as a result. Miroku is shocked to see what happens and freaks out at what his suicide attempt had done to an innocent party.

At the hospital where Kikuo's body is resting, Miroku meets Echika for the first time and becomes drawn to her in an unexplainable manner. He knows that he indirectly caused Kikuo's death but decides against telling Echika about it. At the same time, with Kikuo's passing, his mother tells Echika to leave the family and live for herself instead which in turn causes Echika to be unsure of what the future holds for her. Miroku and Echika decide to stick together because they think that they would be the only people capable of doing that for the other party.

Sudou returns to Japan from his overseas hideout after hearing about Hikaru and Risa. He is convinced that Miroku is the killer and tries to stop Miroku from getting together with Echika. Sudou reminds Miroku of what he's done and that Echika is just clinging onto him since she's like a leech who needs to feed on a man's misfortune to feel needed and superior. No doubt Miroku professes his trust in Echika, he is also aware that even if they stay together in future, there is no way they can be like a normal couple because he won't be able to touch Echika as a man because he has sinned. When Echika hears Miroku's confession on what he's done, she wants him to surrender himself to the police and repent for what he's done instead of running away. On the other hand, Sudou tempts Miroku with the prospect of getting away scot-free if he leaves Echika and go away with him...

Review

There are a few key story arcs in this drama despite it being shorter than the usual full-season dramas. They may seem rather unrelated but each of them is a building block which gives us some information on why the key characters are behaving in a certain manner.

First of all, Miroku's story with Hikaru and Risa formed the groundwork as to why he thought he was someone who was qualified to do certain things i.e. correcting a wrong by killing someone. Miroku's one conflicted soul because on one hand, he feels inferior about certain things (e.g. his father's not-so-glorious death or the fact that he didn't achieve any success as a writer despite winning a newcomer's award) and yet he also thinks that he's above others when it comes to doing righteous deeds. Frankly speaking, I don't sympathise with him at all because he really wasn't wronged or treated unfairly by anyone in the first place. The supposed unfairness was what he had thought it should be and it felt like he was using that as an excuse to explain why he was less successful than he thought he would be. His motive for killing Hikaru wasn't even for the money nor to save Risa from her agony. It was more like he was disgusted with how Hikaru behaved when she barely flinched while abusing Risa as if the latter was her slave. If Hikaru had expressed a tinge of conscience, Miroku might not have gone to the extent of killing her. Risa, on the other hand, was another character which I found it difficult to understand. Hikaru had caused her to be gang-raped and abused her friendship by forcing her into the sex trade but Risa found it difficult to break away. I'm guessing that her dependency on Hikaru and the lack of alternative friendships as support caused the situation to continue. When Miroku killed Risa, it was such an infuriating scene because he did it just to make his scheme perfect. What a control freak he is! If he had told Risa not to say anything, she would definitely oblige because she already saw Miroku as a saviour and would never go against him. There was really no need to kill Risa other than the fact that Miroku couldn't stand the thought of Risa tainting his lofty aspirations of correcting a wrong.

The next story was about Miroku's past with Sudou. This part was really confusing because the time order was rather jumbled and there were too many mysterious things about Sudou. There was also little described on why he became the sex slave of the company president and what made him finally snap. Sudou is one interesting character because he's so eloquent and can offer counter arguments whatever Miroku has to say. It's almost as if there is a mirror in front of Miroku and vice versa. I think Sudou did see that Miroku was somewhat similar to him and he was going all out to make sure that Miroku doesn't stop that unique streak in his character from being buried under his pessimism. Sudou also represented the goal of what Miroku wanted to achieve thus it was evident that there were times Miroku did look up to him. However, Sudou also represented the dangerous extreme which Miroku could head towards if he did went ahead to do what he wants. Sudou was such an enigmatic character that I really fail to understand why he had to end up in such a manner which makes me feel that he went through all these for nothing.

Last but not least, Echika's story was the last of the introduction portion of this drama. It took such a long time before Mizukawa Asami made her first appearance but it was worth the wait after all. I'm impressed with how she managed to potray such a complicated character. It was just a pity that she did not have more airtime to develop the character further and Echika sort of became an accessory to Miroku after the two got together.

I don't think Echika is entirely like what Sudou described her to be i.e. a leech who latches onto a man's misfortune in order to feel needed or at least Echika doesn't do it knowingly. Logically, Echika should have hated Kikuo when she became the victim due to Kikuo's actions. However, Echika saw that even if she had sued Kikuo for the deed, the only people who would have suffered would be his family. Through her earlier interaction with the family, Echika had built up a bond with them and derived satisfaction from being needed by them. As such, I'm of the opinion that she let Kikuo off and went to the extent of marrying him in order to protect his family. And as seen from her sense of loss when Kikuo's mother declared that she is free to leave their family since Kikuo had died, Echika evidently wanted to be needed by someone somewhere. I don't think there's anything romantic between her and Miroku too but rather Miroku's "timely" appearance felt like a life buoy was thrown at her. Miroku needed her and that was all she needed.

There is a similar problem between this drama and "Shokuzai" in that they both suffered from lack of consistency. Some episodes were extremely engaging e.g. when the murder of the girls took place and Echika's story while some paled in comparison. I also feel that this drama lacked a bit of punch in its conclusion so it was a pity to see that the smaller story arcs were sometimes much more interesting that the main storyline. I am just wondering, could this drama have been even more controversial and darker than Shokuzai if it didn't decide to hold back at the last minute? The ending could have been very different if it was decided that Miroku's character was stronger and more egoistic than he was in the drama and that he was slightly tempted by Sudou's proposition to run away together.

As for the acting, I think Koura Kengo did try his best to play the complicated and idealistic Miroku. However, I think Miroku turned out to be more on the pessimistic and cowardy side and his egoistic side was largely restricted to his inner thoughts. It might have been better if he could show this God-wannabe side of Miroku which would be good to contrast against his normally insecure side. Frankly speaking, the most eye-catching person in my opinion was Tanaka Tetsushi because Sudou was such an intriguing character. No doubt he wasn't the lead, he actually stole the limelight with his limited appearances to the extent that Miroku/Koura was no match for him.

