31
96
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The Butterfly
This review may contain spoilers
Ditto
Somewhere a screenwriter was watching the movie Ghost for the fifth time and decided it would make a great drama. Just trade out a police officer who can see ghosts for the clairvoyant Whoopi Goldberg and Satoh Takeru for Patrick Swayze. The title I Should Have Told You a Million Times was even reflected in the 1990 movie. If you've seen the movie, nothing in this drama will come as a surprise. Having said that, the characters were all likeable enough to keep my interest throughout the drama.
The story opens with a Sixth Sense beginning, but if you've read the synopsis, the suspense fell flat. Thankfully, they didn't drag it out. Yui and Naoki were childhood friends who reconnected and began dating. On her birthday, he disappears. Along comes Detective Uozumi whose latent spiritual sight evolves just in time to see Naoki. Uozumi works to figure out what happened to Naoki while he's embroiled in another murder investigation. The three become friends as they dig through the past to see how old relationships and old crimes are playing havoc with the present. There were also some Ghost Whisperer moments where they helped a couple of wandering ghosts with their regrets.
Despite some repetitious scenes and obvious borrowing from other sources, I enjoyed the story as it unfolded. The bromance that developed between Naoki and Uozumi helped cover over some of the weaker writing. The suave Satoh Takeru and nerdy Matsuyama Kenichi had a nice chemistry. Inoue Mao showed how hard it is to let go as Yui held on tight to a man she couldn't see. With all the extra time they were given and a translator as well, it was frustrating that Yui and Naoki didn't work through their emotions and regrets. In some ways, their relationship came across as fairly shallow instead of an intimate love---words matter.
The supernatural murder mystery came to its natural ending in episode 9, but then they decided to tack on a wish fulfillment ending for the last episode that almost completely ruined this drama for me. With one little tweak they had the opportunity to showcase the perfect ending for a tearjerker drama but by dragging it out, took all of the emotional punch from the previous episode. In time, I will block out the last episode, grind through the five stages of grief and remember the other episodes and engaging characters fondly.
7/5/23
The story opens with a Sixth Sense beginning, but if you've read the synopsis, the suspense fell flat. Thankfully, they didn't drag it out. Yui and Naoki were childhood friends who reconnected and began dating. On her birthday, he disappears. Along comes Detective Uozumi whose latent spiritual sight evolves just in time to see Naoki. Uozumi works to figure out what happened to Naoki while he's embroiled in another murder investigation. The three become friends as they dig through the past to see how old relationships and old crimes are playing havoc with the present. There were also some Ghost Whisperer moments where they helped a couple of wandering ghosts with their regrets.
Despite some repetitious scenes and obvious borrowing from other sources, I enjoyed the story as it unfolded. The bromance that developed between Naoki and Uozumi helped cover over some of the weaker writing. The suave Satoh Takeru and nerdy Matsuyama Kenichi had a nice chemistry. Inoue Mao showed how hard it is to let go as Yui held on tight to a man she couldn't see. With all the extra time they were given and a translator as well, it was frustrating that Yui and Naoki didn't work through their emotions and regrets. In some ways, their relationship came across as fairly shallow instead of an intimate love---words matter.
The supernatural murder mystery came to its natural ending in episode 9, but then they decided to tack on a wish fulfillment ending for the last episode that almost completely ruined this drama for me. With one little tweak they had the opportunity to showcase the perfect ending for a tearjerker drama but by dragging it out, took all of the emotional punch from the previous episode. In time, I will block out the last episode, grind through the five stages of grief and remember the other episodes and engaging characters fondly.
7/5/23
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