6/10 Show about "a good lawyer but a bad man"
I am a huge fan f K- and J-dramas. I watch much of what Netflix makes available unless they are really silly... OR really violent. I do not deal well with disturbing, gory violence.
There has to be a counter-weight to help me from turning it off.
(see bottom of this review for an addendum)
I fear this series is falling into the really violent category.
Don't get me wrong. This series has all the earmarks of being right up my alley. An eccentric (or two?) lead, a good ensemble cast, and it's a legal drama with a moral message.
The two male leads are intriguing and of course attractive.
It is a series about (as he describes himself) "a good lawyer, but a bad man". The character ("Kujo") is played by the impressive Yûya Yagira. I am mindful it has to be challenging taking on a role from Manga and Yûya Yagira does well.
We will see, I'm sure, as the series progresses exactly what this comment he makes about himself means: if he is indeed a bad man and if so if he is redeemable.
So this show is at its heart a character study with a legal framing. Will he transform or just be recontextualized?
There is not a lot of warmth in this show. And the lead character seems to be emotionally distant as well as emotionally complex. He appears to be morally compromised. The character of Kujo is of course intriguing.
His counterpart (played by Hokuto Matsumura) is more straightforward. He is less ambiguous. More morally grounded. He's not a foil so much as a counter-balance to Kujo. I would NOT say this is a buddy show, per se. The two characters rotate around each other like satellites.
I am about half-way through the series and I'm not sure I will finish it. The level of intense violence does not seem to let up and the plots -- the cases -- are depressing. There are incredibly disturbing scenes. I don't see this changing.
I realize this is based on a popular Manga (at least according to the information available). So many in the Japanese audience may be clued in to what they are about to see, but I am in the international audience and was not clued in.
I do want to mention that the production itself is really impressive. From the opening credits on, the camera work and the direction, and the music and editing are very good.
This is a high class production.
I don't know as I write this that I will watch it to the end. I am intrigued by the characters, would like to see further examination of the Kujo character, but I am not comfortable with the cases. If this was a K-drama (like "Pro Bono") I would be confident that there would be healing and redemption at the end. But this is a J-drama and we might expect the answer to "I'm a bad man" to be "So what?".
I'll update this if I come to any further conclusions.
Addendum: I did watch all ten episodes. I won't change my initial rating and my comments still stand. And I won't spoil anything. But the ending (for me) is difficult. I realize some may think how it ends is bold, even realistic, and intellectually satisfying. But for me the show chooses psychological truth over comfort and a "soft landing". Kujo is not redeemed but rather exposed.
If you are into dark, unresolved and ambiguous storytelling, this series may be for you.
There has to be a counter-weight to help me from turning it off.
(see bottom of this review for an addendum)
I fear this series is falling into the really violent category.
Don't get me wrong. This series has all the earmarks of being right up my alley. An eccentric (or two?) lead, a good ensemble cast, and it's a legal drama with a moral message.
The two male leads are intriguing and of course attractive.
It is a series about (as he describes himself) "a good lawyer, but a bad man". The character ("Kujo") is played by the impressive Yûya Yagira. I am mindful it has to be challenging taking on a role from Manga and Yûya Yagira does well.
We will see, I'm sure, as the series progresses exactly what this comment he makes about himself means: if he is indeed a bad man and if so if he is redeemable.
So this show is at its heart a character study with a legal framing. Will he transform or just be recontextualized?
There is not a lot of warmth in this show. And the lead character seems to be emotionally distant as well as emotionally complex. He appears to be morally compromised. The character of Kujo is of course intriguing.
His counterpart (played by Hokuto Matsumura) is more straightforward. He is less ambiguous. More morally grounded. He's not a foil so much as a counter-balance to Kujo. I would NOT say this is a buddy show, per se. The two characters rotate around each other like satellites.
I am about half-way through the series and I'm not sure I will finish it. The level of intense violence does not seem to let up and the plots -- the cases -- are depressing. There are incredibly disturbing scenes. I don't see this changing.
I realize this is based on a popular Manga (at least according to the information available). So many in the Japanese audience may be clued in to what they are about to see, but I am in the international audience and was not clued in.
I do want to mention that the production itself is really impressive. From the opening credits on, the camera work and the direction, and the music and editing are very good.
This is a high class production.
I don't know as I write this that I will watch it to the end. I am intrigued by the characters, would like to see further examination of the Kujo character, but I am not comfortable with the cases. If this was a K-drama (like "Pro Bono") I would be confident that there would be healing and redemption at the end. But this is a J-drama and we might expect the answer to "I'm a bad man" to be "So what?".
I'll update this if I come to any further conclusions.
Addendum: I did watch all ten episodes. I won't change my initial rating and my comments still stand. And I won't spoil anything. But the ending (for me) is difficult. I realize some may think how it ends is bold, even realistic, and intellectually satisfying. But for me the show chooses psychological truth over comfort and a "soft landing". Kujo is not redeemed but rather exposed.
If you are into dark, unresolved and ambiguous storytelling, this series may be for you.
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