In conclusion, if you want something which is dark and explores a theme which is rarely seen in most regular season dramas, this might be for you. However, be warned that this drama is a half-baked attempt at a potentially extreme theme and you might find yourself wondering why the ending did not match up to the anticipation built up in the earlier episodes.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 4 out of 10 (Suffered from lack of consistency and an ending which literally fizzled out)
Acting: 7.5 out of 10 (Especially from Tanaka Tetsushi and Mizukawa Asami during Echika's arc)
Theme song: 5 out of 10 (Didn't leave much of an impression on me)
Visual effects / Scenery: 4 out of 10 (Very dark colour scheme as if the characters reside in a world without colours but still not as monotone as what was in Shokuzai)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 5 out of 10 (Most of the time, it was always one party being stronger than the other so there were some sparks lacking.)


Total: 25.5 out of 50

Top 10 single episode ratings for dramas in first half of 2012

1) Carnation - Ep 97 - 25.0%

2) Ume-chan Sensei - Ep 66 - 22.8%

3) Aibou 2-hour SP - 20.5%

4) ATARU - Ep 1 - 19.9%

5) Kagi no kakatta Heya - Ep 1 - 18.3%

6) Taira no Kiyomori - Ep 2 - 17.8%

7) Strawberry Night - Ep 2 - 16.9% / Lucky Seven - Ep 2 - 16.9%

9) Nasuke no Onna SP Kokuzeikyoku Sousakan - 16.6%

10) Taxi Driver no Suiri Nisshi - 16.3%

Source: Oricon

Review of Bunshin

After watching Shokuzai, I dived straight into Bunshin which promised to be as controversial as its predecessor in the same timeslot. Clearly, this wasn't going to be a simple tale of twins being separated at birth as most dramas would have you believe. Seriously, this concept is already over-used so whenever you have a story that has two people looking exactly the same, there needs to be a fresh idea to explain why instead of relying on that old trick. There was a hint that something scandalous was lurking in the truth surrounding the key characters' births so that got me interested in checking this out despite the fact that I've never been a big fan of Nagasawa Masami. Not that I dislike her though but I'm pretty neutral towards her these days. Before I continue further, if you haven't watched this drama and would prefer not to know the story beforehand, I would suggest that you skip this review.

We have two characters who may look the same but have vastly different characters and backgrounds. The story begins with Ujiie Mariko (Nagasawa) from Sapporo, Hokkaido, who has all along doubted that she isn't the child of her parents because people would always remark that she didn't look like her mother Shizue. On the surface, Shizue pretended that she wasn't bothered by these comments but Mariko could sense otherwise. Mariko was later sent to a boarding school which she attributed to the fact that Shizue wanted to send her away. As a result, Mariko has always been wary about showing her true self and puts on her best behaviour especially in front of her mother. During a vacation stay back home, Mariko and her father Ujiie Kiyoshi (Sano Shiro) were drugged by Shizue who set fire to the house in a bid to commit suicide. Fortunately, Mariko and her father were saved but Shizue perished as a result. Since then, Mariko lives with her uncle's family (mother's younger brother), while her father resides in Hakodate.

Far away in Tokyo, Kobayashi Futaba (Nagasawa), a repeat student in university, lives alone with her mother who works as a nurse on night shift. Unlike Mariko, she has not doubted anything about her background and leads a relatively carefree life compared to Mariko who seems to be stifled by the nagging thought of not being her parents' child. Futaba's mother Shiho (Tezuka Satomi) gives her a free hand to do anything quite literally although she's concerned about Futaba not wanting to find a job yet and being more interested in making her debut with her band. The only thing which Shiho makes Futaba promise not to do is appearing on TV. Shiho never explains the rationale behind this and Futaba, while puzzled by this demand, doesn't seem to question the need for Shiho to be so insistent on this.

While performing at an event on campus, Futaba's interview on TV unwittingly sets off a series of events which lead to the revelation of Mariko's and Futaba's birth secrets. Mariko has people coming up to her saying that she was on TV but she never did that. Later, she found out about Futaba's TV appearance and is amazed that someone could resemble her so much. Her curiousity is aroused as she also finds something among Shizue's belongings which indicate that she had been to Tokyo before her death. This makes Mariko determined to find out the truth and meet Futaba herself. However, as fate would have it, Mariko and Futaba always miss each other whenever they are about to meet and it is only until the last episode when they come face to face with each other.

Following Futaba's TV appearance, Shiho gets really upset at Futaba for breaking her promise while the latter doesn't see where the problem lies. On Mariko's end, her father gets so uptight and insists on sending her overseas immediately for further studies even though she is close to graduating from university. It makes Mariko suspect that something is amiss because Ujiie had strongly objected to the idea of going overseas to study years ago. When Shiho gets killed in an apparent hit-and-run, Futaba then starts her own investigation into Shiho's past and that's when her path would cross with Mariko.

As the girls investigate their births from different angles, they slowly come to the realisation that their arrivals to this world were not as simple as it seemed...

Back when Ujiie (Mariko's father) was an university student, he was in love with a female student Akiko (Nagasawa) but she ended up marrying someone else. However, Akiko was later found to be infertile and sought Ujiie's help in artifical insemination. Alas, this didn't work out as well so Akiko and her husband gave up on having their own children. Unknown to them, Ujiie actually made use of the remaining eggs from Akiko for a cloning experiment which led to one of the eggs being implanted in Shiho's womb as she was one of the members in the research team. The cloning experiment had been meant as a method to help a politician Ihara in saving his sick son.

The original plan was for Shiho to abort the baby after a few months of observation but after carrying the child for a period of time, she became reluctant to kill the child and ran away from the research team. After Futaba was born, Shiho kept a low profile in order to prevent anyone from knowing about Futaba's birth secret. And that is why she stopped Futaba from going on TV because the truth would be exposed once those involved in the cloning experiment saw Futaba's face.

On the other hand, Ujiie who was still very much besotted with Akiko despite being married, decided to implant her egg into his wife's body who happened to be going through artificial insemination as well. As a result, Mariko was born to the couple. All was fine until Ujiie's wife Shizue noticed that Mariko looked very different from her. At the same time, Ujiie was finding it extremely difficult to bear with his inner thoughts of viewing Mariko as someone other than his daughter especially as she grew to resemble Akiko. Fearing that he might not be able to restrain his feelings toward Mariko or rather Akiko, he had to send her away to boarding school despite Shizue's reluctance. Shizue then found out the truth and confronted Ujiie about it. Devastated by her husband's deed, Shizue tried to commit suicide by drugging her family members and setting fire to their house but saved Mariko at the last minute because she couldn't bear to kill her daughter.

