This is surprisingly interesting because it does not follow the typical route. I mean the characters are fresh and how they response to situations are unpredictable. It is mystery and dark but at the same time cozy and family centric. If you want something unique that focus on unique couple/family relationship with a slice of mystery and quirkiness, then this drama might be for you!
This is basically thrash to say the least. I know some earlier comments crying over the low MDL rating, but in all honesty this does not even deserve more than 5/10. As a person who's generous in rating I gave this 4.5/10.
To sum it up, this drama is kind of deceiving by claiming it's a Higashino Keigo adaptation but at the same time did not have a mystery vibe at all. Only the last 2 episodes containing the "claimed" mystery elements (with last episode showing excessive amount of romance flashbacks) making audience perceiving this drama as okay-ish while it's actually not. And the police investigation was so amateurish it's criminal for a mystery drama.
Objectively speaking, the first 8 episodes were dead boring with nonsense plots and fillers to drag the series. The romance part wasn't that interesting either as the couple know from day1 they would end up together. So, more of superficial kind of romance. The business was superficial too and the family fight for the inheritance was the generic one we have seen before.
Episodes 9 and 10 were slightly better as the introduction to the main mystery in the last 2 episodes. In the end there was effort in making a twist (than the novel) albeit a not so good one.
Overall a good drama with good production value (writing, visual, BGM, direction). I loved the psychological aspect…
I totally agree with Duan Hongshan judgement 14 years ago. Li Mu Feng was just unlucky that his response in defending himself resulted to the Zhou Lin's death. I guess he could get away should he stabbed the non dangerous body part of the attacker.
The 4 years jail sentence also seemed fair for him instead of a more heavier punishment. Like what Duan said, Li Mu Feng case was the precedent that could heavily cost future verdicts of the same situation, if it was not dealt properly.
Li Mu Feng on the other hand never had guilty conscience and too fixated on his "justifiable defense". He was basically did not feel sorry about the death of the other person, which made him prone to doing more future crimes like what we saw in the drama. Heck, he was a stalker anyway before the attack.
Li Mu Feng also should blame the society instead of Duan Hongshan. Even if his 14 years ago case handled by a different prosecutor, the same judgement might be given. The society is the one that should be educated not to stigmatize and discriminate ex-convicts.
On a different topic, I personally think the investigation of the case 14 years ago was not done properly. It is weird the police did not interview all the people around Li Mu Feng, Zhou Lin, and Mei Zheng. Instead they used single statement from Jiang Ting who was 1 year younger from Mei Zheng and Mu Feng, and she barely know Mei Zheng and Mu Feng.
The police should have asked the noodle shop owner at least as well as the students who Mei Zheng tutored. If they did the latter, they should have stumbled on Zhang Yuan and he bullying Zhou Lin might have been exposed.
14 years later, the motive for Zhou Lin's father to take revenge was not so convincing. He saved the person who killed his son, but blaming Duan Hongshan for not giving heavier punishment for the killer. I mean why did you save the killer in the first place?
Zhou Lin's father reporting on Duan Hongshan over Jiang Ting case was also not making sense. How in the world this information got leaked? Why the prosecutor department did not take this matter seriously?
The suicide attempt of Mu Feng was too plot of convenience because it was happened in 2022 (which is 1 year or less before the kidnapping). During this time he supposedly already did well with his life and already used to the stigma.
The flashback scenes of Mu Feng and Zhou Lin's father revealed that they have been to fishing center quite some times. That makes it weird the police did not get the information from eyewitness about the two. They also could have traced the CCTV involving the car movement and could have captured the identity of the people in the car.
The relationship between Duan Hongshan and Mei Zheng was not revealed at the end of the drama. They seemed like have been meeting 4 years before the drama timeline, which too earlier than the time she met Tiang Jing with baby at bus stop.
On a different note, it is interesting that there's such thing as public hearing in China. I wonder what credibility a fishing center owner has to determine the judgement of a legal case....LOL
Overall a good drama with good production value (writing, visual, BGM, direction). I loved the psychological aspect of it (thanks to the acting) and its heavy commentary on legal system. This is my first time watching a drama about Chinese legal system, which is a bit different than the one we're familiar with, so it was a nice experience. However the criminal aspect could have been made better. I personally find the motives for the crime were a bit weak with questionable investigation procedures (more in spoiler below), that they were just felt like plot of conveniences. The drama seemed to focus more on the interpretation of the law instead of investigation.
