MADDER: I’m The Culprit In That Case!

Mao Ioki in MADDER

Caught the first few episodes of the new drama Madder: Sono Jiken, Watashi ga Hannin desu (I’m The Culprit In That Case! ), A VERY fun and entertaining story of a young high school student named Akane Nakano (Mao Ioki) attending Seiran Academy, a school for the exceptionally gifted, where she is a genius among geniuses. 

Like many geniuses, however, she is bored with schools and scores and societal status, looking at everyone and everything with an apathetic eye. That is, until one morning when she comes across the scene of a murder near the school campus. 

This is a grisly serial murder, the fifth in a series, and while looking on, Akane sees someone suspicious among the crowd of gawkers, an unscrupulous guy in a maintenance outfit, who seems to be taking an unusually keen interest in the investigation! "Hm, seems shady", she thinks.

She might have forgotten about him in time, but when she sees him doing maintenance at her school (after yet another mind-numbingly dull day), she takes a renewed interest in him and follows him to his workshop. 

His name is Kurokawa (Ryuta Yamamura) and, speaking frankly, she confronts him and tells him that she saw him at her school… and at the scene of the morning murder. 

Looking her over, he chides her, saying “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about school?”, but when she confesses boredom and apathy with school, he says, “perhaps the killer was like you- bored with the mundane and desperate to experience something new. He says that you cannot see things the same after killing someone, that carrying the burden of a crime changes your entire outlook of life. 

Listening to this man talk, Akane realizes he has described her life to a T. And later, forlornly walking home, she has an epiphany to shake up her monochrome life and experience this colorful new world that Kurokawa spoke of.

Thus when school opens the next morning and the students and faculty discover that SOMEONE has vandalized the  school statue and SMASHED to BITS, we know instantly that the culprit is HER! 

In such a way begins Akane's new life of crime!

Eager to feel the thrill of the chase, Akane is delighted when her entire class of geniuses consider this vandalism a challenge to the school and team up help catch the criminal! 

There is: 

Hiroto Miyauchi (Eiku Yamashita) Mathematics Gold Olympiad,

 Eto Arata (Kouhei Higuchi) , Quiz Champion

 Mayu Shinozaki (Riru Yoshina) , Linguistics Expert 

Minato Yorihara (Hibiki Mizuno),  Astronomy Olympiad 

Yuka Ono (Kanon) , Pianist with Perfect Pitch

 and Try-hard Kitakyushuu Speech Champion Rin Hojo (Tsugumi)! 

Are THESE to be Akane's Intellectual Adversaries? She can't wait!

Akane’s excitement, however. is short lived when she finds that despite their brains, these kids just can’t keep up with her devious deceptions-misdiagnosing trails, arguing amongst themselves,  harebrained procedures, she finds that to keep the game going, she has to actually go out of her way to HELP them decipher the clues to her own crime! 

Meanwhile there’s all sorts of other shenanigans going on in school with corrupt principals and shady teachers- and of course there’s a real serial killer on the loose in town just waiting for his next victim, while the police investigators (Rina Takeda, Shojo Hama) assigned to the case seem to have no clue how to even start! 

Looks like Akane will have her hands FULL if she plans to continue this new occupation of juggling full-time student…and part-time criminal! 

As you all know, I’m not a fan of the “Troubled Student” dramas and usually shy away from those focused on the kids, but MADDER’s set-up sounded so fun, and indeed, it’s been a real hoot to watch! First time seeing actress Mao Ioki whose deadpan delivery of the perpetually bored Akane Nakano steals every scene! 

Drama stats tell me she’s from one of those AKB type acts-Nogizaka46 to be exact- which makes me wonder if we’re seeing the beginning so the next wave of talent! Going to have to keep track of these actors and actresses!