Given the title of the drama/novel, it would have been too simplistic if the plot had been about twins separated at birth. Futaba was one year older than Mariko thus this would have been out of the question. However, having the same looks and similar interests/tastes e.g. the love for lemons was too much of a coincidence for two people who were living so far away from each other. Thankfully, with a great story from Higashino Keigo, all the loose ends were tied up properly. Nonetheless, I felt that there were certain points where the story could have gone a bit faster especially in episodes 2 and 3 but I guess it can't be helped since the scriptwriter had to pose all these questions which were essential plot developments. This was similar to the problem I found with Shokuzai. The first episode was brilliant, the second and third suffered a dip in consistency and intensiveness while the final episodes rounded up things nicely. It would have been ideal if every episode was equally engaging but the lucky thing is, WOWOW dramas are usually short and wouldn't "torture" people too much even if a couple of episodes fail to meet expectations.

Regarding this topic of cloning, people may have extremely different views which is probably why it's still pretty much taboo to be discussing this so openly. Considering that Higashino Keigo published this novel way back in 1993, it must have caused quite a stir then. The key players who had a part to play in the cloning experiment all had different agendas for being involved. The politician Ihara wanted to create a clone to save his terminally-ill son but failed to succeed. When it was his turn to be sick, he wanted to get Mariko and Futaba to be test subjects in order to save himself. For the research team which did the experiment, their aim was primarily for fame and benefits which would come along with the success of creating a clone. Ujiie failed to marry the woman he loved and resorted to creating a clone of her in order to satisfy his desire. As a result of these people, the clones i.e. Mariko, Futaba and even Mariko's mother Shizue had to suffer the consequences of their actions.

Knowing the truth about their births, it was initially difficult for Mariko and Futaba to accept that they were just copies of Akiko who didn't even know about their existence. When it was time to see Akiko, they must have been taken aback by Akiko showing her disgust at seeing her copies before her. Akiko may have been too straightforward towards the girls but it's also understandable because to her, clones are different from her own offspring and she didn't give permission to create them. Her anger towards being made use of just caused her to vent it on Mariko and Futaba. Luckily, it seems from the ending that the fates of Mariko and Futaba may not be as bleak as what Akiko imagined it to be. As Akiko was unable to get pregnant, she had said that it would be likely that the girls would not pass on their "clone" blood to their offspring since they won't be able to get pregnant. With Futaba's pregnancy, it does look like the "curse" has been broken and the girls can take comfort in the fact that they are living like any other human being with the power to love and be loved.

Having to play two roles with very different characters, I can see that Nagasawa Masami tried her best to make these two girls as distinct as possible. Futaba is lively, has a fiery temper and is not afraid to speak her mind. On the other hand, Mariko is gentle, quiet and restrained because she was deeply affected by her mother's seemingly lack of love towards her. In terms of appearance, Futaba dyed her hair while Mariko's hair was black. Dressing-wise, Mariko was the typical goody-two-shoes who projected a demure and refined image while Futaba was dressed like any other young girl these days, perhaps a bit sexier than what Mariko wore. It's just my personal feeling though but I find that Nagasawa was better in her potrayal of Futaba who showed a variety of emotions throughout the drama. Mariko was simply too subdued and in other words, boring at some points of the story. Futaba had an edge over Mariko because she had to go through the rollercoaster ride of having her mother die suddenly and faced with the truth while Mariko's mother already died years ago and the major thing she had to contend with was the truth only. Nonetheless, it was good that there was a contrast between these characters and they didn't always react in the same manner. For example, when Futaba was first told of the possibility that she was a clone, true to her character, she reacted in a rather agitated manner which showed her disbelief. She was probably expecting that she would have the same set of parents as Mariko and that they were sisters rather than they were copies of Akiko. On the other hand, Mariko was shocked as well but it wasn't obvious that she felt disturbed by the revelation which is in line with her restrained nature. Mariko keeps her emotions deep within so things were not obvious in her case.

As for the supporting cast, I have to say that they didn't get too many chances to shine because the focus of the story was essentially on the girls. Katsuji Ryo who played Yusuke (Futaba's boyfriend) did have a steamy bed scene with Nagasawa but other than that, I don't remember much of his role in this drama. Tezuka Satomi died too prematurely in the story so it limited her character involvement to a certain extent. Suzuki Sawa appeared in flashbacks only but the advantage she had over Tezuka was that these little bits and pieces slowly built up her character which made it easier for the viewers to identify with her anguish and torn mentality when faced with a daughter she gave birth to but was a copy of her husband's first love. Sano Shiro was great in showing the agony Ujiie faced with having his daughter who looked exactly like the woman he loved and how he made use of his wife to achieve that but it took too long before these were shown in the finale so it was a pity after all.

And my ratings for this drama...

Story: 8 out of 10 (Generally good but lacking consistency in quality for episodes 2 and 3)
Acting: 7 out of 10 (It would have been better if the supporting cast had more room to show their talents. Nagasawa fared reasonably well though)
Theme song: 6 out of 10 (I think Futaba's song can be considered as the theme? If so, it didn't leave too much of an impression on me)
Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out of 10 (The scenes in Hokkaido were especially attractive in my opinion)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 5 out of 10 (It might have been better if the story allowed the supporting cast to interact more with the girls to show whether there was chemistry or not)


Total: 33 out of 50

Review of Seinaru Kaibutsutachi Ep 8 (Final)

At the end of eight episodes, my biggest question was this: why did everyone go through all this for everything to end as nothing more than a big joke? If you've read my reviews for the past seven episodes, you would have known how much I was expecting the finale to round up everything nicely in order not to waste the momentum that was built up over two months or so. The direction where the story was headed for just seemed too abrupt and silly even though I had been guessing that things would end somewhat "mildly" when certain developments came out e.g. Mie's baby not being related to Toshio and Keiko in any way. What a pity because it's been sometime since I got so keen on a drama and followed it closely enough to write reviews for each episode!

As Shiba operated on Itokawa without permission, he is brought away from Okubo Memorial Hospital by the police before he can question Kasugai further on Mie's death. Even though Shiba is expecting to be officially arrested or charged for what he did, he is surprised that Toshio got him out of the police station. However, this gesture comes with an obvious threat to Shiba who is told to stop meddling in this matter and not to appear in front of interested parties anymore. Although Shiba is obviously keen on pursuing the matter further, I think his near brush with the law made him consider for a brief second if he should give up his career and continue fighting those who are in the surrogate pregnancy scam. However, when he is asked by Honma to get the latter's son back, Shiba thinks of a way to help Honma.

