This review may contain spoilers
Underrated, brutal, and thrilling.
Tokyo Swindlers is a super underrated drama about a group of land swindlers in Japan.
The drama was gripping from start to finish and keeps the watcher hooked with twists and interesting "heist" plans. At first I thought the drama would be more in the style of K-drama "Taxi Driver" in that it focuses on multiple different cases. However Tokyo Swindlers mostly focuses on one single "heist", one that would be enough for most of the swindlers to retire.
The acting throughout is good but nothing particularly great or special. Go Ayano's acting and character was my personal favorite. I also liked how the drama showed the police side of the swindling too. The drama follows a duo consisting of a young and enthusiastic femaledetective + and old and experienced male detective, both characters had great acting and the characters were interesting. I would have hoped to see even more of them however.
A surprising aspect of the drama is how brutal and hard-to-watch it is at many point. Numerous characters in the drama suffer significantly, and the drama also shows brutal fight scenes and gore. Also what makes the drama hard-to-watch is that, except the police detectives, all characters are bad, disgusting people who will not stop at anything to achieve their goals.
I do have two big complaints about the drama. First, the drama does a very tired and much used twist/plot point in a very predictable and not very exciting way. I would have liked to see even more of Harrison and Takumi's relationship and backstories to make the story overall more interesting. Second flaw in my opinion is the ending. The final episode overall was good and the last 30 minutes was particularly wild and exciting. The actual ending itself was quite boring and didn't make me feel anything really. It almost seems as if they left the story unfinished and open in some aspects to be able to continue it. And if not, the ending is disappointing regardless.
Tokyo Swindlers is a gripping and extremely brutal crime thriller that is a must-watch for fans of the genre! The series has its flaws but they don't detract too much from the overall watch experience. Now I have to go find more of Go Ayano's films and series!
The drama was gripping from start to finish and keeps the watcher hooked with twists and interesting "heist" plans. At first I thought the drama would be more in the style of K-drama "Taxi Driver" in that it focuses on multiple different cases. However Tokyo Swindlers mostly focuses on one single "heist", one that would be enough for most of the swindlers to retire.
The acting throughout is good but nothing particularly great or special. Go Ayano's acting and character was my personal favorite. I also liked how the drama showed the police side of the swindling too. The drama follows a duo consisting of a young and enthusiastic femaledetective + and old and experienced male detective, both characters had great acting and the characters were interesting. I would have hoped to see even more of them however.
A surprising aspect of the drama is how brutal and hard-to-watch it is at many point. Numerous characters in the drama suffer significantly, and the drama also shows brutal fight scenes and gore. Also what makes the drama hard-to-watch is that, except the police detectives, all characters are bad, disgusting people who will not stop at anything to achieve their goals.
I do have two big complaints about the drama. First, the drama does a very tired and much used twist/plot point in a very predictable and not very exciting way. I would have liked to see even more of Harrison and Takumi's relationship and backstories to make the story overall more interesting. Second flaw in my opinion is the ending. The final episode overall was good and the last 30 minutes was particularly wild and exciting. The actual ending itself was quite boring and didn't make me feel anything really. It almost seems as if they left the story unfinished and open in some aspects to be able to continue it. And if not, the ending is disappointing regardless.
Tokyo Swindlers is a gripping and extremely brutal crime thriller that is a must-watch for fans of the genre! The series has its flaws but they don't detract too much from the overall watch experience. Now I have to go find more of Go Ayano's films and series!
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