Fuujinshi (2022)

This is why Japanese dramas will always have a special place in my heart

I just finished this drama and I can tell you that the last 2 episodes turned me into the :O pikachu. I literally was shook, but on a whole another level. I loved this one title because it left me multiple times throughout the whole series. Okay, but let's now start going into a more structured review.
As always, you'll be able to find the summary of my review if you scroll to the end of the post.

STORY
First, let's get into the plot because the synopsis doesn't help much.
"More and more mysterious deads caused by swords are starting to appear around the city of Tokyo. Osagami Kakeru is a Blade Master whose job is to seal these swords. Swords of Filth also called Kegareyaiba. The swords are born from the darkest sides of people's hearts. One day, reporter Sanjo Mio goes to investigate one of these deaths, however, she is rapidly shut by both the police and her officials and told to stop investigating the fact. However, that's not enough to stop her from investigating so she goes and interrogates people closely related to the victim. But what's the black mist that she sees coming from that person? Sanjo Mio gets involved with Osagami Kakeru and his team and discovers the mysteries behind the mysterious deaths, the black mist, the Swords of Filth, and the world of the Blade Masters."

I hope that was written well enough hahah I tried to make it sound as interesting as the series is. Did I succeed?

Yes, in the beginning, you might be confused. However, the story really draws you in because it's something so new or at least very new to me but because there's always so much going on you'll easily find yourself wondering and wanting to see what happens next. The series also has also stunning fighting scenes. There was a small story gap in the end but nothing too big to not enjoy the show.


CHARACTERS
They are all amazing. You are really gonna love them all. Okay, maybe except for one but no spoilers haha but yes, they are all very well done. Of course, the main focus is on our male lead, but you get to learn about all of the other characters bits by bits as you see their interactions. Especially, the friendship between Kakeru and Sho is just so beautiful. They are brothers, friends, and work partners. Also, let me tell you, the female characters in this drama are strong and we all know that we love them. At least some of them are. Yes, you might be a little bit annoyed at the female lead because let's be honest, they always have to get in between other people's work. However, I must say that I really loved her character as time went on.

OST
AMAZING. PLEASE GIVE SOME LOVE TO KIRO AKIYAMA. PLEASEEEE!


SUMMARY OF REVIEW
All in all, the drama is exciting and engaging with lots of action, mystery, amazing characters and also an amazing ost. You also get a crime mystery drama with swords, just how interesting is that? Yes, the drama is not perfect, as towards the end you might encounter a small gap in the story but really it won't hinder you from enjoying it till the very end. Instead, it will let you experience at least 5 different emotions. You get a roller coaster ride for free. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to watch an action crime mystery fiction with no romance story.
ps. sometimes it can get very dark so you might have to adjust the lighting of your screen/room to see things.

WHERE TO FIND SUBS?
Visit @ Luwuang on twitter and you'll easily find your way to the discord server where you can find the subs.

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A very enjoyable, interesting, satisfying story with coolly shot Japanese sword fighting scenes. Credible acting, and my big kudos to the choreographer of the fight scenes and the actors themselves, who did a really good job of preparing for them. The characters are likable,. The song at the end credits caught my ear almost immediately.
However, the story was too short and I couldn't get fully involved. I feel like it ended right after it started. I wouldn't have minded if the episodes were longer. It felt like an unnecessary rush and I was left feeling unsatisfied with the story itself and its length.
Overall, however, I am satisfied with this drama. The quality is good and the story was about something too. And I really, really liked the fight scenes shot at the right pace and with a lot of realism.

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Holy smokes! Wow. This must be one of the whumpiest dramas I've ever seen. And definitely the whumpiest Jdrama. Like, holy smokes!

The sword fights here were absolutely amazing and Saotome Taichi swinging a sword and kicking butts was smoking hot, like wow.

As I've mentioned, since Kakeru is the sword swinging hero here, he's the object of so much whump like you wouldn't believe. And because the drama is all about found family - Kakeru, Sho and Karen grew up together, the sword master, his partner destined to kill him one day and the scabbard maker, respectively - they all adore Kakeru so the whump is really, really satisfying, the way they worry for him and do all they can to protect him and keep him alive, even risking their lives and going against centuries old traditions and powerful supernatural stuff. And it's what saves Kakeru's life in the end, their love for each other. It's so beautiful!

If you like action driven dramas with the found family trope in abundance, then you will love this one. I'm all a-giddy about it!

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Interesting but not fulfilling

This was my first Japanese fantasy series, and the description was very interesting. Demons, swords and fighting. I was here for it.

The short episodes were nice but after watching I feel like this could have been ten 1-hour long episodes and that way we would have gotten more backstory of the blade, the ultimate villain and the history of the priest, the Sword Collector and the history of Sho and his family. Everything felt rushed to get to the end. The female reporter was annoying, but she became useful in the end, and I started to like her a bit.

I still overall enjoyed the series though and it was a good ending per se at least the last fight scene with Godo Shin and Kakeru. I just wish more things would have been explained. Honestly, I may have missed somethings in translation.

