A Tale of Two "Games"

 In my post about the Keigo Higashino novel "The Name Of The Game Is A Kidnapping" and its 2003 and 2024 adaptations, I had remarked that with the 2003 version with Naohito Fujiki, Yukie Nakama and Ryo Ishibashi, while mostly true to the source material (with a few alterations and additions), they tacked on an extended "happy ending" for everyone involved, a move I felt didn't sit right but did leave the audiences satisfied!

 

The 2024 version started off well by avoiding a lot of changes the 2003 version made, seeming to adhere to the novel as best as they could,  and I stated in my last post that I felt we were going to get the "true" adaptation at last! Kazuya Kamenashi was excellent as Sakuma, Ai Mikami great as Juri and Atsuro Watabe properlyintimidating as  Katsuragi. Things looked good!

Well, I just finished watching the new series, and not only did they ALSO tack on a new ending, my GOSH, it had to be the most over-the-top, overly dramatic conclusions ever! Seriously, I had the surprised Pikachu face as I watched this new ending, thinking, "Everyone agrees that the Keigo Higashino novel is perfect...so WHY do they always feel they need to ADD to the ending???"

Is it because in Japan, the novel is so well known that they feel the need to surprise the fans who have already read the book? Is the original "twist" not enough? Surely fans of the source material must have been as disappointed as I was with this newfangled wrap up...

Too bad, as I was REALLY digging the 2024 version up to that point!

More Keigo Higashino on Film: "The Name of The Game Is a Kidnapping"

As I’ve mentioned many times before, one of the great things about being a relatively new Keigo Higashino fan is that every time I’ve finished reading yet another terrific story from him, inevitably there will already have been a TV or movie adaptation of the works.

And so it was with “The Name Of The Game Is A Kidnapping”, a Keigo Higashino novel I recently finished  (and loved) and, when going online to see it a Special or Film had been made of it, found that not only HAD they made a movie of it, I had actually downloaded it along with a few other flicks some 15+ years earlier!

As I recall, I was trying to acquire the 2007 Erika Sawajiri movie “Closed Note” and on the same movie film forum they had also just uploaded a 2003 film called “g@me” with Naohito Fujiki and Yukie Nakama. I grabbed both of them, but as I was in Erika Sawajiri mode at the time, I chose to watch Closed Note...and simply put g@me in a folder on my HD for another time! There it sat for YEARS until, looking up film adaptation of The Name Of The Game is a Kidnapping and seeing the movie poster for that same film I had downloaded a decade + ago:

"HEY!" I gasped. "I HAVE this movie somewhere!" Racing to my shelves, I found the hardrive and located the folder containing the film...but sadly, it was so OLD that the file was utterly corrupted and unplayable! D'OH!  Undeterred, I ran over to the forums and went through the long and tedious process of acquiring it all over again!  Succeeding, I had it it hand, and just this past weekend I FINALLY got to watch it!!!

Our story:

The main character Shunsuke Sakuma (Naohito Fujiki) is a flashy ad man in charge of  a Beer Company’s promotion, including the launch of a new item.. Arrogant and ruthless, he executes plans in a calculating and intricate way built for success!

 

With meticulous thought and planning, he has no room for failure…thus he is stunned and shocked when his ideas are nixed and he is taken off the team by the beer company’s president Katsutoshi Katsuragi (Ryo Ishibashi) who feels Sakuma's ideas are not the direction he sees...and wants Sakuma OFF the team!!!

A blow to his ego, Sakuma spends the evening drinking and then somehow finds himself at the gates of Katsuragi’s home that night. Whether he is there to confront him with fisticuffs or to beg for reconsideration of his plans, he does not know, but before he can act, he sees the most unusual sight: a young woman (Yukie Nakama) sneaking over the walls of the property and scurrying away!

Intrigued, Sakuma follows the girl as she takes a cab to a hotel and, when he sees that she cannot get a room no matter how much she pleads, finally confronts her and, introducing himself as a business associate of the Katsuragi Company,  asks who she is and what she was doing at the house!

The girl confesses that she is Juri Katsuragi, the black sheep daughter of the family whose mother was one of father’s mistresses. Always at odds with Chiharu, the family’s real daughter, the two sisters had a heated argument that evening which blew up, causing Juri to suddenly decide to run away from home!

Trying to calculate how he can use this information against Katsuragi, Sakuma temporarily takes the girl to his place, deciding what to do. Juri would like to leave the town and go to a faraway place, but to do that, she needs money, and lots of it.

With Sakuma hell-bent on punishing Katsuragi and with Juri needing funds, they come up with an elaborate plan: to FAKE a kidnapping! Sakuma will pretend to kidnap Juri and then hold her for some 3 million in ransom, and then split it evenly between the two of them! With Juri’s family connections and Sakuma’s savvy, they create an elaborate con to trick the blustery Katsuragi out of his money and make him feel the dregs of defeat!

But things won’t be easy for the two: Not only does Katsuragi have the authorities on his side and the money  and power to get the best people looking for them, but Sakuma must now stay one step ahead of them and deal with a naughty and strong-headed young girl on his hands as well!

Despite his intricate and careful plans, Juri infrequently listens to what he says and acts on her own…and at the end of the day, may be hiding a huge secret of her OWN, one which threatens to undermine Sakuma's finely laid plans!