Typical episodic police drama involving some fancy department. It is an alright watch with decent crime cases and some (very) light comedies in between.
Yeah, I realized after I wrote this that by “sound” they could’ve been referring to just style of playing…
I mean during the complete band performance, like the one used for the stage scene. The individual short practice/or single instrument could be done by themselves. To play in ensemble is more challenging.
No worries about late replying. Real life is our priority.
I watch less kdrama but I somehow watched the Korean version last year. Never thought it will get Japanese adaptation.
Anyway, I liked Korean a bit better but the Japanese version was more straight to the point with less filler scenes and less stupid police. The lacking in Jdrama is the underdeveloped Kidnapper-Kid chemistry. Otherwise it would have topped the Korean original.
This was entertaining. I just wish the latter cases were not that sloppily edited. where there were some awkward story progression. The good thing is, this drama did not force the plot twist, which most mystery dramas tend to do for the sake of "tricking viewers" but at the same time ignoring the plausibility factors.
This was interesting watch with right amount of mystery elements in the plot. However the last 2 episodes were kind of anti climatic and the realization/undoing of the brainwash was kind of too easy with a bit rushed last episode. Yeah the business revenge element was not that in-depth, otherwise that would have been amazing.
A bit more dramas (slice of life) and detours (fillers) in this drama version. Overall a mildly good watch if you have been following the series. Eng Sub wasn't the best from illegal streaming, but that's all we have for now.
Yeah, I realized after I wrote this that by “sound” they could’ve been referring to just style of playing…
Oh I must correct the translation too. When they say "off", the Japanese term used in the drama was "hazure". This does not necessarily mean off-beat/off-tempo as hazure commonly referred to failed on attempt like didn't win the lottery. It could be the melody wasn't right...or the playing style wasn't right...or inconsistence
Yeah, I realized after I wrote this that by “sound” they could’ve been referring to just style of playing…
Yeah learning the instruments is what they upsell this. I saw a lot of comments praising that moves (with plenty of clips on Youtube), but I personally won't bother their ability that much...because they are just acting. If they really want people to get impressed why didn't they ask the actors to record the songs too or play live in the drama? lol
Like I said the drama tried to be philosophical, like in the guitar session between ML and guitarist, the dialogue "How far I was off", ML replied something like "You're off as much as our distance" indicating the distance between the console panel and recording room (separated by glass wall). I understand what they were trying to do but it felt fake and awkwardly unreal situation. Let alone this stupid situation happened to the so called genius person.
About why the musician working for this didn't say anything. I believe they made the songs at their own studios and just submit the finished products. Unless they were asked by production team, no professional would want to interfere with others creative work like screenplay....I guess even the actors (in general not only in this drama) rarely interfere with scripts, otherwise badly written dramas must have been extinct long time ago.
No don't thank me! It's not like I play music for living. It's just that I have been in the circle once upon a time ago.
I totally agree with you for the most part of your review. But I just want to comment on the music part.
You are totally right when you said, that's not how music work! I think this drama just randomly make philosophy-like statements/dialogues over some random music related elements. If you look closely it never make sense at all.
When they said "sound" in the drama, I think they were referring to "playing style + sound". That's fine though.
However this just not make sense for instrument like drums which typically relying on technical ability of the musician instead of the playing style and let alone the sounds. I mean a good drummer will typically know how to handle difficult tempo without going off beat. That's basically it. The sounds of the drums should be the same regardless of who play it. How you play depends on the requirement of the song. The way the songs in the drama sounded, I guarantee any drummers (pro or hobbyist) in Japan will be able to do it.
Therefore it was totally cheesy and too shojo-manga-like to make a plot that only this common FL has "what needed" for this group of genius musicians. Not to mention how the people around (usually the female) looking down on her and hoping for her failure....LoL this was basically too shojo-manga.
To be fair though, the sound (and playing style) peculiarity does make sense for instruments like guitar, bass (which ironically does not needed for this band)...and piano.
