Destiny (2024)

"Destiny" wants to be a romance-mystery-thriller drama where the mystery pulls together the romantic leads in such a way that the watcher is spellbound into their story. Unfortunately, "Destiny" is not this and it truly is a shame because it had a great deal of potential. From the amazing cast led by Ishihara Satomi and Kamenashi Kazuya to having the backing of Netflix broadcasting it worldwide with English subtitles, clearly there was a lot of hype for this drama, but it is a let down. The story and the mystery plot are rather predictable, formulaic, and dry at times. Ishihara and Kamenashi light up the screen in their flashback moments together, but feel a bit bogged down by the heavy drama and awkward writing in the modern timeline (which is most of the drama). Shiina Ringo's "Ningen to shite" feels very misplaced as a theme song from the start, and even at the end, it doesn't feel tonally appropriate. I'm a huge fan of Ishihara Satomi and Kamenashi Kazuya's acting, so I stayed knowing that they would keep the drama afloat for me, and they did. The two did what they could with the material given, but I don't know how much I would recommend this to viewers who aren't huge fans of their work.

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