The title of ¨Invisible Us¨ says it all
More than a murder mystery, this miniseries is about the alienation of young adults within Japanese society. An incisive, well-written and well-acted but depressing tale that follows a reporter as she discovers not only the roots of the crime she’s investigating, but also that almost all her former classmates are already to at least some degree disillusioned with their lives only 8 years after graduating from high school. What keeps this series from being overwhelming dark is that in reconnecting and finally being honest with each other, several of these old friends manage to find glimmers of a way forward.This is not a light easy watch and perhaps not to everyone's tastes. But after a slow start, I thought it one of the best Japanese series I've watched recently.
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Begins well but loses focus
I finally managed to finish this series, which turned out to be yet another drama that after a promising start slowed to a crawl and lost its way as the season went on (which helps explain why it took me so long to finish).It was at its best when focused on the intrigue and suspense surrounding the two female spies/assassins who have infiltrated the Gong palace. Will they be found out? Will they work together or against each other? Will they persevere with their dedication to their original mission once they develop relationships within the palace? Will they discover the truth about their own pasts?
If only the plot didn´t keep meandering into long aimless overly dry pseudo-mystical monologues and conversations that don't go anywhere, when it’s not getting sidetracked into a rather predictable and poorly developed storyline centered on sibling rivalry and power struggles among the Gongs. As if that weren't enough, the drama ends on something of a cliffhanger, failing to provide an unambiguous conclusion.
At least most of the fight scenes were fairly good.
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Major Disappointment
The overall plot pretty much follows a very standard predictable sports movie formula. That in itself isn't necessarily bad if you can identify with the characters enough to root them on. This film falls flat because there is pretty much no character development that might make you care what happens to our poor overmatched volleyball team. I was also outright dissapointed in Song Kang Ho. He may have been an award winning lead actor in several of the most notable films in Korean movie history, but here he seems to simply be going through the motions. Even much of the humor falls flat.Was this review helpful to you?
Tropey and Unimaginative
A potentially entertaining short series held back by a tropey unimaginative plot centered on school bullying and populated with mostly stereotypical mafia and teen drama archtypes. The few female characters were almost laughably superficial, as were most of the school bullies and adult gangsters. The only character with any real depth was the second male lead, but even in his case there is a noticeable disconect that comes from the fact that many of his actions are only explainable if he's madly in love with the first male lead, only the show keeps trying to insist they are just buddies.Was this review helpful to you?
A Sad Melancholic but Ultimately Uplifting Tale
I happened to come across this film on an airplane halfway across the world from Japan and gave it a try.It's a slow melancholic but ultimately somewhat uplifting tale centered on how parents mourning for their daughter and a woman mourning for her best friend are eventually able to find comfort as they uncover a series of (mostly very positive) surprises about the life of the dead girl, whose example eventually helps encourage them move on with their own lives.
The acting was good, but they could have done more with this plot to make a bit more lively.
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