I also agree when you said an art should be up to the preference. This is absolutely true.
I also think they overly exaggerated the ML's peculiarity. One that didn't make sense was during the studio recording. We know they have all the instruments in the ML's house. I wonder why this genius ML did not check on how the instruments will be played before going to studio. I mean recording studio will be charged per hour, it wouldn't make sense to redoing/re-recording the instrument parts over and over again just because you are not happy with how it sounds. Why didn't you make sure your bandmates know what to play first at home?
This lead to another over exaggerated scene, which is during the guitar recording session around episode 8. The production was to focused on the emotion but failed with realism aspect. Like I said, our genius ML should check how the guitarist will play first, at home. The high tension between him and Takaoka was so unnecessarily ridiculous I laughed so hard. This was supposedly the very emotionally deep part....LOL
Just for you info though, any instruments that can be connected through cable like guitar, bass, keyboard, do not have to be recorded behind the glass. People typically will record right at the console panel which where exactly the ML sat and pressed the intercom button during this ridiculous scene. This will save from unnecessary drama and saliva....lol
With all the exaggeration and peculiarity, I would expect the music they produced will be something out of this world. However like we all know, the music was just standard Jpop. This basically defeated the purpose of all the gimmicks they had in the drama.
After all, the band plotline in the drama also felt fake and superficial. It feels like the writer of this drama (or potentially the original material) had never been involved in a music circle let alone exposed to the music production.
On a different note, I also agree with the villain last boss. This character was just a filler and all the industry part was lazily written (with lack of research). It's amazing to think that the whole glamorous industry only has this one person at the top.
Done rewatching with Eng Sub at last. My opinion is still the same with the one I wrote 2 years ago https://kisskh.at/686433-dousuru-ieyasu#comment-15789005With…
First of all, the characters in this drama can be divided into 2 groups: 1. People who are dear to Ieyasu and people in Tokugawa Clan These characters tend to get better treatment, even to the point that it overly sugar-coated them, like Imagawa Yoshimoto, Lady Odai and Lady Sena.
2. People outside of Tokugawa Clan These are the characters that suffered the ridiculous changes. For some reasons, the writer made almost all of these characters as annoying, irritating, intimidating, rude, beast-looking...LOL. This is basically fine for non important characters, like Sanada, Ikeda, Shingen, Mori. But not for the carry forward character like Hideyoshi.
Incoherent Characters ************************** Hideyoshi *********** During the first half Hideyoshi was portrayed as a dark, mentally unstable (maniac) person with ulterior motives. However this drastically changed when Nene came in the last third of the drama. The creepy Hideyoshi suddenly became sweet talker and big heart. Of course the latter is the Hideyoshi that we know.
Ieyasu ******** In the beginning Ieyasu was portrayed as timid, indecisive, coward, and not so smart. It is so unbelievable that such character had suddenly turned into a smart and schemy man in the latter part of the drama. Another problem is they still want to show how pure and innocent Ieyasu was despite all the scheming, for example how he was shocked with Ishida uprising, and how he was suffering from killing people in war that he could have avoid...lol
Incoherent Motivations ************************** Nobunaga and Hideyoshi **************************** It is stupid writing that these both characters took the throne just to give it to other person to succeed, i.e. Ieyasu.
In Nobunaga case, it's so funny how they turned Honnoji incident as the place Nobunaga prepared for Ieyasu to come and assassinate him. Nobunaga also gave a lot of hints to Ieyasu to take over the reins from him. We are talking about person who controlled Japan through military means (tenka fubu) here.
In Hideyoshi case, it is so weird that he said in the deathbed that he wouldn't care anymore and that Ieyasu will steal the throne anyway. It defeated the purpose of all the Korean war, the killing of his nephew to give way to his heir (this key point was skipped in the drama), as well as the formation of council of elders (was not elaborated in details in the drama).
Sena inspired Ieyasu's motivation ************************************* The writer has given too much credit to Sena to the point she was used as a great influence to Ieyasu.
First of all, nobody would want war. Even the Samurais will get tired with the prolonged battles. So, making the "world without war" as only Sena exclusively would have thought was a bit naive and silly in the writing part.
