Ouroboros
Wow, this drama did not disappoint. Toma and Ogushun were so amazing (especially Toma). And of course I love Hirosue Ryoko. Yoshida Yo plays the same kickass woman she does in Jun to Ai (which reminds me I have to finish Jun to Ai), and special shoutout to Takeda Kumiko for playing the best yakuza boss ever, with a wonderful Kyoto accent. Ueno Juri I could take or leave. I certainly didn't love her like I did in Nodame. But she didn't annoy me like Seino Nana's character did. I didn't recognize Shinohara Tomoe AT ALL as the forensics person, but she was totally believable, so good for her.
My favorite part of this drama was that everyone had their own interweaving motives and investigations - there were no "good guys". The mystery and PLOT TWISTS were really engaging, and only a little convoluted. The hand-to-hand fight scenes were very well choreographed and entertaining - they reminded me of Cowboy Bebop in look and feel (and in Toma's hairstyle). When they brought out the guns, however, there seemed to be a lot of standing around and AIMING the gun while not saying anything of substance, instead of SHOOTING the gun, and it stalled the action in quite a few places. It also strained credulity just how many times a character was about to tell Ogushun and Toma "everything," and there would be some flimsy excuse to delay or separate long enough for that character to get killed. But the pacing was well done enough that I was constantly eager to keep watching the next episode, and the action was spread out well throughout the entire 10 episode run.
The ending involved some ugly crying. It reminded me somewhat of Sora Kara Furu's ending, but not as depressingly accidental. I don't know if this is like an otokomae trope, but as the ending approached and Toma ignored my pleas to get Ogushun some MEDICAL ATTENTION FFS, I shouted out, "This is like a KimuTaku drama ending!" At least it was the path they chose, and they seemed happy at the end. From what I could see through my tears. I'm still kind of mad they didn't choose to live past their revenge, but with the way they lived their life up to that point, they may have thought they couldn't atone by living, only by dying. Speaking of atonement, I wish the ending had spent a little more time on Toma's evil father getting the punishment he deserved and his organization getting cleansed. But you know, food porn glamor shots of eating your feelings with omerice are good too. And it made my slasher heart happy that Toma refused the heteronormative happy ending Ueno Juri offered and decided to die with his family Ogushun~~~. I also appreciated that Ueno Juri didn't get explicitly romantic - I only read her offer as heteronormative because of drama conventions.
I swear to God at least once an episode I was 100% positive that Toma and Ogushun were about to kiss. And their hilariously "covert" meetings were such ~forbidden love~. Them communicating on their normal cell phones?! Ogushun buying out an entire sento for them to meet at, lol yeah that's not conspicuous... Their restaurant meetings reminded me of Peggy and Jarvis meeting back to back at the diner, and Angie rolling her eyes at their obviousness. Except with ten times the sexual tension.
Now where are all the slashy interviews?? Did Ogushun call Toma his Tokyo bride again?
My favorite part of this drama was that everyone had their own interweaving motives and investigations - there were no "good guys". The mystery and PLOT TWISTS were really engaging, and only a little convoluted. The hand-to-hand fight scenes were very well choreographed and entertaining - they reminded me of Cowboy Bebop in look and feel (and in Toma's hairstyle). When they brought out the guns, however, there seemed to be a lot of standing around and AIMING the gun while not saying anything of substance, instead of SHOOTING the gun, and it stalled the action in quite a few places. It also strained credulity just how many times a character was about to tell Ogushun and Toma "everything," and there would be some flimsy excuse to delay or separate long enough for that character to get killed. But the pacing was well done enough that I was constantly eager to keep watching the next episode, and the action was spread out well throughout the entire 10 episode run.
The ending involved some ugly crying. It reminded me somewhat of Sora Kara Furu's ending, but not as depressingly accidental. I don't know if this is like an otokomae trope, but as the ending approached and Toma ignored my pleas to get Ogushun some MEDICAL ATTENTION FFS, I shouted out, "This is like a KimuTaku drama ending!" At least it was the path they chose, and they seemed happy at the end. From what I could see through my tears. I'm still kind of mad they didn't choose to live past their revenge, but with the way they lived their life up to that point, they may have thought they couldn't atone by living, only by dying. Speaking of atonement, I wish the ending had spent a little more time on Toma's evil father getting the punishment he deserved and his organization getting cleansed. But you know, food porn glamor shots of eating your feelings with omerice are good too. And it made my slasher heart happy that Toma refused the heteronormative happy ending Ueno Juri offered and decided to die with his family Ogushun~~~. I also appreciated that Ueno Juri didn't get explicitly romantic - I only read her offer as heteronormative because of drama conventions.
I swear to God at least once an episode I was 100% positive that Toma and Ogushun were about to kiss. And their hilariously "covert" meetings were such ~forbidden love~. Them communicating on their normal cell phones?! Ogushun buying out an entire sento for them to meet at, lol yeah that's not conspicuous... Their restaurant meetings reminded me of Peggy and Jarvis meeting back to back at the diner, and Angie rolling her eyes at their obviousness. Except with ten times the sexual tension.
Now where are all the slashy interviews?? Did Ogushun call Toma his Tokyo bride again?