An Attempt on "Retake"

As a HUGE fan of pretty actress Riko Narumi (loved her ever since One Litre of Tears and she's gone on to star in so many more of my favorite dramas), I was excited to check out her science fiction drama RETAKE...but it was one of the unfortunate shows that never got picked up by any subtitling team to take on and the only way I was able to see it was in its RAW state! Still, I wanted to watch it so badly that I decided to attempt to "go blind" into this show and see if I could navigate the drama without any translation....

Maybe if it was a regular romance drama or salaryman show I might have had an easier time, but the story of RETAKE, featuring the sci-fi set-up of two government agents Kaoru Nasuno (Riko Narumi) and  Shinji Aratani (Michitaka Tsutsui), whose job it is to jump back into the past via time machine and contain rogue time travelers who are up to no good and are using their knowledge of future events for their own greed, is SO DARN INTRICATE, WORDY and CONFUSING that I just keep finding myself UTTERLY LOST!

I understood the basic secenario as Riko and Shinichi spot and confront one of those naughty time travelers and, after flashing their badges, attempt to apprehend him.

I understood when they jumped back to headquarters to tell their kooky boss Masako Powell (the always entertaining Atsuko Asano) that they'd failed the mission...

I even understood the setup with the grouchy boss (don't all detective shows like this have a grouchy backstabbing boss?)and the sympathetic secretary (played by Nonoka Ono)...

...but BOY...once it got to the story of an arrested man( Tomomi Maruyama) framed for murder, and some special hospitalized genius kid, I was all like HEY MAN WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ONNNNNN!!!

Argh, so frustrating because the show looks so interesting!!! I will attempt to trudge through the show (thank god I can watch it at ALL, even without subs) but I might have to start making up my own reasons for the characters and their motivations 'cause I am SO LOSSSTTTTT! 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com