The one thing I love about the Japanese is their ability to tell a story and develop characters. I also enjoy that they don't feel the need to put a romance in everything they do. If you've never watched a J-drama (shame on you) and enjoy crime dramas, murder, suspense, etc, then Ishi no Mayu is a great drama to start with. At only 5 episodes it doesn't require much of a commitment. If you do watch J-dramas, this is on par with dramas like Strawberry Night.

You might be thinking there's no way they can sufficiently tell a story in 5 episodes. To that I say, "Oh but they can!" Kisaragi Toko if a rookie Metropolitan Police detective. Assigned to division 1, she finds herself involved in a strange murder where the victim was encased in cement. Not only that, but the murderer will only speak to her when he calls the police. Kisaragi is haunted not only by the case, but by memories of her deceased father who was a retired detective. Squad 1 finds they have to solve a past case in order to solve the current.

The story is really written well. There may be plot holes but they were small. There were also no red herrings. When they narrowed down to their suspect, no new suspects popped up to confuse the watcher. Instead of who is the killer it's more where is the killer. The production is good. Most of the scenes were done on location it seems. The music conveyed all the emotion necessary so in that respect it was good as well.

The cast is peppered with veteran actors and it shows. They were very good at conveying emotions and thought just by their facial expression and eyes alone. I hope the cast is the same for the next series (what we might call season). Re-watch is fairly high for me as I may re-watch with friends or family.

Overall this was a fine crime drama right in line with other excellent crime/mystery dramas even at 5 episodes.