On the other hand, Kasugai reveals to Keiko how she came to find out about Mie's lies and that she had killed Mie intentionally. Keiko is obviously shaken by this revelation but I think her obsession with having a child, securing her position in the Hyuga family with a heir and not wanting to lose what she's gained makes her lose her senses. Not only does she try to get Kasugai to stop associating with her (for fear of being implicated), she also hatches a plan to go overseas with the baby so that nobody can do anything to her or take the baby away from her. Kasugai is of course aghast to see how much Keiko has changed and blames herself for being part of the reason why this has happened.

Then comes the big "climax" scene when Shiba makes use of an uncanny coincidence to try to bring the baby to Honma. Well, it's very cliche in a sense because all of a sudden, the masterminds behind this whole scam come to their senses after what happened. I won't go into details on what exactly happened but frankly speaking, it's very predictable. At the ending, we have people going about their lives as if nothing really happened.

Well, this is where I think the story wasn't done too satisfactorily. I know surrogate pregnancies may be a taboo and sensational topic to do a drama on but since you've already started it, why not go all the way? True, Mie's betrayal may have spiced things up in the sense that everyone realises that they were taken on a ride to nowhere but this also works against the drama in the sense because it's extremly difficult to wrap up something which is a hoax after all. There wasn't any surrogate pregnancy to begin with, the child didn't belong to the couple who hatched the scheme, the murderer wasn't punished in any way and there were many questions waiting to be answered. What's up with Yoko and her brother? Did they suddenly decide to start blackmailing or cheating people one fine day? Why would she do his bidding anyway? How did she manage to get all that money? What did Shiba gain at the end after going through so much? He was treated to a rollercoaster ride of betrayal and lies and in actual fact, doing so much for nothing. That's why I think if the whole scam was built upon a non-existent crime, the ending really should have a stronger way of conveying the message of how the parties involved were affected rather than show them as if nothing has happened before.

Other than my grouses with the ending, I think the acting was generally of a high standard. Okada Masaki did feel overshadowed by most of his cast members but that's to be expected because he's lacking in experience comparatively and Shiba is not such an easy role to play after all. Moreover, it would take really strong acting skills in order for him to hold his own across Nakatani Miki who really shows how obsessed Kasugai can be and the two different faces she has. Talking about obsession, the key characters all have their own reasons to be obsessed e.g. Keiko over status, standing and the need to be a mother. In fact, obsession over what they desire or aim to achieve is the reason why the whole fiasco came about in the first place. Kato Ai was credible as the half-crazy Keiko who turned rather obnoxious later while Hasegawa Hiroki seemed a bit under-utilised in this drama. Kohinata Fumio was pretty much his usual self i.e. the reliable supporting actor while Oomasa Aya came across as a bit boring at times. Too bad her character wasn't developed further. Watanabe Ikkei was interesting as the inquisitive Itokawa but once he gave the information about how Kasugai was involved in Mie's death, he somehow slipped into oblivion after that. Suzuki An was actually quite good in showing the various faces of Mie e.g. pure and innocent as a kindergarten teacher, scheming when she tries to pass off her own child as Keiko and Toshio's, irritating when she tried to emphasize to Keiko how the child was hers because she was the one carrying it and of course, the flashback scenes of her and Honma where she showed the gentleness of a woman in love. Too bad her involvement in the drama was limited and ended right when Mie died.

As for the BGM and theme song, I think the BGM fitted nicely with the story's developments and helped a lot in making the whole atmosphere more tense when the important scenes took place. As for the theme song, the mood coincided with the drama's theme that we were looking at a bunch of "holy monsters" abusing their sacred positions to fulfill their personal desires. On its own, the music might not leave a strong impression on me but on the whole, I think the drama and music go hand in hand to complement each other.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 7.5 out of 10 (This would have been higher if not for the half-baked ending which was in a hurry to round things up)
Acting: 8.5 out of 10 (Like I said above, Nakatani Miki and Suzuki An are the ones to look out for. Okada Masaki just needs more practice and experience to do better in future)
Theme song: 8 out of 10 (Fr the reason that it's suitable for the drama and complements it well)
Visual effects / Scenery: 7 out of 10 (Much of the action was indoors but there were a few location shoots which looked quite nice)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 8 out of 10 (The intensity between Kasugai and Shiba was a bit lacking because Nakatani overpowered Okada in many ways but the rest of the cast had some interesting sparks e.g. Nakatani vs. Hasegawa Hiroki, Nakatani vs. Suzuki An and Nakatani vs. Kato Ai. Any wonder why Nakatani is included in all three pairs I mentioned? :-P)

Total: 39 out of 50

Review of Seinaru Kaibutsutachi Ep 7

After getting to know from Honma that Mie had a rare blood type, Shiba wonders if Mie's death had to do with the fact that she got a wrong blood transfusion by mistake. However, Kasugai's denial only serves to make Shiba more intent on finding out the truth. To that, Kasugai responds by saying that Shiba's persistence is only to make himself feel better since he would feel better if it is found out that Mie's death wasn't due to his inexperience but rather some uncontrollable factor. Although it appears that Kasugai is not shaken by the exchange, she does feel that Shiba poses an increasing threat to those involved in the scam since he's getting closer to the truth. As such, Kasugai makes use of Okubo to tell Keirin University Hospital about Shiba's surgical error which results in him being suspended indefinitely.

Shiba resolves to find out the truth regardless of whether he can still be a doctor. Touched by his sincerity, Yoko steals a sample of Mie's blood from the hospital and delivers it to Shiba. He then goes to Mizuhara for help to test the blood type. Unknown to them, Kasugai happens to see Mizuhara behaving suspiciously and finds out about what is going on. Mizuhara passes the test results to Shiba who's surprised to know that Mie has the Bombay blood type which would give a result of O+ if the simple test kit is used. That coincides with Yoko's story about how she was certain that Mie's blood type is definitely O+. The complication is, someone with the rare Bombay blood type cannot receive blood transfusions from anyone other than those with the same blood type. As a result, Shiba suspects that Kasugai deliberately killed Mie because Mie only developed complications towards the end of the surgery after Kasugai connected a new bag of blood to her!