Secondly, the peace-world Sena had envisioned was really really kindergarten level. I mean we understand Sena could be naive, but the writer even made all others played along with this silly idea was really something (think the pretend war between Takeda and Tokugawa)...LOL
The problem is, this "naive motivation" did not tally to the things Ieyasu done in the latter part of the drama, which is also did not tally to what really happened in history during Edo Shogunate.
Ieyasu motivation to take control ************************************ It is weird how people around Ieyasu want him to rule Japan, but at the same time the drama did not show us the quality this character has in order for the people to think so, except the testimony from the old lady who sell dango....lol
Please know that just being kind was not enough to make a good leader.
For almost all the time in the drama Tokugawa clan was portrayed as poor. They even purposely made the clan emblem as the spade instead of AOI...lol just to exaggerate how poor this clan was. During the battle Komaki-Nagakute between Tokugawa and Hashiba which was around the 2/3 mark of the drama, the army was even still not well armored.
Therefore, we can conclude Ieyasu was bad at managing his own clan well being.
There's also not enough diplomacy skills shown in Ieyasu's character that daimyos in the latter part of the drama would believe he will be the best candidate to rule....which is absolutely different than real history.
In the end, everyone expectation, friends or foes, for Ieyasu to control Japan was kind of forced and unrealistic as far as the writing of this drama goes.
On a different note ********************* The writer also has missed the opportunity to elevate Ieyasu's image by not including the many smart/diplomatic moves he has made in history. For example, the deal with daimyos from the east like Date, handsomely rewarding eastern army after Sekigahara, the Shogunate system he created, the Gosankyo system for determining heir, development of Edo from zero to hero, and many more.
1 
1 
To sum it up, this drama is kind of deceiving by claiming it's a Higashino Keigo adaptation but at the same time did not have a mystery vibe at all. Only the last 2 episodes containing the "claimed" mystery elements (with last episode showing excessive amount of romance flashbacks) making audience perceiving this drama as okay-ish while it's actually not. And the police investigation was so amateurish it's criminal for a mystery drama.
Objectively speaking, the first 8 episodes were dead boring with nonsense plots and fillers to drag the series. The romance part wasn't that interesting either as the couple know from day1 they would end up together. So, more of superficial kind of romance. The business was superficial too and the family fight for the inheritance was the generic one we have seen before.
Episodes 9 and 10 were slightly better as the introduction to the main mystery in the last 2 episodes. In the end there was effort in making a twist (than the novel) albeit a not so good one.
The 4 years jail sentence also seemed fair for him instead of a more heavier punishment. Like what Duan said, Li Mu Feng case was the precedent that could heavily cost future verdicts of the same situation, if it was not dealt properly.
Li Mu Feng on the other hand never had guilty conscience and too fixated on his "justifiable defense". He was basically did not feel sorry about the death of the other person, which made him prone to doing more future crimes like what we saw in the drama. Heck, he was a stalker anyway before the attack.
Li Mu Feng also should blame the society instead of Duan Hongshan. Even if his 14 years ago case handled by a different prosecutor, the same judgement might be given. The society is the one that should be educated not to stigmatize and discriminate ex-convicts.
=============================================================
On a different topic, I personally think the investigation of the case 14 years ago was not done properly. It is weird the police did not interview all the people around Li Mu Feng, Zhou Lin, and Mei Zheng. Instead they used single statement from Jiang Ting who was 1 year younger from Mei Zheng and Mu Feng, and she barely know Mei Zheng and Mu Feng.
The police should have asked the noodle shop owner at least as well as the students who Mei Zheng tutored. If they did the latter, they should have stumbled on Zhang Yuan and he bullying Zhou Lin might have been exposed.
14 years later, the motive for Zhou Lin's father to take revenge was not so convincing. He saved the person who killed his son, but blaming Duan Hongshan for not giving heavier punishment for the killer. I mean why did you save the killer in the first place?
Zhou Lin's father reporting on Duan Hongshan over Jiang Ting case was also not making sense. How in the world this information got leaked? Why the prosecutor department did not take this matter seriously?
The suicide attempt of Mu Feng was too plot of convenience because it was happened in 2022 (which is 1 year or less before the kidnapping). During this time he supposedly already did well with his life and already used to the stigma.
