Shokuzai: Penitências (2012)

Positive thoughts:

-Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films have always had a wonderfully surreal and eerie pitch to them, and the same goes for this TV mini-series. If you didn't know, there'd be no way to tell this was a TV show rather than a film.

-The cast is excellent, no exceptions.

-The premise and format of Shokuzai is highly intriguing: Five grade-school girls are good friends. One is abducted and murdered. Each subsequent episode reveals how this event screwed up all of their lives in completely different ways.

-The plot-line is highly suspenseful and unpredictable. One never knows what exactly is happening with each individual storyline or the overarching plot until near the end of each episode.

Negative thoughts:

-The show goes a bit too far into twisted and disturbing territory towards the end. I do immensely enjoy tragic and disturbing stories, and Shokuzai succeeded in this aspect for most of its duration, but by the end of the show it feels like the show starts becoming as twisted and disturbing as possible merely for the sake of it.

-Nearly every male character is either deranged or evil.

Overall thoughts:

I've always been more partial to Korean dramas, but Shokuzai has launched me into the Japanese drama scene, particularly WOWOW's mini-series'. Great show, and I hope to find more like it.

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Who really faces the penance

There was a bad guy and the actual antagonist, the mother of the deceased Emiri, Asako. Asako harasses Emiri’s friends for somehow not stopping the murder and causes them damage and trauma into adulthood. In the end, she realizes that Emiri’s murder is closer than she thought and has a ridiculous amount of forgiveness/calmness for him, even after having spite towards the ones not even responsible.

I guess the twist is that she ended up paying her own penance, for causing everyone around her pain.

What was interesting about the cinematography and a little bit offsetting, was the present day was hard to distinguish as present due to the saturated lighting. The past was colorful but present, dim and dry. I can understand that the director may have wanted to emphasize that the girls present lives were depressing and their past was the last bit of brightness and happiness in their lives.

I liked the side stories of girls who had now grown into women. Even though these stories didn’t tie into the plot in anyway it did exemplify how Asako’s grudge keep them stunted. I’d say Yuka ended up being the most fearless and was the only to go against Asako which humbled her a bit. Which is ironic because I had high hopes for how Maki would be but she was the most overbearing while “bear” grew to be the most stunted but paid her “penance” by standing up bravely to her brother and stopping another child abuse case.
I liked Sae, she stood up for herself but also gave into Asako’s criticism of her and was filled with insecurities.

Again, Yuka was affected by Emiri’s murder but in the most indirect way. She simply became infatuated with law enforcement because she was still traumatized by the day of the murder. However in the end, she was able to handle Asako’s delusion by giving her the answers to take care of on her own. Shockingly, Asako couldn’t handle the pressure, her penance was to be put in the girls shoes of feeling guilt and hopeless confusion.

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