Too Episodical and Not Enough Backstory

TLDR: Started off strong, too many episodical episodes, not enough Worldbuilding for the Reapers and their rules, not enough Character Backstories/Development for our 4-5 main characters, too many messages (e.g. suicide is a sin) I disagreed with.

As the title suggests, I felt this drama was too episodical when all I really wanted was backstories and worldbuilding for our Grim Reapers and the Grim Reaper world. The episodes were fine a 1 to 2 capsulated stories until about episode 8, and then I was getting bored of the format and just wanted to know all about our 3 main reapers (Koo, Lim, and Park), plus the boss of them. I wanted so much more worldbuilding of the Reaper world, the rules, their day to day life, what they did in their free time etc. by that point.

So the last 8 or so episodes were a bit of a drag. I absolute loved the two episodes spent on Lim and his backstory but I feel like we super super rushed through Park and Koo's -- also I was expecting there to be a twist such as he's actually her son or something, rather than the predictable story we did get.

I wish we had gotten like the first 8 episodes as is, and then the last 8 episodes were actual worldbuilding and backstories of the Reapers and the Reaper World -- it fell very lacklustre at towards the end.

Also, you can see the Christian values and the influence it has on Korean culture within this drama such as "reap your sins before death", "purgatory before you can go to heaven or reincarnation", and "suicide is murder and a sin" which are things I personally disagree with.
I AM happy that towards the end we do see Park change in his thoughts of "suicide is sin and people who kill themselves should suffer in hell" somewhat, but I wanted something more explicit from him.

Another thing is you can see the heavy handiedness of the Pro-South-Korea messages throughout the show where it makes the Reaper world very unequal/unfair. I'll post the full explanation at the very end because I get very detailed and could make people uncomfortable and angry but TLDR: there are some Pro-Korea episodes, and one is basically "look how amazing South Koreans are and we're so amazing that after death, even if we killed people in war, we aren't going to hell for these sins because we were the winners." Which, I thought the Reapers were supposed to be fair? So surely, they should be going to hell because they did sin?!

If we had been given more details and explainations in the show for things like this rather than have 13+ episodicals. Even just a simple "if you're killing people in self-defense or without malicious intent (such as defending your country from invaders) then it's not seen as a sin in the Reaper world." would've been good enough for me, but even this isn't explained.


Conclusion: Started off strong, too many episodical episodes, not enough Worldbuilding for the Reapers and their rules, not enough Character Backstories/Development for our 4-5 main characters, too many messages (e.g. suicide is a sin) I disagreed with.


****


Here's the long version of my Pro-Korea part:

We see two episodes of two different wars (WW2 and the Korean War).

First episode: it's never said or confirmed that the South Korean soldiers will be sent to hell for killing people (when killing is very obviously a sin). This show very much felt like it was implying: so long as you're defending your country and you're on the side that wins, killing people is absolutely fine according to the Korean Reapers. But neither the rules nor explanation is in the show.

Secondly, we have a heavy Pro-Korea and Anti-Japan episode which to me felt very intentional (therefore harmful) which is what I disliked about it.

If you don't know Korea-Japan relations and history this is a very important, eye-opening, horrific, and informative episode. Everyone should know about this history, absolutely!

But, I personally felt the message of this episode is intentionally very harmful: "hey, young Koreans, Japanese imperialism did this to us and they still haven't apologised for what they did. So, we're making this episode because we want Koreans furious at Japan for another year and we wanna increase the anti-Japan views in Korea even more than they still are".

But as someone who has studied it:

Actually, Japan HAS apologised (since 2007) and has done for many times.
Korea DEMANDS apologies every single year and has done for many years (more so from great-grandchildren now rather than the people who actually suffered because most have passed away, rest their souls - which you could probably now call 'generational-trauma').
Japan HAS compensated the families and victims (apparently 1 billion yen -- although I know that it won't ever be enough for the victims).
Korean newspapers and politicians still post and encourage anti-Japan views - they literally blamed Japan for the 2022 Itaewon Halloween incident in a few newspapers - while Japan is embracing Korean culture at an alarming speed (thanks to KPop and Korean food).
This history is still not in Japanese history books (especially in school ones where they rarely learn modern history anyway).

So, as you can see, both sides are bad!

I can't help but think this episode wanted to strain Korea-Japan relations even more than it already is. It feels like the episode was created on purpose to make Koreans continue the rage and the pain, rather than "this was absolutely horrific but it's time to heal; educate ourselves and others while trying to build a better future and relationship with each other both inside and outside Korea." and I personally find that in very bad taste.

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Complete disappointment after the amazing first season to which I gave a 9/10.
I think this season just had way too many story lines and plots and there wasn't one amazing main story/plot to follow =/
The acting and the actors definitely weren't given great roles this season and I actually got rather bored of Kuraki - probably due to him being so robotic this season and having no character development or extra back story or anything, he was just a 'find the truth' smoking all the time machine. There was only really two major character moments where I thought the acting/character was actually doing well! And Higashi's actor was by far the most used and well acted this time.