My summation of the film: Thought the first half of the movie was a fairly faithful take on the book, with only minor changes (like Katsuragi owning a beer company instead of a car company), the second half really veered into uncharted territory!

At the place in the film where the novel ended, I was surprised to see a good 35 minutes of story “added” to the film’s conclusion, and one I can’t say I was too enthusiastic about! Without giving away any spoilers, I really liked the end of the book but found the new ending in the movie quite bland and cliched in that generic j-drama kind of way. 

Too bad, as I feel both Fujiki and Nakama great in their roles (though Yukie looked a bit old to play a runaway teenager, but I digress…) and did a convincing job!

Nonetheless, another fun experience reading the Keigo Higashino novel and then immediately watching the adaptation. Always interesting how they bring the book to life and the cinematic choices they make!

Crush of The Day: Wakana Matsumoto

 Already did a fair amount of gushing about how absolutely amazing Actress Wakana Matsumoto is in her latest drama “Fukushuu no Miboujin” in my earlier post about it, but since then she has just been WOWING me more and more and I just HAD to extoll her virtues AGAIN!!!

Seeing Wakana in two dramas at the same time playing polar opposite styles of character really shows me the range of her skills- so exaggeratedly over-the-top was her performance as Mihoko Miyama that I actually had to double-check to make sure she was the same actress playing the cold and calculating Mitsu Suzuki in Fukushuu!
I thought the first time I saw Wakana was in Toshi no Sakon as the svelte and stylish ex-wife of the male lead (and she was very good in it!), it seems I’ve been seeing her in bit parts for years, and it’s been only very recently that she’s been given fuller roles…
Going onto Dramawiki, I was stunned at just HOW MANY dramas she’s been in that I’ve seen!
The first drama I’d actually seen her in was Around 40 in 2008, where Wakana played one of the nurses working under Yuki Amami-who, unlike Amami’s character herself, seemed simply man-hungry, as evidenced by her sly moves put on Naohito Fujiki…

She kind of disappeared from the drama scene for a few years, and the next time I saw her was in 2012 in Lucky Seven, and it was only a bit part in the first episode as the admittedly SEXY AS HELL lover of Jun Matsumoto’s character….She was only there to establish Matsumoto's character as a ladies' man and was never seen again, but WOW what an appearance!

Then a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her appearance in “Legal High” as the girlfriend of Yui Aragaki's crush...

A guest spot in “Angel Heart” in 2015

A put-upon and harried OL in “Age Harassment” 2015

Hippocrates no Chikai 2016

Hello Harinezumi, 2017

A relative (sister in law? ) of Odagiri Joe in Cheer Dan (yes, I only watched one episode of this, more on this later) 2018

dele 2018

A heartbroken mother of a murdered child in “Trace” 2019

One of the produce-named call girls in “Fruits Takuhaibin” 2019, "Kabosu" a sexy minx on the job but cute and funny in real life!

Genius sisters (along with Arisa Mizuki) crossing paths with Yamapi in

“In Hand” 2019

The childhood crush of Nokishita in an emotional episode of “Radiation House” as a new bride who is concerned about the possibility of cancer affecting her future with her husband…

A dramatic role in "Watashi no Kaseifu Nagisa San” as a past co-worker of Nagisa who teaches him a cautionary story of overworking when she goes from a bright and motivated person to a distraught and desperate employee whose spirit is crushed by work...

A fan of Author Taiga Nakano in “Anoko no Yume wo Mitan Desu”

Her aforementioned appearance in Toshi No Sakon as the refined ex-wife of Maiko’s new husband where she first struck me with her beauty!!!

A kind and caring wife in "Coffee Ikaga Deshou" in 2021

A crucial witness in the very first case in “Ichikei no Karasu”

“Dakara Korosenakatta” as the wife of Shiraishi (Tamaki Hiroshi) whose relationship is destroyed when he chooses work over family, exposing her father in a scandal because it was the “right thing to do”…

A super-cool performance as badass detective Tomi Nekota in  "Mystery to Iunakure” tracking down a serial killer along with Sairi Ito and the force....

And her WONDERFULLY psychopathic and Oh! So entertaining stint as Mihoko Mizuki, the Sister in law from HELL giving it to poor Tao Tsuchiya in every episode of Yangotonaki Ichizoku…

…and then, FINALLY, after a decade and a half of bit parts, getting her very first STARRING role as the murderous widow Mizuki Suzuki in ‘Fukushuu No Miboujin”, the role which firmly planted her as a new FAVE actress of mine and one to look out for from now on!!!

She is so wonderfully convincing as the woman seeking revenge on those that pushed her husband to suicide-  friendly and smart while undercover at work, but icy and vicious when extracting her vengeance...

We've got only TWO more episodes to go with Fukushuu no Miboujin and I'm frankly on pins and needles! But no matter HOW it ends, I'm eager to see whatever she does next!  I can only hope it will be another meaty role like this one...

PS: Doing a deep dive on Ms. Matsumoto, I was to find that her very first role was as a Kamen Rider Girl! Because of COURSE she was a Kamen rider girl! ALL new faves of mine turn up in at least ONE of them, and Wakana’s been in THREE!

Now if you don’t mind, I’m off to go look for cheesecake pics of her, most of which are abundant and plentiful on the internet!

It's Wakana's time to shine!