Shiba goes to look for Itokawa and finds out that he had seen Kasugai swopping the labels on the pre-prepared blood packs belonging to Mie with those in the hospital. This strengthens his belief that Kasugai had a hand in Mie's death and he wants to confront her about this. Shiba then asks to take part in Itokawa's surgery even though he's no longer a doctor in the hospital but Mizuhara lets him have his way. Although Okubo sees what happens and wants to stop them, Kasugai stops him. When Shiba confronts Kasugai with his findings, the latter feigns ignorance but it is obvious that Shiba has hit the nail right on its head. However, before Shiba can do anything else, he is taken away by the police called in by Okubo for operating on Itokawa without permission

At the same time, tension rises in the Hyuga household as Keiko and her mother-in-law become enemies. The mother-in-law finds out the truth about the surrogate pregnancy from Toshio's ex-wife and questions Keiko about it. However, unexpectedly, Keiko admits to everything easily and insists that they had to do it to maintain the family line. In another surprising turn of events, this somehow makes her mother-in-law impressed with Keiko's convictions in thinking of the Hyuga family's interests and she even fires Toshio's ex-wife from the company in order to stop her from talking about this.

I don't know what's the bigger surprise in this episode. The fact that Kasugai killed Mie on purpose? The thing is, what was the motive? Or Keiko's mother-in-law doing an about-turn and forgiving her about the surrogate mother scam so easily? Makes me wonder how warped her values are as demonstrated through her insistence to do everything for the sake of the Hyuga family. I think I was more surprised by the latter though because I was half-expecting the mother-in-law to blow up at Keiko for engineering this scam but that was a smart move by the scriptwriter. As for Kasugai's involvement in Mie's death, I think it was pretty obvious she had a part to play but as for why and when she decided to do it, I think the answers will only be out by next week.

Frankly speaking, by this point in time, viewers already know that there isn't a surrogate mother scam after all because Mie gave birth to her own child. As such, it will be anyone's guess what happens to everyone at the end because I don't really think that anyone can be held responsible for coming up with the scam but heads may roll for Mie's death.

It has always been my concern that whenever I see a drama which impresses me throughout the entire season, there is a high chance that its ending will fall flat. I hope this drama will buck the trend though.

Review of Seinaru Kaibutsutachi Ep 6

The biggest change from this episode onwards is that the narrator becomes Kasugai instead of Shiba. As such, the narration is taken from her viewpoint i.e. how she views Shiba's efforts in uncovering the truth compared to the "monsters" attempting to cover it up.

Shiba finds out that the address supposedly belonging to Mie's family was a hoax after all and happens to meet Yoko's brother Hirai Kunio at the police post. Kunio introduces himself and even mentions to Shiba that he had been following Yoko to find out what is going on with her much to Shiba's surprise. When Kunio offers to help Shiba with his search, the latter decides against revealing the details as he feels that something is not quite right with Kunio.

As a result of financial backing from Hyuga, Okubo starts to order advanced medical equipment and spends money on improving things in the hospital much to everyone's amazement. When Shiba approaches Okubo about what he has found out, Okubo stops him from investigating further since it may cause unhappiness with Mie's family. Soon after, Shiba finds himself being sent back to the university hospital in an attempt to stop him from investigating further and can't operate on Itokawa. At the same time, Yoko finds out that her brother approached Shiba and in an attempt to protect him (not sure from what yet), she initiates a breakup. However, Kunio doesn't want to back off and seems to be keen on continuing what he's doing in order to get money.

Meanwhile, Keiko's status in the Hyuga family is elevated as a result of her son (well, Mie's son) Kei. Her mother-in-law even slaps Kimiyo, Toshio's ex-wife for insinuating that Kei isn't Toshio's and Keiko's child which makes Keiko smirk with pride. However, this new-found confidence also causes conflict between Keiko and her mother-in-law because Keiko is no longer a pushover like before. Keiko's newfound assertiveness even causes her to flare up at her mother-in-law for attempting to take Kei away from her which would have been unthinkable in the past.

Shiba finds out that Toshio was the one who took away Kei from the hospital and goes to look for him at his company. However, Toshio denies having any knowledge of this while his mother is suspicious after hearing what Shiba said. When Shiba goes back to the university hospital, he chances upon Keiko's medical records in Prof Shiono's office and finds out that she could never have given birth to Kei because her womb was removed during her miscarriage!

In an attempt to find out the truth, Shiba gatecrashes the party held by Toshio and Keiko which makes Toshio very uneasy. Keiko doesn't realise that Shiba is investigating the birth of Kei and even smiles heartily at him. Before Shiba can probe further, he is brought to another room by Kasugai and she reveals the truth to him. Just when Shiba has sort of come to terms with what Kasugai told him because he knows that Kei will be in good hands in the Hyuga family, he arranges to meet Mie's ex-lover Honma at her grave and finds out that Mie has a rare blood type which is usually not available at hospitals. This leads Shiba to suspect that Mie's death might not have due to his lack of inexperience in the operation but rather she was murdered!

Just as I thought that it will be a straightforward search for the truth which the viewers already know, it turns out that there is more than meets the eye. This episode not only gives us more information about Mie's past but also provides an useful clue in finding out what really caused her death. If the blood transfusion Mie received was indeed tampered with (most likely by Kasugai), does this mean she had the intention of killing Mie so that Mie wouldn't cause any trouble for Keiko? That's the only logical explanation I can think of at the moment since Kasugai loves Keiko that much and may be prepared to go the distance for her sister. Besides, she was the one who brought the blood packs into the operating room after switching the blood type stickers so it doesn't seem like anyone can tamper with the blood given to Mie.

Keiko's assertiveness isn't that surprising after all since she went through so much to get Kei. Of course, she would want to stop her mother-in-law from bullying her like in the past now that she has Kei as a bargaining chip. However, this definitely rubs her mother-in-law the wrong way and I won't be surprised if she sets out to find out what is going on now that her suspicions are aroused.

Looks like the truth is going to get uglier as we approach the end since Mie's death is likely not to be an accident. The "monsters" involved would probably come to no good end but I think Shiba won't be necessarily happier when that happens. It's most likely going to be a lose-lose situation by the time everything gets out into the open.

Preview of Suitei Yuuzai 推定有罪

Title: Suitei Yuuzai 推定有罪 (Assumed guilty)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: WOWOW
Timeslot: Sundays 10pm
O.A. Start Date: 25 Mar 2012
Original novel by: Maekawa Yoichi
Cast: Nakamura Toru, Kuroki Hitomi, Mimura, Motokariya Yuika, Terajima Susumu, Matsuo Suzuki, Nakamura Shunsuke, Aijima Kazuyuki, Hakamata Yoshihiko, Kirijima Reika, Kusabue Mitsuko, Ryu Raita, Mitsuishi Ken, Shiba Toshio, Jinnai Takanori and Kunimura Jun

Bunshin's novel by Higashino Keigo

Title: Bunshin
Author: Higashino Keigo
Price: 730 yen
First published on: 20 Sep 1996
ISBN: 9784087485196
For more information, please visit this site.

