Beautiful and Tragic; two words I use to describe this film.

What starts as a writer trying to uncover the truth about an incident turns into something much more.

I found the use of light and sound quite important. It was a tool to make us -the audience- focus on certain things characters have said in order to foreshadow what will happen in the future and what will be revealed about the past. It is similar with eye contact and characters watching interactions between other characters. Watching this, you won't realise how complex the story is until the last third. Then, you understand the construction of the story and the choices the characters make.

The acting was also incredible. For Iwata Takanori, it was a step up from his portrayal as Cobra in the HiGH&LOW series and other exile-related works. He really shined in this film. His character was also interesting. He walks with intention and a purpose; he speaks with intention and purpose, making him a more compelling character. I'm not kidding when I say he walks as if he is on a mission (which he totally is). Heck, even his stares are intentional. Saitoh Takumi also outperformed as usual and brought so much to his character as a photographer.

Even though I already loved it after my first watch, I really appreciated the construction of it this time around. It is a film I plan to watch a third, maybe fourth time. But I also wish I could experience watching it for the first time. It is one of a kind.

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An exciting and thrilling drama starring none other than Oguri Shun and Ikuta Toma!!

A story which focused on ouroboros - the symbol of infinity through a snake chasing its own tail. Representing creation and destruction; birth and death.

I really enjoyed the symbol of the ouroboros in this drama, along with everything else this drama had to offer. It was thrilling, but also funny. It's a compelling drama following two friends - a police officer and yakuza - carrying out revenge for a person who was their family as a child. You couldn't help but love both the main characters. And of course, they made an amazing team when they had the chance to work together (undercover, of course), and they were quite an hilarious duo during these times.

Speaking of, both Oguri Shun and Ikuta Toma played their characters fantastically. It was definitely fun to seem them reunited on-screen after Hanazakari no Kimitachi e which was released in 2007. In that time they had obviously both matured as actors and their portrayals of their characters felt authentic and genuine in this drama which is a lot more serious than Hana Kimi. It was very obvious to see how much they cared for each other. Shun's character (Danno Tatsuya) treated Toma's character (Ryuuzaki Ikuo) like his younger brother whom he wanted to protect. And it was obvious Ikuo equally cared for him. It was really sweet but also sad during the times Tatsuya would get hurt because of how worried Ikuo would get. I also loved the contribution Ikuo's sense of smell would make. A pretty funny quirk.

I know some people were annoyed at the female lead, but she wasn't bad in my opinion. It's important to know that for the most part, she didn't know about Tatsuya and Ikuo's relationship for the most part. So, whilst I sometimes felt like she was getting in the way, she was doing what most people would do in that situation, especially as a police officer herself.

I also really liked how the other side characters contributed to the story. also, Ayana Go was also a character in the last few episodes and I was not expecting to see him, but it was nice to see him in this.

I find the plot quite hard to fault. Revenge is quite a popular troupe and this drama made it into my favourite revenge plot dramas. There were a few red herrings but I also felt the emotions Tatsuya and Ikuo would feel when they thought they were getting somewhere with a certain suspect.

I also found the ending fitting. That's all I will mention on that. I was pretty sad, but also relieved in a way.

Overall, a great drama which I definitely recommend for all the reasons mentioned above. It has easily become a new favourite of mine.

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Good drama but lacks characterisation!!

I freaking love this drama, but i have quite a few criticisms.

The actors were great and the storyline was engaging. There was a lot of tension and high intensity scenes, and even episodes.

The characterisation fell flat, however. There should have been more of a background story for the characters. It would have been interesting to know how the ML started the whole job and why exactly he did it. In a way, it sort of doesn't make sense; he explains that he wants to lead a normal life without drawing too much attention to himself but his "job" is the opposite and can get him into a lot of trouble. If he wanted money, he could just get a job that regular kids his age got like at a convenience store.

The FL was the same; she wanted to make money but had no motive. They tried to give the storyline that her parents wanted her to pursue the same thing as them and she didn't want to, but how exactly is doing what she was going to help her get out of her parents' desired plan for her? Also, why is she willing to risk getting in trouble for managing a sex work business just to not be a ceo - it's not equivalent.