The flashback scenes of Mu Feng and Zhou Lin's father revealed that they have been to fishing center quite some times. That makes it weird the police did not get the information from eyewitness about the two. They also could have traced the CCTV involving the car movement and could have captured the identity of the people in the car.
The relationship between Duan Hongshan and Mei Zheng was not revealed at the end of the drama. They seemed like have been meeting 4 years before the drama timeline, which too earlier than the time she met Tiang Jing with baby at bus stop.
======================================================
On a different note, it is interesting that there's such thing as public hearing in China. I wonder what credibility a fishing center owner has to determine the judgement of a legal case....LOL
**My opinion about Limufeng also in spoiler below
No worries about late replying. Real life is our priority.
Not all people who read the comment section have watched the Korean version.
Anyway, I liked Korean a bit better but the Japanese version was more straight to the point with less filler scenes and less stupid police. The lacking in Jdrama is the underdeveloped Kidnapper-Kid chemistry. Otherwise it would have topped the Korean original.
Like I said the drama tried to be philosophical, like in the guitar session between ML and guitarist, the dialogue "How far I was off", ML replied something like "You're off as much as our distance" indicating the distance between the console panel and recording room (separated by glass wall). I understand what they were trying to do but it felt fake and awkwardly unreal situation. Let alone this stupid situation happened to the so called genius person.
About why the musician working for this didn't say anything. I believe they made the songs at their own studios and just submit the finished products. Unless they were asked by production team, no professional would want to interfere with others creative work like screenplay....I guess even the actors (in general not only in this drama) rarely interfere with scripts, otherwise badly written dramas must have been extinct long time ago.
No don't thank me! It's not like I play music for living. It's just that I have been in the circle once upon a time ago.
You are totally right when you said, that's not how music work!
I think this drama just randomly make philosophy-like statements/dialogues over some random music related elements. If you look closely it never make sense at all.
When they said "sound" in the drama, I think they were referring to "playing style + sound". That's fine though.
However this just not make sense for instrument like drums which typically relying on technical ability of the musician instead of the playing style and let alone the sounds. I mean a good drummer will typically know how to handle difficult tempo without going off beat. That's basically it. The sounds of the drums should be the same regardless of who play it. How you play depends on the requirement of the song. The way the songs in the drama sounded, I guarantee any drummers (pro or hobbyist) in Japan will be able to do it.
Therefore it was totally cheesy and too shojo-manga-like to make a plot that only this common FL has "what needed" for this group of genius musicians. Not to mention how the people around (usually the female) looking down on her and hoping for her failure....LoL this was basically too shojo-manga.
To be fair though, the sound (and playing style) peculiarity does make sense for instruments like guitar, bass (which ironically does not needed for this band)...and piano.
I also agree when you said an art should be up to the preference. This is absolutely true.
I also think they overly exaggerated the ML's peculiarity. One that didn't make sense was during the studio recording. We know they have all the instruments in the ML's house. I wonder why this genius ML did not check on how the instruments will be played before going to studio. I mean recording studio will be charged per hour, it wouldn't make sense to redoing/re-recording the instrument parts over and over again just because you are not happy with how it sounds. Why didn't you make sure your bandmates know what to play first at home?
This lead to another over exaggerated scene, which is during the guitar recording session around episode 8. The production was to focused on the emotion but failed with realism aspect. Like I said, our genius ML should check how the guitarist will play first, at home. The high tension between him and Takaoka was so unnecessarily ridiculous I laughed so hard. This was supposedly the very emotionally deep part....LOL
Just for you info though, any instruments that can be connected through cable like guitar, bass, keyboard, do not have to be recorded behind the glass. People typically will record right at the console panel which where exactly the ML sat and pressed the intercom button during this ridiculous scene. This will save from unnecessary drama and saliva....lol
With all the exaggeration and peculiarity, I would expect the music they produced will be something out of this world. However like we all know, the music was just standard Jpop. This basically defeated the purpose of all the gimmicks they had in the drama.
After all, the band plotline in the drama also felt fake and superficial. It feels like the writer of this drama (or potentially the original material) had never been involved in a music circle let alone exposed to the music production.