Nevertheless I am looking forward to the film because y'know Ikematsu FTW! The ending of this season was good though, we finally saw Human Kuraki.

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I'm going to be honest (as usual) but this is has become my least favourite Super Sentai, so for me it ranks as:

1. Gokaiger
2. Akibaranger (it's an Unofficial one I know but still!)
3. Go-Busters
4. Goseiger
5. Shinkeger

I understand I've only seen a few, yes, but onto my review:

Story: The concept of 'Samurai' is a good one and very Japanese and quite an educational and fun way of learning some thing's about samurais. I found it very boring and I couldn't find any real plot until episode 42 when BOMB the last 8 episodes are just plot, twist, plot, excitement, twist, all hell breaks loose. I was hooked the last 8 episodes but the rest of the series? I watched while doing work or reading a book, that's how much it didn't interest me. I did however like the running unlined plot of Juzo and ShinkenRed fighting at each other. I normally cry at the end of Sentai's and Kamen Rider's but I only got teary eyed here because of how unattached I was to this series.

Acting: It's Sentai so it's either over the top or doesn't show their full potential. Not showing their full potential is definitely what happened to Aiba Hiroki and Matsuzaka Tori. I love them as actors and yet were so mediocre here because of the genre and the type of show it is.

Characters: I loved ShinkenRed, Gold, Kusakabe, Juzo and those little yellow fluff balls that are always with Dayuu >< Everyone else... sometimes liked, other times I just wish they were dead.

Music: Loved the song Dayuu played and the opening theme was rather catchy, haven't listened to the ending theme enough to have a say on it.

Overall: Bland until the last 8episodes then it's really good, but shame it took so long for me to get hooked.

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Maybe it's just me but; the female characters annoyed me a lot, I wanted to know more about the males story (eg. Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nobunaga Oda, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Iemitsu.) than the womens.
Acting (on the womens part) was okay but not the best.
Too long as well, especially with it being about a woman's journey (not being sexist but for the time period it all happened it, wasn't the best story to pick).
Nevertheless, there were some parts I was emotional (certain male characters deaths) and some parts were good, just wish it hadn't been focused on the sisters and more on the males - but then it wouldn't have been Gou ~ Himetachi would it? haha xD

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Positively Watchable Trash

This is watchable trash in a good way! It's not a quality drama at all but it's watchable. It was just interesting enough for me to not turn off midway through, but it's not exactly the best written, the best plotted, the best character developed drama by any means.

My main problems with this show are (in TLDR form):
1. Stagnant progress for the first 8 eps.
2. Plot focus was wrong.
3. Insufferable characters that aren't even fun to watch.
4. Ending is Rushed.

In long form:

1. Stagnant progress for the first 8 eps:
Literally nothing happens the first 8 episodes. We just see people argument in an apartment, ocassionally someone getting turned and someone dying, for 8 episode straight. Episode 9 finally gets interesting with a MC getting infected, the sudden serial murder plot (< which was so poorly foreshadowed and I actually hated but at least something dramatic was happening), the plan to get the child out, and finally definitely finding a cure. Episodes 9 to 11 are actually interesting to watch.

2. Plot focus was wrong:
Hey who wants to see insufferable people locked in an apartment and argue for almost 12 episodes? *snore*
Who wants to find out why our MC has an antibody, what makes her special? ME!
Who wants to hear references about family members and society on the outside but absolutely zero updates or screentime about them and what's happening outside? ME!

I think this drama focuses on the wrong things; I wanted to know why our MC had the antibody, I wanted to see her and her family's medical reports - surely it comes from the" operation" she mentions one time that she had, or is it because her family has a history of diabetes which would link to the one time Mr Na mentions his family has a history of it towards the end of the show yet he has the antibody too. I want to know the science part and the finding the cure part!!

Also, we know the cop friend has a wife on the outside; we never see her. We know the two cleaners have family on the outisde: never get developed. What about our MCs' families? Never mentions them! Why? I want to know!

And! What's going on outside? Because we're told everywhere is chaos but the army are driving in and out of this apartment building with ZERO problems shown? The little girl has medical staff and a helicopter ready to pick her up with ZERO problems? So were they lying? Cos any time we get shown outside the complex, everyone is living normally???? What a mess of world and character building in this show.

3. Insufferable characters that aren't even fun to watch:
Everyone character except 4 (our two MCs, the little girl, and Apartment 15 guy) are absolutely unbearable to watch - they're not even fun villains to watch, they're just straight up fucking annoying to watch HOURS of screentime of. They're annoying af especially the murdering doctor - he should've died a death so violently after putting the viewer through uninteresting repeitive unjuicy murder after murder he puts us through. He's NOT fun to watch, he is just straight up ANNOYING. Same goes for the cleaning staff, the apartment building lady, the lawyer, the clinic consultant, the old married couple and their son. They're not INTERESTING and everything they do is A WASTE OF SCREEN TIME. I LOVE villains. I LOVE villains that do unhinged shit and yet you root for them or you want to see what they do next. This lot? They just bothered me more than anything. I wanted them all to die because they were a waste of screentime and script.