Another thing about the fl was that she was annoying. She clearly hadn't set her priorities straight, as evident in the previous paragraph. But, from the first episode we see that she's a pretty shit person. She went out of her way to take the ML's phone so she could go through it. When she didn't know the passcode, she watched him enter the passcode for his other phone and used that to get into his phone. The invasion of privacy is not cool and I'm pretty sure she doesn't apologise. I don't like how the writers chose that as a catalyst for how the FL had to find out about everything. Other than that, she's purely fucking annoying. She is constantly putting everyone in danger and she feels no remorse. As soon as she is introduced, she fucks everything up. And luckily for her, she has the money to buy herself out of trouble because her parents are rich, whereas the ML has to suffer more.

Mr Lee was such a g bro. I love him. I also liked the homeroom teacher.

Did the second leads even genuinely like each other? He was pretty shitty towards her and relied on her for her money. But, he was able to get his homeboys to trash the karaoke bar for his GF. The scene was pretty iconic though.

With most of these characters, there was no clear motive for most of their decisions *cue motive by Ari and Doja* which i think is the biggest flaw in this drama.

But I did genuinely enjoy my time watching it. I'm really into high school dramas that are dark like 'Class of Lies'. Both of these dramas, along with 'How to Buy a Friend' have all been compared. Personally, my favourite would be 'Class of Lies'. Because there were only 10 episodes in extracurricular, they might have not been able to develop the characters as well.

I know some people want a second season after the last episode but i don't really think it would be as good. I'm not sure how they would add another 10 episodes without dragging out and ruining it. I think people need to start being okay with dramas where the ending is unclear.

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This was disappointingly bad...

The premise is that Japan has made sex illegal. That's it. It's only been 15 years, I think, since this law was passed.

Truthfully, I can't really think about one positive comment to make about this, so I'll just pass on this for now.

The drama follows a high school boy being exposed to underground sex. Essentially, a place where people go to have sex. It kind of reminds me of Love Whirlpool since they just hump people (sometimes strangers) all in one room. The nudity isn't too much, in my opinion, and I just tended to skip over the scenes. A lot of the slightly sexual scenes, particularly the ones with the ML are very awkward, for obvious reasons, since this is all new to him. I do feel bad for him though; his crotch was grabbed a lot by a bunch of different people - including adults...

The story. Well, Japan does like their quirky stories, particularly the ones which involve sex. But this just fizzled out. This could have given a better commentary. I did find it weird that the adults didn't really question why sex became illegal, and I thought that was really weird, to be honest. Instead, we have the ML's mum shaming him over a wet dream. It isn't until the end where we find out why it's illegal. I don't have much to say about the reason, because I really don't remember it.

There was also a bit of sexual harassment and assault which I don't think did much. It felt weird that it was being included in a story about illegal sex without there being a clear distinction between the two.

So yeah, I didn't like it.

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Favourite comfort drama of 2023

*story*
Nice and simple and just involves 3 characters meeting up to eat good homemade food and make amazing memories together.

*characters*
The main 3 characters are all so distinct from each other. Tane and his big brother, Minoru, have such a sweet and genuine relationship, and seeing Yutaka with them is so great and fun as well. All in all, this is definitely character-driven.

*music*
I think it fits the drama perfectly.

*Overall*
It's definitely something I want to re-watch on a winter afternoon. It'll make you feel less lonely and more inspired to eat homecooked meals.

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It lacked in quite a few aspects

I was really enjoying the first half of this drama, but what went wrong? I will try to explain without any spoilers.

It had such a strong start. I was really into the interactions that the FL and ML were having. It was smooth sailing.

But then it became disjointed. It didn't feel like a love story anymore. The FL didn't even feel like a main character. I think both her and the other FL were heavily underdeveloped, and I'm quite disappointed in that. In general, I don'
t think the characterisation was that great looking back. Eve the two MLs felt underdeveloped. We didn't get much insight into their motivations and backstory. The acting was decent though.

Now, back to the plot. What the heck was going on? I feel like they didn't give much of a build up into the second half. It felt like the same person was placing the leads in to the same predicament over and over again. And like many have mentioned in the comments, that last episode was a bit of a mess. This drama could have benefitted from an extra episodes to make it 11 like most 90s JDramas. It would have been in their favour.

Can't remember the music at all. And I have little intention to re watch this, at least not any time soon.

Clearly my review was all over the place (much like the drama), so bear with me. If you are a fan of 90s Japanese dramas and have already watched the more popular ones, maybe give this a chance. I don't think you'll regret it.

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