Great mixture of slice-of-life and mystery
Ok so I finished this drama and guesswhat I loved it! Lol that was pretty obvious
? The drama is a perfect mystery but in
the end you will realize it is more of
slice-of-life drama and that is totally not a
turn off for me! Cuz I love both of the
genres and when I got both of them mixed
perfectly in one drama then it's certain that
I am going to like it!
As you have read in the plot it's a story
about four friends whose name starts
from N and the murder case of a couple
and their name starts from N too lol. The
whole drama is focused on people named
N ? but it's really interesting. Nishizaki
got arrested in the murder of Naoko
Noguchi's husband ( whose name I forgot
?) he confessed that he killed him
because he killed Naoko who he was
having an affair with.
At that time, his three friends were
" coincidentally" in the same room. He told
his lawyer that " everyone did everything
for each N".
After 10 years, he got realised from jail and
now an officer is reinvastigating the case
because he doubts the fact that nishizaki
is the killer. The whole drama tells us the
story from 1999 to 2004 mainly and also
skips back to 2014 that is the present time.
The events that lead to the murder of
Noguchi couple and what happened that
night? Who is the real killer? These are the
two big questions of the drama. They are
quit similar to any good drama. But the
thing that separates it from other mystery
dramas is that it doesn't focus only on
solving the mystery. It focuses on the life
of the characters and their feelings. Also
their definition of "Love".
I started this drama cuz it looked like a
good mystery one and also it is written by
my favourite writer. Yes the mystery is very
good. So good that even intelligent people
like me and my mother could not guess
who the killer is ? but the slice of life
element is as strong. I watched for the
mystery and loved the characters and their
lives even more. The ending is very
satisfying. Again that doesn't mean the
ending is happy. It also doesn't mean that
it is sad. That is for you to discover.
Overall I loved the drama very much. I have
a lot of things to say but if I speak more
then I will spoil it which will be bad cuz it's
a mystery drama. Overall if you like
mystery and slice of life dramas then this
one is surely for you.
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absorbing TV drama
テレビミステリードラマ：content of this drama shocking and depressing in many ways 〜！but very good drama。 I struggled to know the main focus in the start as it kept flashing back and forward between youth and adult but the puzzle fit in the end〜 to summarise I think it was good when setting the background and characters in the first few episodes and builds up tension very well in last episodes but it was spun out rather too much and became slow in the middle maybe to fit 10 episode serial format〜 every character here was conflicted so the drama was as much about character as plot maybe like Greek drama each producing his/her struggle〜bitter-sweet ending。still well worth watching but as I know the plot not a drama I will rewatch I think〜Was this review helpful to you?
I've been watching dramas for quite a long time now but strangely I never came across N no Tame ni for some reason. When I saw that it has 8.6 as an average rating and the plot seems quite intriguing I decided to give it a go.
And I haven't regretted. Although it didn't become a favourite of mine either.
The story was the strongest part of the drama. I don't think good mystery is easy to write and they managed to interpret the whole story in a way that I was sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for what will come next. Even when I thought I had most things figured out, the drama came up with more plot twists that I didn't expect. Also, the story dealt with quite a few sensitive topics which made me feel so sorry for the characters, and also making the whole thing painfully real in a way. I would also point out that it was very interesting to follow the psychological motives and acts of the characters.
Another thing that I really liked about the "mystery features" of the drama was how they decided to jump between time lines and give us small glimpses about the mystery.
I must admit that I was surprised about how much time was given to almost every character's background story, but it was a very good choice because it made the characters very complex and I could understand the motives behind their actions. Some dramas tend to disregard this aspect but in this case it was very great, and luckily it didn't slow down the plot for me either since all of their stories were quite interesting.
Lastly, what made me like the story the most was how they managed to put friendship and romance in the spot despite the dark (supposedly) main storyline. It made the whole thing very approachable and loveable, and again very complex with how the relationship between certain characters turned out.
I could go on about the story even more but I think that's enough to see what were my most favourite things about it.
Moving onto the cast, I think it was really great, I don't think I had a problem with anyone or anything. The main actors did a very great job, especially Eikura Nana. I was blown away by how well she played a young struggling high school student and then a strong, independent adolescent. Maybe sometimes the Noguchi couple was a little off for me, I really don't know why though that might be simply because of their characters.
I enjoyed the music because it fit very well with the atmosphere. Sometimes it felt a bit repetitive but that's my own reoccuring problem with drama OSTs. It was very decent all in all.
I don't think I would watch it again, knowing the ending now. Also, even though as I said I was quite excited and interested in what will happen in the end, I wasn't THAT thrilled. Maybe the strongest point for me was the weakest as well, since I knew there will be some sort of disaster coming and in the beginning it became clear that the whole story is quite tragic, I think I was a bit too prepared already.
Just one last additional thing. I mentioned the complexity of the characters as a great point (which it is) but it also left me so uncertain about how I feel about some of them. None of them was black and white and I absolutely loved that, it made me think, yet it left me in doubt about my own thoughts on them. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing after all, it's rather smart and proves great character development.
I recommend N no Tame ni for anyone who wants to see a great drama with an intricate plot and good characterisation. But prepare yourself for some heavy topics. It is a bittersweet story and you can only enjoy it fully if you're in the appropriate mood for that.
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