Also, WHY did anyone even bother to leave their rooms? I know community meetings are a thing in Korea and Japan but why were they joining every single meeting? Especially after they find out the gym guy was sick, STAY IN YOUR ROOMS TIL LOCK DOWN IS OVER! They were actually so fucking stupid. They could've easily reduced the number of people who ended up dying, reduce the number of sick people, and reduce the number of pathetic conflicts they had if they'd all just minded their business and stayed in their damn apartments! Absolute stupidity and illogical thinking from all of them except Apartment 1501 - minus the one time it got him killed.

4. Ending is Rushed:
The last 10 minutes of the show is so bad. It skipped way too far. I needed at least one more episode: I wanted to see the humans start to recover, I wanted to see the vacinne announcement on the news, I wanted to see how our two mcs live together while he's ill up to getting the cure, I wanted to see our military guy finally meet his baby with his recovered wife, I wanted to see the little girl get reunited with her momma. But we just skip one year later and they're still living in the same apartment complex with the little girl -- even though most of the population should be dead by now and housing prices should be pretty cheap, especially because she should be recieving thank you money for help creating the damn cure?!?

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Absolutely Solid

I thoroughly enjoyed this show from start to finish! There wasn't a dull moment for me and I was constantly entertained and figuring out what was going to happen next!

To put it simply, it's an 8/10 rather than a 10/10 because of 4 things:
-1 = If you didn't want me rooting for, supporting, and defending the Big Villain, then why make him ten times hotter than Vincenzo??? I'm sorry, I spent the entire show hoping he'd win. Vincenzo wasn't even interesting until he went full mafia after his momma died.
-0.5 = The absolutely unnecessary romance between our two MCs -- so forced and a waste of time.
-0.5 = Coulda cut out 80% of the Apartment Residence' stuff and made the show a nice 16 episodes rather than risky 20.

But, like I said I enjoyed the main plot and story beats so much, and thoroughly enjoyed every single episode.

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My worst show of 2022 so far

This is easily the worst drama/movie I've watched all year, and for three very simple reasons:

1. The mysteries/muders are not smart -- I off handedly guessed all the tricks 20-30 mins before the reveal. There weren't smart tricks at all and in a real situation you wouldn't need the police or a special detective to figure them out. They were simple to the point it felt insulting to the audience, almost thinking the audience are too dumb to figure out the simplest of tricks.

2. The perpetrator every episode follows the same formula -- whoever is the most famous or well known GUEST that episode IS the perpetrator. You don't need the tricks or any information to figure out who it is so long as you know WHO is the most famous -- and this formula worked every. single. episode.

3. The side characters -- they were the most stupid and most boring side characters I've ever watched in a Kindaichi show.
- The best friend is annoying and stupid, there's no chemistry between our MC and his best friend -- even though they're from the SAME company and are friends in real life. Previous Kindaichi's really played into the soft bl-vibes with the best friend, and this time the best friend isn't even in it for a WHOLE episode sometimes.
- Miyuki, annoyingly useless and absolutely boring she was. It felt like the writer's couldn't decide if they wanted a romance or not. And her constantly coincidentally finding the main clue for Kindaichi every episode was absolutely ridiculous past the point of cute and funny. It was just down right stupid. Plus, there's literally a whole episode she complains that Kindaichi isn't spending time with her, but there is a whole series of murders going on(?!) and she's more concerned about not being able to share snacks with him? It was downright stupid. Insulting to teen girls in all honesty.
- The cop: The actor himself is very talented and very well loved in Japan, but his character is above stupid, it's annoying (see a pattern?) and it completely feels like he only took this role because it was an easy job to get an easy paycheck - it really showed. The cop brought absolutely nothing to the drama when he's supposed to be an intricate main part of the entire plot; he's supposed to bounce off well with Kindaichi both in comedy and in the mysteries. But he's just a bumbling idiot in this season.

Kindaichi (who is the only actual likeable character this season, thank you Micchi) is supposed to be about the MC and his best friends and a loveable cop getting along and finding mysteries with the occasional camp humour that makes you giggle - this 5th season really dropped the ball completely and had NONE of that.

This entire season is sloppy writing, sloppy tricks, sloppy reveals, and sloppy chemisty with characters.

It's sloppy.

Even Japanese audiences weren't liking it - it had the LOWEST Kindaichi viewship ratings ever, and it wasn't even on the top end of viewship ratings for the entire Spring Dorama Season 2022. You can clearly and easily see why.

Glad it's over.

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