Preview of Bunshin 分身

Title: Bunshin 分身 (Alter Ego)
Official website: here
Broadcast by: WOWOW
Timeslot: Sundays 10pm
O.A. Start Date: 12 Feb 2012
Total number of episodes: 5
Cast: Nagasawa Masami, Katsuji Ryo, Usuda Asami, Sano Shiro, Suzuki Sawa, Tezuka Satomi, Ibu Masato

Review of Seinaru Kaibutsutachi Ep 5

This episode simply flew by because there were so many things happening in just 45 minutes. Some of my guesses went the other way while some were partially correct. It was exciting to see how the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and how some seemingly impossible things could be achieved. Ep 5 also marks the end of the first arc which can be summarised as how the surrogate pregnancy scheme was hatched and executed. Now that the baby is born, it looks like the theme of the second half of this drama will be how the key players fight to keep the truth from being exposed.

Following Mie's fall from the staircase, Keiko panics and calls her sister for help since she cannot reach Toshio nor the gynae. Kasugai then instructs Keiko to drive Mie to Okubo Hospital and drop her off before escaping from the scene. This actually provides answers to two questions: why Mie didn't give birth with the help of that gynae who Toshio bribed and who was the one who drove Mie to the hospital. In the first episode, Kasugai had been standing beside the window for a reason. She was waiting for Keiko drop off Mie and drive away. As soon as that happens, Kasugai scurries to get help in order for Mie to be able to give birth at Okubo Hospital. As fate would have it, Shiba and Yoko are both on duty so my guess that Shiba was tricked into delivering the baby was only half correct. Shiba didn't know what was going on but he certainly wasn't forced to treat Mie. As a doctor, he had to do so and of course, Kasugai did play some tricks to make it happen.

As the hospital does not have any gynae who can handle the Caesaran operation, Shiba is reluctant to take this on especially since he has not done this before. However, Kasugai manages to persuade Shiba to do it because there aren't any hospitals which would accept Mie and it would be dangerous for her to be transferred to somewhere else. Now, that's something I think which might be easily found to be untrue since I doubt Kasugai really checked with other hospitals to accept Mie. Anyway, Shiba trusts Kasugai so much that he's more than willing to listen to what she says. It will probably hurt even more at the end when he finds out that Kasugai plays such a huge role in the scam and isn't as noble as he thinks. One other thing which should be a potential key factor in determining when the surrogate mother scam comes to live and how it is exposed will be Itokawa. He happens to overhear Kasugai's conversation with Toshio on the phone so it will be soon before he realises what is going on. The thing is, will he be drawn into the scheme as an accomplice or be the one who helps Shiba to expose the ugly truth? It's quite difficult to tell because Itokawa does seem to like Shiba but if he is indeed in financial difficulty like what the last episode implied, he might just sell his conscience for money.

Although the baby is born successfully, Mie suddenly develops contradictions and dies. This is a crushing blow to Shiba and he starts to doubt whether he did anything wrong to cause Mie's death. On the other hand, Kasugai is busy making arrangements to make sure nobody suspects a thing about Mie's case so this is when her "intelligence" comes into play. Frankly speaking, I was doubting how they could pass on Mie's baby to Toshio and Keiko given that Mie came in as an unidentified patient. To think that the scriptwriter managed to make it work with the inclusion of a few missing puzzle pieces!

True to what I guessed previously, Okubo and Yoko would be pulled into the scam sooner or later. What I didn't expect was that it was done as a form of salvaging the critical situation rather than being a planned move. Of course, from the opening scene in Ep 1, it was already evident that Okubo would have to be bought over so that Mie could deliver the baby at his hospital. I didn't really see how Yoko would fit into the picture prior to this episode. In Yoko's case, Kasugai knew that Yoko has been receiving money on the sly from patients so the latter has no choice but to do her bidding. Yoko probably won't be as persistent in finding out the truth like Shiba but at least there's one more person to hide the secret and assist in stopping Shiba from probing further. As for Okubo, the reason why he hopped onto the train of accomplices ultimately boils down to money. With Toshio's backing, his hospital can be saved from financial ruin so there's no way he would reject such a tempting proposal.

Even with these people being bribed to turn a blind eye to things, there is still the difficulty of how the baby could be taken away from the hospital without anyone suspecting anything. I think the timing of taking away Mie's body and the baby was calculated in such a way that Shiba wouldn't be around to question anything but it just so happens (coincidences only happen in dramaland, we all know that the scriptwriter deliberately planned for this so that there will be more clues for Shiba later to piece the story together) that he catches a glimpse of Toshio. True, he may not have met Toshio formally (Shiba probably couldn't remember Toshio and Keiko when she was sent to the university hospital after suffering a miscarriage) but his suspicions would definitely be aroused when he finds out that Toshio is Keiko's husband so why would Toshio be Mie's family and take away the baby? And I was thinking that it is extremely dumb of Toshio to turn back while in the cab. Shiba could have managed to take a good look at his face when that happened.

We still have half the run to go so it doesn't mean that the story ends with Mie's death. Of course, Shiba's guilt in being inexperienced and indirectly causing Mie's death will prompt him to find out the truth despite people around him trying to stop this. Itokawa's presence may also serve to be a key factor on how fast Shiba gets to know the bottom of things. Itokawa has also dropped a hint to Shiba that he isn't responsible for Mie's death so this would be a sign to the latter that Itokawa knows something. As for where his loyalty lies, it's really not easy to tell. When Shiba traces the address given to the hospital, he finds out that it's fake so this will be another key warning sign to him that things aren't that simple after all.

We also have two other subplots i.e. Yoko's acquaintance (or rather family member since they share the same surname) meeting Shiba for the first time and the appearance of someone who has come looking for Mie. The masterminds in this scam did not foresee this happening for sure because they chose Mie simply due to the fact that she doesn't have friends nor family so nobody would be looking for Mie when she was staying at Keiko's house during the pregnancy. Now that someone has come looking for her, that should be another sign of trouble as people start to trace Mie's whereabouts. It's probably going to be a tall order because Mie's cremation was done without her photo and I doubt that Kasugai or Toshio put down Mie's real name as the deceased people. Makes me wonder how Shiba is going to make the link between the dead mother with Mie.

