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Saki japanese drama review
Completed
Saki
0 people found this review helpful
by gunther
Jun 5, 2020
11 of 11 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
Interesting and entertaining series, captivated me because of the lead and title character- Saki. Very intense character, and I loved rooting for her and against her.

First, what i hated- subtitles- in episode 3, the subtitles were about 20 seconds behind, made it extremely difficult to follow. last episode- long sentences were cut off. As it was the end of the series i was kind of able to finish most of them but still very annoying. So that's the technical stuff.

What i didn't like about the story: not that i didn't like, because if it was missing, there would be no point to the whole series, but i just can't believe how a couple of these guys continued to fall for her mind games and then fall off the deep end, especially the hospital chief. Lose it all, but get on with your life. The way he flipped out seemed too extreme to me. Their whole story line with the wife is confusing for me as a western. Maybe a cultural thing. The shame of being the other woman in Japan must be so much more extreme; I can see an American couple telling Saki and anyone who cared: too bad bitch, get over it, we are together. Anyway, the way these guys became totally absorbed with Saki and how she was able to convince a couple of them to off themselves or become violent was a little laughable to me.

I didn't care for the reveal of each victims 'crime' in the last episode. Not much to them and you can argue that the 1st two fellows were just a matter of bad luck. I was expecting that the reason Saki did what she did to them was because they did something significantly bad that would justify her actions. They didn't do anything reprehensible, they were just aloof at the wrong moment, especially the AC guy. Even the lawyer, when realizing what he was doing, was bowing to apologize. Saki did not drive him to suicide for his main problem- loving his own sister, but because he mistakenly blocked the road. I can see the hospital chief to a degree, but i was even not sure if he directly turned the mother away, or that he was just the person being held responsible because he was the chief and father of the kid who was treated instead of the mother. His son was pretty much of a wimp. When Saki called him an idiot, i was hoping he would say- oh well, i almost made it with you, and then got on with his life.

Next- the final confrontation scene with her brother, Hayako (by the way, he was pretty good in the series, even though he always had a deep, glazed, duh look on his face). Anyway, I thought the scene could have solidified this chick as the ultimate villain, as evil as Hannibel Lector. I really thought that when she broke the glass out of his hand and started crying that she was faking, knowing that the glass she broke didn't have the poison and that she would get him to drink the other glass with the poison. As it turned out, she appears to have some humanity and saved him. Blaming him did prove she had a twisted mind, however, i guess he was able to convince her that he was not responsible, where the other guys had no real chance to do so. I would have also liked one final scene for them together to tie up were they stood with each other.

Lastly- the pregnancy. Where did that come from? Was it the lawyers?- his seemed the only relationship close to doing it. Maybe this all happened off screen. Would have liked to have known more about it, or maybe i missed something.

Now on to what i liked- Saki! Totally gorgeous, which attracted me to her immediately. A very beautiful lady, made even more so by her expressions and demeanor. The 'celebratory' food scenes with the steak and wine were different, and a little weird (shot of her throat), but i still thought it was pretty enticing. I loved watching her work her spell on everyone- even though it was hard to fathom how some of these guys went off the deep end because of it. One of the best female characters i have ever watched.

I did like the story, even though i mentioned more negatives above. I love watching Asian dramas, they are very entertaining, even when they are extremely implausible in my mind, like this one.
Overall, a very good watch. Check reality at the door and get ready for one of the best female lead characters in a A Drama- and some really weak guys!
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