Shinai naru Boku e Satsui wo Komete

 Eiji Urashima (Ryosuke Yamada) is a seemingly happy-go-lucky college student who always has a bright smile on his face and a quick laugh on his lips...

But this is only to hide a hard truth about him: he is the son of a notorious serial killer codenamed named “LL” (Taichi Saotome) whom, though apparently killed in a fire, still remains in the memories of the townsfolk.

 

No one knows about Eiji’s dark connection to the notorious killer, not even his girlfriend Kyoka (Mugi Kadowaki), though he knows in his heart he must tell her some day.

But the choice is taken out of his hands when several events occur....

One is that a NEW series of killings had begun, and detective Momoi (Yuki Sakurai) recognizes it immediately as the work of LL, or at least a virtual exact copycat. She and her superiors seem to have a past connection to the old case and they are dedicated to solving this new development.

And the second and more damning reason Eiji’s connection to LL comes into focus is because during the times of the brutal killings, Eiji has no memories at all. It is as if he’s blacked out the last few days.

And it’s only under deep digging that he finds out an even more horrible fact: He may have a SPLIT PERSONALITY, and when evidence of the bloody crimes turn up in his possession,  he realizes his other self may be the KILLER!

When the news of the new serial killings makes the news, his relationship to the killer is revealed at last. And when he finds that his "other" personality KNEW one of the victims, he becomes the MAIN suspect!

While dealing with this new "split" personality and all the evils possibly connected to it, his life is put in turmoil where everything precious to him is taken away. It is up to him to investigate his own other self and solve the mystery of his crimes...

WHOA,, not gonna lie, this is a COMPLETE 180 turn from Rosuke’s last drama “Boku no Kawaii wa Madamada Hatsutentojo” where all he had to worry about was losing his cute appeal!  And while I have no doubt that his character will be innocent of the murders, (I will be SHOCKED if he turns out to actually be the killer), it is a far cry from the sweet and wholesome boy I'd just seen! 

PS: I'm surprised this is a Fuji TV show- A drama this dark and bloody seems a LOT more up WOWOW’s alley!

Roppongi Class おわり

Back in July, I did not think much about the first episode of Roppongi Class, likening it to a one-dimensional melodrama about the rich persecuting the poor, summing up my thought with these sentiments: 

"I only began watching [Roppongi Class] for the Yuko Araki goodness, and while she is very, very good in it, I REALLY don’t have the stamina to sit through another one of these “Corrupt People in Power Persecuting the Innocent” kind of dramas like the aforementioned "Hanzawa Naoki”… Unless this turns into some kick-ass movie a la “Fukushuu No Miboujin” where the persecuted parties are the ones with the upper hand and gleefully extract their revenge on the crooks, I’m probably going to pass on this one…"

WELL, fast forward to three months later, and Roppongi Class has delivered ALL of that, and MORE, making it one of the most amazing dramas I’ve seen and my vote for BEST of the SEASON! I’ve long said that what makes a good movie to me (or drama series), is the amount of scenes and passages that I just have to watch again.If there’s a drama that has lots of scenes that I like and want to rewatch, you can bet it will become a fave, and Roppongi Class has it in SPADES! This drama is simply OVERFLOWING with incredible dialog, gripping scenes and emotional moments!

Another thing I found wonderful was how DENSELY packed this drama was, so much themes, motifs and mini-arcs going on within its borders… I had no idea how many ideas they had ‘bookended” until, one by one, they all wonderfully resolved by the show’s last episode.

Not just story arcs, but the characters themselves- absolutely NO ONE was wasted in this show. Every character who is introduced in this show, from the Cops, Criminals, Businessmen and Con Artists, all of them “go” somewhere within the story, and I was impressed how they managed to tie it ALL up for a HIGHLY and WONDERFULLY satisfying conclusion!

Though in my first watch I noted how Actor Teruyuki Kagawa always played these powerful bad guys as to be almost typecast, I MUST say that as the show went on and I saw how much of the show's "stakes" hinged on believing the evil and POWER of the antagonist, I realized there were few actors who could carry such a HEAVY role with such command, and in it, he was BRILLIANT!!!

And I can’t finish this praising of Roppongi Class without GUSHING about incredible Yurina Hirate, the sole person whom, to me, was the absolute “heart’ of the show, and it was so sweet to watch her go from a flighty  and arrogant waif to someone who becomes the rock of the group!!!

I remember at the time of the first few episodes, hamanosilence said:

"Techi will probably be the Kataomoi Character here which seems to be the most interesting so far, even though the whole brat with an attitude is a bit too much in the beginning."

The “brat" thing WAS a bit much, but sure enough, this prediction TRULY came to fruition when she became one of the most vibrant and DAZZLING characters EVER, taking me for a LOOP and KNOCKING me OUT, as evidenced in my feverish GUSH about her weeks ago! I simply can’t imagine ANY other person playing Aoi!! (PS: Why in the world is Yurina Hirate called “Techi????”)

I originally watched this show in a smaller file format (hardsubbed by the amazing Citrine Subs team), but I am really going to have to get ahold of HQ file copies- This is a wonderful, wonderful show, one that I will be rewatching for years to come!

Enthusiastically posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com!

Teruyuki Kagawa Doing His Thing in "Roppongi Class"

Aren’t we all getting tired of Teruyuki Kagawa playing these same snarky corrupt characters over and over again? Ever since first seeing him as the weaselly Hideyoshi in Toshiie and Matsu way back in 2002, I knew he’d be up to no good whenever he appeared, and through the years in dramas like the Hanzawa Naoki series and even Shudan Sasen, he always played the same type: Powerful man with connections who destroys innocent people’s lives, in which the main characters spent the whole drama fighting against him and trying to defeat him...

And now we have “Roppongi Class”, a drama about a kindhearted young man who always wants to walk the path of the righteous, who gets on the wrong side of a powerful family run by patriarch Shigeru Nagaya (Kagawa), who rob him of his school, his family and even his freedom when he is jailed due to their mechanisms. Getting out, his only goal is to expose the family and make them pay…

I only began watching this for the Yuko Araki goodness, and while she is very, very good in it, I REALLY don’t have the stamina to sit through another one of these “Corrupt People in Power Persecuting the Innocent” kind of dramas like the aforementioned "Hanzawa Naoki".

Unless this turns into some kick-ass movie a la “Fukushuu No Miboujin” where the persecuted parties are the ones with the upper hand and gleefully extract their revenge on the crooks,  I’m probably going to pass on this one…