To put it bluntly, Mie's death actually turns out to be a better outcome for some of the people in the scam. First of all, Keiko would benefit because she wouldn't have to rack her brains on how to prevent Mie from taking off with the child and be on tenterhooks all day long. For Toshio, he wouldn't have to worry about Mie revealing their affair to Keiko and in turn exposing the fact that the child isn't Keiko's. Even for Kasugai, it would be easier to handle things since she wouldn't have to help Keiko deal with Mie after their aim was achieved. However, if she had not died, would it mean that Shiba wouldn't try to investigate why Mie had to come to Okubo Hospital to give birth? If she had not died, would that man looking for Mie appear after all?

As we move to the second half of the story, the focus would be on how to keep the pack of lies under wraps. It will definitely be a series of near-misses and harrowing scares for the "holy monsters" as they try to make sure nobody finds out the truth. I'm actually looking forward to the final showdown between Shiba and Kasugai as he confronts her about her role in the scam and how she will justify her actions so I can't wait for Shiba to get to the truth soon.

At the same time, I also hope that the drama won't end too early (i.e. number of episodes being cut due to low ratings). When you look at this drama's official BBS, a lot of people mention recording the show and watching it later or catching the repeat telecast. This goes to show that the actual ratings on the first screening seems to be underestimating the reach of this drama (well, not just for this drama definitely). It's also quite worrying especially when this drama only has one competitor in the same timeslot i.e. Saikou no Jinsei no Owarikata. Some people have complained that this is a half-baked medical drama but frankly speaking, this was never touted as one like Iryu or Kyuumei Byoto 24 Ji. TV Asahi markets this as a medical suspense drama so for those who were looking for something like Iryu, they would have stopped watching this long ago. As a suspense drama, I think it's doing quite well in terms of the storyline and acting but I have to admit, Okada Masaki is really overshadowed by the veterans around him. He needs to build up a stronger screen presence in the second arc of the story or risk being a lead character who people can't really remember him for anything.

Shokuzai's novel by Minato Kanae

Title: Shokuzai
Author: Minato Kanae
First published on: 15 Jun 2009
Total number of pages: 254
ISBN: 9784488017569
For more details on the novel and to sample the first few pages, please go here.

Review of Shokuzai Ep 5 (Final)

As far as I can remember, Shokuzai has one of the better drama finales I've seen in recent years. The drama started with a bang (thanks to the fast-paced storytelling and stellar performances from Koizumi Kyoko, Aoi Yu and Moriyama Mirai), got a little sluggish in the middle but still managed to end on a high note. Before I get to the review of the entire drama, let me recap the story in the finale first. If you do not wish to know the developments before watching the drama, please skip this post.

Asako gets a clue from Yuka about the identity of the killer and is preparing to look for him. Her husband Toshiro senses that she is up to something and tries to persuade her to give things up but Asako doesn't pay heed to the warning. This is actually the first time Toshiro appears in the drama and we see how he reacted to Emily's untimely death 15 years back. Compared to Asako's deep grief and bitterness, Toshiro appeared relatively unaffected because he could still handle work matters weeks after Emily's murder. I don't think it's because he didn't love Emily as much as Asako but rather, being someone who manages a company and the head of the family, he probably didn't have the luxury like Asako to grieve openly and for a prolonged period. You can see that he still misses Emily when he remarked that their son (born after Emily's death) will be at his late sister's age soon. He knows Asako is still being badly affected by Emily's murder and I think he knows very well that she is hunting for the killer. Although he doesn't think that it is good to continue being affected by the past, he still lets Asako have her way because he knows that only getting the killer nabbed will bring closure for his wife.

Using that clue which Yuka gave her, Asako sets off to look for Aoki Hiroaki (Kagawa Teruyuki), the principal of a free-school and it turns out this man is actually her ex-lover Nanjo Hiroaki! Nanjo changed his surname to Aoki because he married into his wife's family and set up the free school for kids who couldn't adapt to the regular school system in Yamanashi Prefecture. I think Asako could have already guessed Aoki's true identity before seeing him because she was wary of being seen by him. Nonetheless, the reunion of these two was really exciting to watch, thanks to Koizumi's and Kagawa's great acting. I won't go into details on what exactly transpired between them in the past (way before Emily was killed) but I'll go straight to their final showdown.

Actually, once Nanjo appeared in the story, it was already confirmed that he was Emily's killer. However, he didn't set out to kill her just to get back at Asako in the first place. An uncanny series of coincidences led Nanjo to find out what Asako did long ago and he just wanted to hurt Emily in one way or another to get back at Asako. That means Nanjo had no intention of raping or killing Emily in the first place but at the time of the crime, something went off in his mind and he went to the extreme. Frankly speaking, I didn't realise that Emily was sexually assaulted at the time of the murder and it was only until this episode when I found out what happened. Asako didn't understand why Nanjo could be so cruel to Emily and was expecting to see his remorse when she revealed that Emily was Nanjo's daughter (he had raped Asako before she got married to Toshiro). However, Nanjo didn't react in the way she wanted and frankly speaking, it was rather sickening to hear what he had to say about raping and killing Emily.

In the end, Nanjo chose to kill himself as a final present to Asako and in a way, it's an atonement towards what he did. However, I don't think he was really fearless as he appeared because he crouched down before the train hit him. When Asako was brought back to the police station, she insisted that she pushed Nanjo onto the tracks but the police found that she was innocent and released her. As Asako walks away aimlessly from the police station, she realises that she no longer has an aim in life and that she doesn't know what to do to make it up to Emily...

If we want to discuss who should bear the most responsibility for Emily's death and the subsequent tragedies which happened to Emily's friends, Asako would appear to be the one. Asako's obsessive love for Nanjo in the past spurred her to do the wrong thing and in turn, Nanjo's hatred for Asako made him do the worst thing possible to Emily. If Asako didn't threaten Emily's friends to make appropriate "amends" towards Emily, would that have spared Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuka from the misery they suffered 15 years later? However, for her part in causing everything which happened, her fate at the end of the drama does make people sympathise with her to a certain extent. She wouldn't have known in advance that her actions would cause so much pain to the people around her. It might not have hurt as much if Asako did suffer retribution for what she did. However, unrelated people took the brunt for her and in the end, she has to pay with losing her purpose in life, not knowing what she can do to make amends to Emily and the burden of causing four girls and Nanjo's lives to be affected adversely by her obsessive nature.

