Anata wo Ubatta Sono Hi Kara 終わり

The final episode of the Keiko Kitagawa child abduction revenge drama Anata wo Ubatta Sono Hi kara wrapped tonight, and, as expected, was full of gripping and emotional scenes from beginning to end! Anata Ubatte was my favorite drama this season (of the small handful I checked out), and it had me on the edge of my seat as the emotional story played out, keeping me guessing just what was going to happen next!

One thing this drama had going for it was a really really great cast, led by the amazing Nao Omori and Keiko Kitagawa as the parents pitted against each other for the loss of a daughter.

Sawa Niimura and Michitaka Tsutsui 

Ryohei Abe

Yukiko Koshikawa

Must mention newcomer Kasumi Isshiki who played the central daughter figure Mimi/Moeko, the aforementioned "abducted child" who was the heart that held the whole drama together.

Also must mention how great Yuna Taira was in this as the daughter Ririko. In my initial post I remarked that she was the one character who seemed to be unpredictable as she kept her true motivations close to her chest, and indeed, had one of the most pivotal arcs in the series.

I've loved Yuna for some time now, but was really impressed with her acting in this one!

While the Dan Rei Drama "Youkami No Semi" remains my favorite in the kidnapped/abducted child genre, Anata wo Ubatta Sono Hi kara was a compelling show in its own right, and is certainly another one of Keiko Kitagawa's finer efforts!

Looking forward to Keiko's upcoming film "Night Flower"!

Mystery to Iu Nakare

 Masaki Sudo stars as Totono Kunou, a college student with a keen eye for observation and a flair for cooking. He is in the middle of making one of his favorite curry dishes, when he is unexpectedly visited by the police who are investigating a nearby murder- and witnesses say they saw HIM doing the killing!!!

Kunou insists he is innocent, but the Head Detective Yabu (Kenichi Endo) is convinced of his guilt and roughly interrogates him for over four days! Being a bright and concise fellow, he gives many reasons why the allegations against him are untrue, but Yabu intends to keep him there until he breaks.

While he is there, Kunou makes several observations about the other detectives working the case, including Seiko Furomitsu (Sairi Ito), whose cat just died, 

Yuto Ikemoto (Matsuya Onoe) who’s going through marital problems, 

and Narikai Aoto (Michitaka Tsutsui), a detective Kunou recognizes from a serial killer case years ago where he was in the news for putting up a false arrest charge against a suspect.

Kunou uses his logic and sensibilities to help the three with their problems and see things in a new light, and slowly they come to believe Kunou must be innocent, even as the evidence is piling up against him.

And so, despite their leader’s confidence that Kunou is guilty, Furomitsu, Ikemoto and  Aoto work around Yabu to dig up clues of a more unbiased nature to help get Kunou out of the hot seat so they can focus on uncovering the true murderer out there!

I know this sounds like a very basic plotline, but I have to tell you, this drama is SO DAMN WELL WRITTEN! The dialog is TOP NOTCH and while watching it, I even thought to myself, “I can’t remember the last time the first episode of a Detective Drama BLEW ME AWAY like this one! It’s SO GOOD!!!!

I think it’s funny that the first thing I really remember seeing Masaki Suda in was the Satomi Ishihara drama Jimi Ni Sugoi, and he was presented there as kind of a “pretty boy” if you will. But with the recent “Konto Ga Hajimaru” and now Mystery to Iu Nakare, he is proving himself to be SUCH a versatile actor. As someone who can seemingly fluctuate between the “kakkoi” guys and the “character” type roles, he reminds me of a young Tom Hanks. Yeah, that’s how much I dig him in this!

Mystery to iu Nakare could EASILY be my favorite drama of the season so far!!!

Thoughts On Yuganda Hamon

 Just finished Yuganda Hamon, a drama with a very thought-provoking analysis of journalism as it used to be presented and where it is going. A story through the eyes of journalists from the olden days of critically high-held newsmakers to the young, hot shot online reporters, it tackles the idea of false information, sensationalized stories, the (perhaps misguided) fervor it drums up, and how it is taking over true research.

We see how false reporting can hurt individuals but also see how succesful a fake headline can be. We see how the trendy online news blogs get all the endorsements while seasoned vets must do their investigation under meager budgets. We see how people can lose their way while looking for the truth as well as people rediscovering their purpose.

Truthfully it depressed me because I think it’s true when they say that as the old news institutions die out and the faceless online gossip-type journalists take their place, there will be more and more untruthful news, more and more deception and more people following and purporting it.

It paints a pretty sad picture of the future of journalism. But at the end Matsuda is there to remind us that as long as there are people who care for each other, people who care about their town and their neighbors, there will ALWAYS be journalists and reporters out there dedicated to finding what is real and factual to inform us as diligently and cohesively as possible.

It was that final passage that gave me some well-needed optimism back!