2
10
1
2
1
content warning for the drama: graphic non-sexual child abuse, sexual child abuse
I have to admit that I started watching Mystery to Iunakare because I had heard good things about the drama and because I thought it would be a detective drama.
And it IS, in a way, but not a classic example of a whodunit, where you can solve the cases along with the detective character.
I had to adjust my expectations -- because this is more of a psychology lesson, with a focus on parent-child relationships, and with a bit of philosophy thrown in -- characters, their story and their motivations to do the things they do are at the center, not the cases.
Once I did that, I mostly had a good time.
I loved, as I often do, the excellent acting, the use of space and light -- it often reminded me of a stage play, in the way the characters were positioned in relation to each other, or the way the camera used wide shots.
The drama was strongest when it used silence to convey the mood of a scene or to build suspense -- I also liked the two original songs (and I am very grateful for the translation of the lyrics on VIKI, because they do help to understand the drama's themes). But why, oh why?, did they have to use classical music for the background music? The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Aquarium piece from The Carnival of Animals, Vivaldi's Four Seasons -- I am sorry, but their original meaning was never "mysterious" or "suspenseful" -- and to hear them used in that way was jarring.
I was also unconvinced by the order of the story elements. We get an interesting dynamic between the main character and another character -- which is completely dropped in favour of a weird romance (?) arc between him and a strange young woman -- and then picked up again in the final episodes. I do understand why they did it that way, but the thing is, it broke my connection to important characters, not once but twice.
(I am also not a fan of romance arcs in mystery dramas, so that did not help.)
Regarding the main character -- I am not sure I like him. He is interesting, yes, and quite mysterious. A 20-year-old philosophising at older people always strikes me as precocious -- but if not the young, who else can make such sweeping declarations about life?
I wish the actor and director had focused more on Totono's imitation of other people's habits -- it was just him imitating tics, like drumming fingernails on surfaces or similar. I think if Totono had mirrored their whole posture or even their facial expressions, maybe a bit more subdued, that would have been much more fascinating and could have added to both Totono's mysterious aura and the drama's underlying theme of "identity". I am convinced that the actor could have pulled it off too!
Another aspect was the shocking and rather sudden explicit depiction of severe child abuse in episode 7. I didn't mind that it was shown per se -- I do mind that we didn't get any warning and that it came very late -- all the other episodes before had been rather conservative with showing violence, or even dead bodies, so it wasn't something I could have expected.
All in all, Mystery To Iunakare (Don't Call it Mystery) excels in pacing, acting, lighting, silence and the OST (not the classical pieces), which all serve to make an excellent philosophical and psychological piece about family, specifically dysfunctional mother-child and sibling dynamics, and how society shapes identities, explored through criminal cases.
So, in conclusion:
Was it good? The acting and the lighting were impressive; the musical choices not so much. The cases presented were interesting -- but why were they shown in this order?
Did I like it? I liked some aspects of it, enough to keep me interested.
Would I recommend it? Yes, especially if you like stories that explore the human psychology.
I have to admit that I started watching Mystery to Iunakare because I had heard good things about the drama and because I thought it would be a detective drama.
And it IS, in a way, but not a classic example of a whodunit, where you can solve the cases along with the detective character.
I had to adjust my expectations -- because this is more of a psychology lesson, with a focus on parent-child relationships, and with a bit of philosophy thrown in -- characters, their story and their motivations to do the things they do are at the center, not the cases.
Once I did that, I mostly had a good time.
I loved, as I often do, the excellent acting, the use of space and light -- it often reminded me of a stage play, in the way the characters were positioned in relation to each other, or the way the camera used wide shots.
The drama was strongest when it used silence to convey the mood of a scene or to build suspense -- I also liked the two original songs (and I am very grateful for the translation of the lyrics on VIKI, because they do help to understand the drama's themes). But why, oh why?, did they have to use classical music for the background music? The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the Aquarium piece from The Carnival of Animals, Vivaldi's Four Seasons -- I am sorry, but their original meaning was never "mysterious" or "suspenseful" -- and to hear them used in that way was jarring.
I was also unconvinced by the order of the story elements. We get an interesting dynamic between the main character and another character -- which is completely dropped in favour of a weird romance (?) arc between him and a strange young woman -- and then picked up again in the final episodes. I do understand why they did it that way, but the thing is, it broke my connection to important characters, not once but twice.
(I am also not a fan of romance arcs in mystery dramas, so that did not help.)
Regarding the main character -- I am not sure I like him. He is interesting, yes, and quite mysterious. A 20-year-old philosophising at older people always strikes me as precocious -- but if not the young, who else can make such sweeping declarations about life?
I wish the actor and director had focused more on Totono's imitation of other people's habits -- it was just him imitating tics, like drumming fingernails on surfaces or similar. I think if Totono had mirrored their whole posture or even their facial expressions, maybe a bit more subdued, that would have been much more fascinating and could have added to both Totono's mysterious aura and the drama's underlying theme of "identity". I am convinced that the actor could have pulled it off too!
Another aspect was the shocking and rather sudden explicit depiction of severe child abuse in episode 7. I didn't mind that it was shown per se -- I do mind that we didn't get any warning and that it came very late -- all the other episodes before had been rather conservative with showing violence, or even dead bodies, so it wasn't something I could have expected.
All in all, Mystery To Iunakare (Don't Call it Mystery) excels in pacing, acting, lighting, silence and the OST (not the classical pieces), which all serve to make an excellent philosophical and psychological piece about family, specifically dysfunctional mother-child and sibling dynamics, and how society shapes identities, explored through criminal cases.
So, in conclusion:
Was it good? The acting and the lighting were impressive; the musical choices not so much. The cases presented were interesting -- but why were they shown in this order?
Did I like it? I liked some aspects of it, enough to keep me interested.
Would I recommend it? Yes, especially if you like stories that explore the human psychology.
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