The lead actor, Saotome Taichi was great, and the supporting cast was awesome.

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Sword vs. Scabbard

TLDR; Unique urban fantasy (emo) drama with fantastic fight scenes and an overall satisfying—albeit crippled by the short runtime—story. 

Whump meter: ▲▲▲▲△ (plenty of good whump).

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【spoiler-free】

SHORT VERSION:

┊┊WHAT I LIKED:
►Stellar fight scenes and a lot of them. Cool, believable, thorough, and with minimal cuts
►Good villains (one-timers and also the main)
►Unique and unusual locations, as well as using the environment.
►Realistic character's abilities (within supernatural context). Everyone is skilled after years of training.
►Interesting themes about hatred, morality, duty, sacrifice, choice, intentions, and ultimately the bond with those around us.
►Interesting approach to the magic aspect. Primarily how it manifests, ends up affecting ML, and how it is ultimately resolved (feels like an anime in the best way).
►Good cinematography focused on enhancing the story. Looks very legit and even poetic at times.
►Satisfying narrative. Satisfying plot twist, progression, and ending.
►Solid actors and acting.
►Some rather interesting character dynamics.
►Potential for more seasons without being open-ended.

┊┊WHAT I DISLIKED:
►Unfortunately, the FL. She mostly just caused more issues for 'heroes' to solve.
►Abysmal choice of an end-credits song... Made me jump every time with how jarringly out-of-place it was.
►How short it was. It's barely longer than a movie (3-ish hours), which does end up leaving a lot of things underdeveloped since it's formatted like a show.
►Under-developed lore. They hint at a lot of background and lore, but we are only ever given crumbs.
►Not much braining going around.

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【!some SPOILERS below!】

LONG VERSION:

┊┊CHARACTERS:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Because the drama is so short and story-focused, this leaves the characters somewhat behind in terms of purpose and especially development. Forget backstory or setup, but even their reason to be there at all. They're more like the background team of cops, but with hints of depth and as the main cast. I'm not saying they were bad; they were just underused and suffered tremendously from how short the drama was. Even the ML felt lacking in depth and attention. We get glimpses of his character, past, motives, and feelings, but they’re usually rather brief, and he’s the one who gets by far the most development. (I understand not everything needs to be character-focused, and for how long it is, it’s acceptable, just very unfortunate since more attention to the characters would’ve made it all the more thorough, rewarding, and entertaining.).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ This also extends to their dynamics, though I believe this was set up better. At least when it comes to ML and SML, who had a very unique and interesting dynamic going on. There was enough setup for us to know what was up, and enough attention given to it throughout the runtime for us to feel for them. Same goes for ML and the main villain. These two dynamics/relationships were by far the highlights of the characterization.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ As for the FL, she initially seems to be the main character who stumbles into this unusual ‘world’ hiding in plain sight; however, that soon changes into her being merely a POV character until she's sidelined completely and added in with meaningless moments of relevance only ever at the cost of the intellect of the characters around her (aka, the ones that have been doing this superhero gig for the entirety of their lives, lol). I didn't get her purpose in the story and feel like it would've worked better, smoother, and more cohesive if she wasn't added at all.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The rest of the supporting cast was fine but ultimately also underused. We didn't really get to know much about them; they were just there to serve the narrative purpose and were otherwise sidelined. Even interesting dynamics like that of SML and his father were merely glanced at.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Then there’s the villains: the villain-of-the-week types and also the final antagonist. The former were good; they worked very well for what was needed of them and got enough development, backstory, and setup to feel satisfying without overstaying their welcome. The short duration of the show also made this non-repetitive, so it didn’t drag. The main villain was honestly really cool. Not only was his character cool, but he also actually posed a threat and was genuinely evil. The way he ties into the main hero group is also amazing and adds a lot of good angst and stakes! The only downside was that his reason to be there was glossed over and didn’t make a whole lot of sense with how they set him up. There was some confusion there.

┊┊ACTING:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Solid all around. Even the one-time villains gave it their all for their performances. I’d say the main antagonist, along with ML, were the highlight for me. The villain played such an effortlessly cool badass so well, and ML portrayed the depressed emo-loner nicely.

