ShortCircuit

So it's the actor's style :) Thank you for the explanation!

It suits him (them?) extremely well, and I'll check out his (their?) other works, just to find out some more. The short docu is also pretty illuminating, I love finding out new things :)

Your list seems to say you like more actual police procedurals/thrillers with less romance better than a melo-thriller (which FoE is). I love FoE myself, but it wouldn't fit high in your list, IMHO. Viewing pleasure might depend on the right time, right state of mind.

You might try instead something like Beyond Evil, The Good Detective (at least the first season), Watcher, Double Tap, Be Reborn, Missing Noir M, One Ordinary Day, Stranger.

But if you one day find yourself in a reflective mood (what is real and what is a lie?), then FoE might hit that spot.

Depends a lot on your tastes. Myself, I like BL, so from the newer ones, I mostly did watch BL...

Hi-recs:
- Kieta Hatsukoi (with Meguro Ren as a ML too, LOL, in case you want to see more of him until Silent is done).
- 30 Year Old Cherry Magic - another cute BL
- Minato Shouji Coin Laundry - yup, still BL, but they're both extremely cute :)

Older (and non-BL) ones (be warned I am a fan of Kimura Takuya so...)
- Pride: a sports (hockey) and romance drama. It's pretty old, but still so good.
- Hero (a good role for KimuTaku, but it's an older policier and it might not have aged all that well as Pride)
- Bloody Monday, an action story with Miura Haruma and even Sato Takeru as support cast, LOL, in his beginner's days
- Bitter Blood, a police story (and did I mention I also love Sato Takeru?)

Movies:
- the whole Rurouni Kenshin pentalogy (Sato Takeru for the win!! And also Eguchi Yosuke as Saito Hajime, my favourite MibuRoshi.)
- His (2020) - this is a BL movie, but more on the romantic and healing side than on the wooing and fiery passion side, so to speak. There's a drama before it, too, but you don't need to watch it to appreciate this one.
- Your Eyes Tell (this is SUCH a great romantic story, despite the tragedy in it. It ends well though, so don't be shy.) This one also involves MCs with impairments.

2nd ep - thanks Viki TL team! - still very good. I love the flow. There's probably going to be some heartache in the future, but I like how things go, for now.

I officially love the little bro's style - he's so... I don't know how to say it, I've gone out of sync with Japanese trends in fashion, but I'd say something like, glam or visual kei (nothing too extravagant, but there's something there). Basically non gender-conforming in his general appearance. No idea if it's the character or the actor, but I really really like it.

The JSL teacher is also a hoot - what's his backstory? He looks burned on a few relationships, or maybe just internalising all the problems his students / students' families and friends have. I hope there will be a bit about his own life in there.

I'm officially on the TsumuSou ship, they have amazing chemistry, sorry Minato-chan, let's go find someone who suits you better. Ganbatte!

Aww, all SQQ fans unite! *group hug* LOL

I knew Meguro Ren is cute (I watched Kieta Hatsukoi), and that he can act, but he's very good even when he's not supposed to look flabbergasted all the time, LOL. I have no idea how good his use of JSL is, but he seemed pretty fluent in his declaration at the end of ep 1. This looks very promising.

Kawaguchi Haruna is also very cute, and very natural (I guess my age is showing, I've grown used to the kind of wooden type of acting in former Japanese dramas, LOL. I'm glad to see more naturalness, particularly in many young actors.)

I like all the support cast so far, I guess I'll be developing a SLS because Minato-san is so lovable. But this is just episode 1, I am hoping for a HEA for all the good guys in this :)

Thanks to the TL team at Viki for the great job!

There was also a sister, right (she's in the picture with the two boys)? And she was young but older than YoonJae. And the way the men at the center looked at her was pretty creepy. IF she had time, she might have had a child by one of the creeps. And the computer nerdy guy whats-his-name is young enough to qualify, even if the show chart apparently shows him as older than he would have to be.

Is computer nerdy guy InSung? Then yes, he's suspect.

LOL, yeah, that's why I said it's like Sauron's botched reveal in ROP. Completely flat :D

He has 13's memories. His "parents" (at least the mother) are definite they don't like him, nor do they expect anything good from him. Both of them were talking about how they took him from the center, but they would have returned him if the center was still open (and it wouldn't have caused problems). He even heard them talking about it before going to the playground to be comforted by RSH.

RSH couldn't be the adopted child they're talking about, because he's the one "older" than 13. He's also in the picture RSJ just saw at the end of the episode, and recognized as 11 in the wooden carvings group.

That leaves one adopted child (RSJ) that remembers what 13 would remember, who almost remembers who JYJ is, and who has lost his memory over some accident sometime when he was a kid.

So the only explanation that makes sense is that RSJ is 13 and RSH is 11, and IF RSH isn't behind this, then whoever started it wanted to pin the blame on 13/RSJ (and maybe involve 11 / RSH too, when they learned who he is). IF RSH isn't the killer, then he's probably trying hard to keep RSJ safe in spite of himself (because he's pretty dumb IMHO). If he IS the killer... he might have some unresolved anger issues about it.

