Well, it was a long. slow road, but I finally managed to finish up Emi Takei's medical Drama "Zero No Shinjitsu" last night, and WOW! was it great! Because Emi's character of Mao Matsumoto seemed so much like her character on Otenki Oneesan, I was expecting a fun, comedic romp, however Zero no Shinjitsu surprised me by being very serious and insightful, and it seemed to get darker and darker as the episodes went on.
You know how these crime dramas with the detectives/doctors/etc as the eccentric geniuses who solves the crime cases always have a backstory that gets told little by little, til the end where that becomes the main story? Zero No Shinjitsu was no different, but somehow, the backstory of Matsumoto Mao (Takei), a genius forensics medical examiner who is single-mindedly focused on her job because of her mother 's unresolved death really grabbed me.
The tale gets revealed to the viewer little by little (as all backstories do, I know) and with each new tidbit about the backstory, more depth was revealed about the current cast members. By the time the last episode came around, it seemed like every character on the show had some connection to the death of Mao Matsumoto's mother, and as the story unfurled, we see how each person is woven into the fabric of Mao's mother's destiny.
Though Zero No Shinjitsu didn't conclude with a big BANG or any shocking twists, it left me with a very satisfied feeling that the story had reached the conclusion it was meant to. It even leaves a door open for future chapters of Matsumoto Mao's Forensic Crime dramas, though with her backstory resolved would it even matter? Everything that needed to be told was shared here. In any case, it looks like yet another Emi Takei drama has entered the long list of dramas that I love from her! Can't wait to see what she's coming up with NEXT, track records have shown that no matter WHAT she does, I'm almost SURE to like it!! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