Shokuzai succeeds as an emotionally-charged story because of three main reasons i.e. the story, acting and atmosphere. Although I had some complaints about Ep 2 and 3 i.e. Maki and Akiko's arcs, I think the quality of the drama in general is very good. Especially in the last episode, it was filled with lots of tension as you see the truth unraveling. I have been disappointed many times when the finale spoiled good dramas so it was a relief that Shokuzai surprised me in a good way.

Acting-wise, Koizumi Kyoko takes the cake for potraying Asako so well as a grieving mother who has an unknown side and past. At times, you think that she has really lost it but sometimes, Asako appears so lucid and normal (especially when she's with her husband and son) that you think she is playing two different persons. Kagawa Teruyuki only appeared for one episode but is such a joy to watch with his potrayal of the twisted Nanjo. Well, Nanjo wasn't like this but he sort of went crazy after discovering what Asako did so it gave me the creeps especially when he faced off with Asako during their reunion and during the climax scene when he responded to the revelation that Emily was his daughter. As for the four ladies who potrayed the grown-up versions of Emily's friends, it is really difficult to judge them because their stories placed different restrictions on their characters so Ando Sakura and Koike Eiko appeared a bit weaker to me because their stories didn't mesh as well as Aoi Yu's or Ikewaki Chizuru's episodes with the main storyline of making amends to Emily for not remembering the killer. Especially for Ando who had to emphasize Akiko's plain appearance and character, she didn't stand out as much as the rest because she had to divide her screen time between appearing normal and looking like she was hallucinating. We also have to look at their "partners" in their stories. Aoi had Moriyama Mirai play her weirdo husband which gave Sae's story added impact while the rest didn't have someone like this. Kase Ryo was impressive but he didn't have much time to show what he could do. Personally, I like Aoi's story the best but I also think Ikewaki did pretty well albeit the story being a bit more predictable than the first episode.

As mentioned before, the toned-down colour contrast helped a lot in making the story more engaging. It seems to represent how the main characters' lives have lost their colour ever since Emily's death and sets the stage for the tragedies that unfolded. If you look at Asako's final scene, it was so misty and gloomy that the only way for her seemed to be death. Of course, we wouldn't know Asako's fate through the drama but the setting did boost the impact of Asako's despair being relayed to the viewers.

If you are one who doesn't like emotionally-heavy dramas, this may be a bit difficult to stomach but if you are prepared to give it a try, you should feel satisfied by the end of it.

And my ratings for this drama...
Story: 8.5 out of 10 (I would have given it a perfect 10 if not for the sluggish pace in the middle of its run)
Acting: 9 out of 10 (Good acting from the key characters in general)
Theme song: 7 out of 10 (There's no theme song but I think the BGM was quite good in building up the suspense)
Visual effects / Scenery: 7.5 out of 10 (It may be a bit uncomfortable to see the muted colour scheme but it lends credit to the story and builds up the heavy atmosphere. Some of the scenes at Yamanashi e.g. when Asako and Nanjo talked in the forest looked quite nice)
Teamwork / Chemistry: 8 out of 10 (This is for three pairs of actors - Aoi Yu vs. Moriyama Mirai, Koizumi Kyoko vs. Ikewaki Chizuru and of course Koizumi vs. Kagawa Teruyuki)

Total: 40 out of 50

Review of Shokuzai Ep 4

The story now shifts to Yuka (Ikewaki Chizuru), the last of the quartet who had been close friends with Emily. At the time of the murder, Yuka had gone to report the case to the police. As a result of this encounter, Yuka started to have an unexplainable infatuation with the policeman she met that day. It could be due to the fact that Yuka was practically ignored at home because her sickly sister Mayu hogged their mother's attention. Whenever Yuka went to the police post to turn in lost items she found, she was basking in the attention and praise the policeman showered on her. However, this did not last as the policeman was transferred to another place.

Compared to her other friends who had been seriously affected by Asako's threatening words, Yuka declared that she wasn't going to do Asako's bidding and would live the way she wants. I don't think that it necessarily means that she's emotionally stronger than the rest. Due to the fact that Yuka had been neglected by her mother at home, she had no choice but to toughen up emotionally or put up a front to show that she wasn't affected at all.

15 years later, Yuka becomes the owner of a florist shop (probably due to financing from a married man Noguchi who seems to be having an affair with her) while her elder sister Mayu is already married to Murakami Keita. Due to the fact that her shop is near her sister's place, Yuka starts to know more about Keita and finds out that he's a policeman. This ignites the dormant infatuation she has always held for policemen and the jealousy towards her sister for having the things she has always wanted. Yuka then seduces Keita and even becomes pregnant with his child. This causes Mayu to collapse from the shock and Keita scurrying to save his marriage. At the same time, Asako sends a letter to Yuka, asking to meet her because she doesn't want her words to have the same undesirable effects on Yuka like how her friends suffered. However, Yuka doesn't go to visit Asako immediately and only does so when she uncovers a clue to Emily's murder.

Frankly speaking, among the four episodes so far, I think Yuka's story is the best in terms of pace and developments. Sae's story took a long time to develop and was bordering on being too draggy at times although I enjoyed it as a whole. Maki's story likewise suffered from a similar problem and the half-hearted ending not talking much about her fate feels like unfinished business to me. Akiko's story left a lot to imagination and we couldn't even be sure whether she was reading too much into the situation or those events did happen. Yuka's story dealt not only with her own feelings of feeling victimised and suffering from the side effects of favouritism (of course, she wasn't the pampered one) but also the dynamics of her relationship with her sister even after they had grown up and how far she was willing to go in order to achieve her aims. I don't think she really likes Keita but his being a policeman and her brother-in-law just made her go all out to snatch him from Mayu.

The title referring to the 10-month pregnancy period seems to be suggesting that Yuka might undergo a change in her character after being a mother. It isn't that significant but I think her stand did soften a bit. She initially wanted Asako to exchange her husband for the clue on the killer but gave it to her readily after Asako sent her to hospital following some complications with her pregnancy. Coupled with the fact that Yuka pushed Keita to his death, it could have meant that she felt that there was no more reason to hold on to the clue and she owed Asako a favour after all.

Now that Asako has a clue to the killer, looks like we are in for a showdown between her and the culprit. It does seem that Emily wasn't kiled due to chance so there should be something linking Asako and that man. If this happens to be true, that means Asako also has a duty to make amends towards Emily for her past actions?