┊┊STORY:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Generally and overall? Very solid. It’s short, concise, has a good narrative structure, and a proper wrap-up with even room for more seasons without the need to leave things unsolved. The story is rather simple but very well-executed which despite some shortcomings makes it a satisfying watch. Plot twists can be seen coming but are still handled well and thus rewarding even if not particularly shocking.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ The worldbuilding showed promise but unfortunately didn’t deliver quite as much as it could’ve. This is largely in part due to the short length but the world, lore and background of the magic/darkness and everyone surrounding it (heroes and villains) seemed very interesting and like there was a lot more of it to tell but didn’t get to see a whole lot. A shame.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ As for the magic itself, honestly, very cool. It feels like a realistic anime and I’m totally here for it. The way the darkness manifests from humanity’s own weakness/pain is so real and brings up a lot of interesting narrative potential. Not only that, fighting against said darkness ended up affecting ML too, it was magic with consequences not only for the victims but also for her heroes, such a nice detail (and nice whump). Ultimately, the way it was finally wrapped up in the end was very poetic and well executed, I’m glad they committed to a dramatic, impactful ending and (at least temporary) resolution.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Now onto the main themes of the story, which are largely centered around pain and suffering and how that manifests into (in this drama, literally) darkness that can consume the life of the individual as well as everyone around them. It does well in exploring the value of change, growth, intentions, and ultimately peace, showing the importance of duty and sacrifice but also that of choice and the bond with those around us. It was quite interesting, heartwarming, and rather well-executed.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Another highlight is the fact that this isn’t an origin story or zero-to-hero type deal. Everyone is already capable and worked all their life to achieve the level of skill that they have, which not only makes for a refreshing take on the superhero genre but also a realistic one. The heroes aren’t naturally skilled because they are the MCs and/or the chosen ones; they worked for it. ML even struggles when he’s injured and can be defeated!

┊┊PRODUCTION:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Very good. Money was spent where it matters, and it shows. Locations, props, CGI—the whole thing is very, very legit. Cinematography was very good; shots mattered and were structured to add to the narrative, weight, and theme of the scene.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Fight scenes were some of the best I’ve seen: minimal cuts, good choreography, and the unique feature of ML fighting with a scabbard against sword-wielders made for some very unique fights. Locations were also used to the max throughout the fight scenes and they didn’t all take place in a large open space where one could easily fight. The attention to detail didn’t go unnoticed and was tremendously appreciated.

┊┊MUSIC:
‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ Overall, it was pretty good. Worked well for the genre and scenes; however, that end-credits song... It was really out of place. You have some of the most serious moments in the drama, and it just starts playing this extremely irritating upbeat song. It's not even the issue that it's upbeat, since that could work as a statement or to specifically be ironic, but it's just... ugh.

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◇ Was it what I was expecting? I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I was pleasantly surprised.
◆ Did it live up to its potential? Not really
◇ Would I watch it again? Probably, yes
◆ Would I recommend it to others? Yes!!

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Intense Mystifying Thrills

This story is not at all what I thought it would be! I've never seen such thrilling dramatics in my life, except for maybe in a couple of movies. This show had such a fantastically unique story that I had never seen before except maybe in manga or anime; in fact, this story is like an anime or manga come to life, which I'm sure a commenter or reviewer already said (lol). IF you're looking for something different with intense story telling then try this show!


At the beginning, I wasn't sure about the main character's, they seemed like a mish-mash of people from different "acting ranks" (is that a thing?) brought together to somehow hype up the show. However, the more I watched, the more each actor and actress seemed to fit their role(s) perfectly, like beautiful pieces of a puzzle. For a story like this with its curious plot, a "mish-mash" of people involved is quite really the best reasoning. People who are brought together by something bigger than themselves to work together as a team, drawing from everyone's strengths and filling in where there are weaknesses.


The music for the ending really threw me, at first it didn't really fit within the first few episodes, and it kind of annoyed me at times so I skipped it. Though, as the show went on, and I kept watching all the way to the end (to see if the end credits had secrets lol) the song grew on me, and it even made me feel like I had a hitch in my throat; like I was on the edge of a cliff waiting for something to happen with full dramatics... which is usually did in the next episode. The music for this show was spectacular in helping to create such an amazing universe for this story.


This story is intense, very interesting, and leaves the viewer wanting more! The backstory could have been filled in more for a few characters, but I also like the way they left it blank; as if leaving it to the viewers imagination. But it also makes me wonder if this show was meant to have longer episodes, a special, or even a second season. Some things seemed left to the imagination, while others seemed either forgotten or meant to create a type of bridge to another episode/special/season two. I would love to see more if that is a possibility, of course! However, the sword fighting in this show was so amazingly talented, you could see just how respectful and cautious each person was with the scabbards (sheaths?) and the swords, as well. That had to have been a lot of hard work that pushed the body(bodies) to their limits.


The theme of this show is superb, very interesting and great at catching the viewers attention. The synopsis is a great tantalizing temptation, then you throw in the trailer, too.... and I was hooked from episode one!

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Such a good J-Drama

Let's start with the negative aspects:
The music didn't always quite fit, in my opinion. Sounds way too happy, although the story is rather sad.
Second, the character Mio Sanjo was too annoying and her acting was too much at the beginning. Once she showed up, I didn't quite like the scenes in this drama. Towards the end, however, she got better.

Positive aspects:
All the other characters were great. Well acted. I especially liked Kakeru Osagami. He had the coolest scene in this drama. his facial expressions were real and you believed everything he was doing.
The fight scenes were so good and nicely directed. It was so exciting to see those scenes. Definitely one of the coolest scenes in this drama. The friendship of the main characters has been great. And how the story tied up towards the end was really nice.

One of the J-dramas I would recommend at any time. The story is top. the acting seems realistic.

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