It's unclear how much time passed - they keep saying 20 years but it might be AROUND 20 years, give or take a few more... Who knows, at this point.

I haven't looked at the chart, you may be right. Then again, character charts might not be binding rules but more like guidelines LOL

ML is definitely 13. He lost his memory somehow, was adopted and might have come back to the center with his adoptive mom (she's connected to Mr Baek, she definitely would have had a chance to go there) and didn't remember about the other kids. The kid with the number 13 he "saw" there might have been a memory within a memory.

The mom kept praising RSH and talk RSJ down, if he was her blood son, she would've been more warm toward him (RSH is better loved in the end as he's an over-achiever so she has reason to be proud of him). As a child he heard them talk about how he was adopted, and couldn't be given back, and that he was YoonJae - he definitely is 13.

I am becoming fast convinced nerd killer is the sister's son. He'd have motivation to start the killings, then. I mean, even this drama must need some kind of logic for why these events happened :D

Nerd computer guy might be the son of the lost sister. Also, he had a cracked lip because he fought with RSJ in the center last ep. Also, he left the table at the wedding (that nobody mentioned this ep, LOL, did they forget about it?) and would have had an opportunity to poison the father's glass and kill the bride.

I think he will be the end killer. RSH though definitely is still suspicious, I don't think they'll let him off the hook. Maybe they're working together.

What if the young nerdy guy (got to look his name up) is the sister's son?! Then he'd have all the motivation in the world to commit the murders.

... I bet that's it.

I guess the scene will be retconned in the next ep and show how he did look for her THEN left. But he's not that much of a police officer, LOL, he'd do way better as a mobster with that attitude.

His parents (the mother, anyway) are in on the secret. The father seems clueless (might not be so naive though) but she was connected to Mr Baek, she definitely knew what was going on at the center. And she took two kids from there, too.

I doubt they'd be sincere with RSJ even if he asked.

1. IF RSH is the killer, he must have borrowed the car to take the first victim. Then he swept over to make sure there's no evidence.

2. The figurines are in RSH's room. In the open. On the table, you know, just like any serial killer would do, neglecting to cover his tracks in the SAME house where a detective lives. (Granted, RSJ isn't much of a detective, but still, this case is one where even he can add 2 and 2 together...)

3. Both are adopted, they're 11 and 13 from the center. At this time, I think the sister is EunKi. EunKi's "mother" seems a bit fishy about how 13 died, I think she gave him to his (and RSH's) adoptive mother, and forged the papers. As to WHY RSH would have come later... what if 13 was adopted earlier, after he already lost his memory, and thus lived a better life for a while and NOT helped the other Number Kids while living it, before RSH was adopted too? Then the revenge chain (against the kids of the perpetrators of abuse at the center) would make some sense.

RSJ tells JEK not to go out, to lock herself in a room and wait for him. The next second she's out in the dark following the Pied Piper. Why so stupid, girl?

RSJ remembers RSH's face from when he - too - was adopted. He's in process of finding where JEK is and at the youth center, concerned about her safety. The next second, he teleported home and is finding the wooden figurines. I expect someone to get a Nobel Prize for this.

Is Det. Kang dead or not? He looked done in the bathroom scene, but the press conference had him grievously hurt and then they wouldn't let RSJ see him before whisking him / his body away. Will he make a comeback?

They cleared RSJ of the charges so fast? There's not a lot of evidence saying Mr. Baek killed the family, and Det. Kang's declaration should still stand. Or if not, they should suspend Det. Kang and not leave him merrily doing his duties.

But then this show doesn't really care much about police procedures and the chain of evidence, LOL.

Sooo. Who else thinks the second killer / accomplice is the young nerdy guy? If he's acting WITH RSH, then there might be more of the Number Kids involved. If he's acting separately, then RSH will prove to be trying to SAVE everybody, LOL. At this point, given it's halfway, I'm inclining to think the young guy will be the official endgame killer, and RSH will come out a hero. Bah.

Overall... AT LEAST RSJ didn't do his bull in the china shop routine this time, and took a bit of time to do things before slamming his head through walls and locked doors (first few scenes of ep 9 not included, LOL).

I think JEK is the lost Jung sister, anyone else has this feeling?

Edit: also, it looks like the show is somehow implying either RSJ - probably him - OR the young nerdy killer guy might be the lost son of the lady with the ramen place.

Wow that was... a reveal. Almost as suspenseful as the reveal of Sauron in ROP LOL /which was not.

Edit: also, why didn't ANYONE go alert/save the OTHER jurors LOL? I mean, show, seriously...

The ratings for this drama were set when the subs were amazingly bad (like incredibly, awfully bad) and people either haven't returned to watch it in a better translation, or are not coming over from Viki to rate it). Or they might expect it's not what it actually is (NOT BL) so they're disappointed.

So, to would-be prospective watchers: There ARE better subs now, it's still not BL, it's WHOLESOME and cute and just the right thing for a nice evening when you want to regain faith in humanity. Give it a chance!