On a different note,
I also agree with the villain last boss. This character was just a filler and all the industry part was lazily written (with lack of research). It's amazing to think that the whole glamorous industry only has this one person at the top.
1. People who are dear to Ieyasu and people in Tokugawa Clan
These characters tend to get better treatment, even to the point that it overly sugar-coated them, like Imagawa Yoshimoto, Lady Odai and Lady Sena.
2. People outside of Tokugawa Clan
These are the characters that suffered the ridiculous changes. For some reasons, the writer made almost all of these characters as annoying, irritating, intimidating, rude, beast-looking...LOL. This is basically fine for non important characters, like Sanada, Ikeda, Shingen, Mori. But not for the carry forward character like Hideyoshi.
Incoherent Characters
**************************
Hideyoshi
***********
During the first half Hideyoshi was portrayed as a dark, mentally unstable (maniac) person with ulterior motives. However this drastically changed when Nene came in the last third of the drama. The creepy Hideyoshi suddenly became sweet talker and big heart. Of course the latter is the Hideyoshi that we know.
Ieyasu
********
In the beginning Ieyasu was portrayed as timid, indecisive, coward, and not so smart. It is so unbelievable that such character had suddenly turned into a smart and schemy man in the latter part of the drama. Another problem is they still want to show how pure and innocent Ieyasu was despite all the scheming, for example how he was shocked with Ishida uprising, and how he was suffering from killing people in war that he could have avoid...lol
Incoherent Motivations
**************************
Nobunaga and Hideyoshi
****************************
It is stupid writing that these both characters took the throne just to give it to other person to succeed, i.e. Ieyasu.
In Nobunaga case, it's so funny how they turned Honnoji incident as the place Nobunaga prepared for Ieyasu to come and assassinate him. Nobunaga also gave a lot of hints to Ieyasu to take over the reins from him. We are talking about person who controlled Japan through military means (tenka fubu) here.
In Hideyoshi case, it is so weird that he said in the deathbed that he wouldn't care anymore and that Ieyasu will steal the throne anyway. It defeated the purpose of all the Korean war, the killing of his nephew to give way to his heir (this key point was skipped in the drama), as well as the formation of council of elders (was not elaborated in details in the drama).
Sena inspired Ieyasu's motivation
*************************************
The writer has given too much credit to Sena to the point she was used as a great influence to Ieyasu.
First of all, nobody would want war. Even the Samurais will get tired with the prolonged battles. So, making the "world without war" as only Sena exclusively would have thought was a bit naive and silly in the writing part.
Secondly, the peace-world Sena had envisioned was really really kindergarten level. I mean we understand Sena could be naive, but the writer even made all others played along with this silly idea was really something (think the pretend war between Takeda and Tokugawa)...LOL
The problem is, this "naive motivation" did not tally to the things Ieyasu done in the latter part of the drama, which is also did not tally to what really happened in history during Edo Shogunate.
Ieyasu motivation to take control
************************************
It is weird how people around Ieyasu want him to rule Japan, but at the same time the drama did not show us the quality this character has in order for the people to think so, except the testimony from the old lady who sell dango....lol
Please know that just being kind was not enough to make a good leader.
For almost all the time in the drama Tokugawa clan was portrayed as poor. They even purposely made the clan emblem as the spade instead of AOI...lol just to exaggerate how poor this clan was. During the battle Komaki-Nagakute between Tokugawa and Hashiba which was around the 2/3 mark of the drama, the army was even still not well armored.
Therefore, we can conclude Ieyasu was bad at managing his own clan well being.
There's also not enough diplomacy skills shown in Ieyasu's character that daimyos in the latter part of the drama would believe he will be the best candidate to rule....which is absolutely different than real history.
In the end, everyone expectation, friends or foes, for Ieyasu to control Japan was kind of forced and unrealistic as far as the writing of this drama goes.
On a different note
*********************
The writer also has missed the opportunity to elevate Ieyasu's image by not including the many smart/diplomatic moves he has made in history. For example, the deal with daimyos from the east like Date, handsomely rewarding eastern army after Sekigahara, the Shogunate system he created, the Gosankyo system for determining heir, development of Edo from zero to hero, and many more.