Boku wa Dare Review!
I was kindly invited by a coworker and his wife to watch a play on Saturday 23rd April and so I couldn't say no! It's a lot different to what I'm used to because it's BIG names who are more well known with the older generation and on tv, and a SMALL stage.
The story is based around a guy who gets arrested for drugs and then it turns out that somone he knows and someone who he had previously been caught for stalking has been murdered alongside her mother and brother, and thus he becomes the prime suspect of a murder(s). Throughout the 2 and a bit hours of the play, we slowly see his 11 days in interrogation and how he breaks down and slowly the story comes out and we see what judgement or saving he gets in the end.
This was a very depressing, serioust story and you HAD to concentrate - not that it was difficult cos I was completely hooked! I was completely in it, I loved all the characters, I wanted to know if he'd killed them, his relation to the victimcs, if he hadn't killed them then who did, and while this wasn't action packed and it was 90% taking place in the interrogation room so it was pretty much ALL talk but the suspence and tension was high the entire time. Especially cos there's a very violent and aggressive cop and you're just sat there in fear of when he's gunna yell or when he's gunna grab the suspect again and stuff. << So tension comes from these types of character attitudes too.
Speaking of characters: ALL of them were diverse and had some dark or sad backstory and of course you can't go wrong with a little 'police breaking the law in iterrogations' sprinkled in there too. There were good cops, bad cops, polite cops (*I've just realised how BRITISH 'cop' is. For those that don't know! I mean policeman/woman!), newbie cops who were trying to find their place in the ranks and then there's the suspect himself. He was so diverse and he went through an ARRANGE of emotions (and turns out the actor himself had expereinced a drug charge in the past so being interrogated and stuff is something he's experienced and hits close to home for him).
I had three favourites; Sera Yuuki's was the young newbie of the group and he spent a lot of time typing the notes in the interro room and he was very overwhelmed by the case and by bad cop and there's moment towards the end where he tries do hard to help and protect the susectand he was so cute and you just wanted him to be okay and to be able to help others. The second one is Watanabe Hiroyuki, he was the OLD and experienced cop who spoke in keigo the entire time and was overall a wonderful and the ideal policeman. His story got real sad towards the end and it got tears out of me. Finally we have Korechika Atsushi's character was the scary cop, and several times he grabbed the suspect and handcuffed him to the chair and dragged him around the stage (WHICH by the way was TINY!) and he was overall terrifying and he held the atmosphere so well and I actually feared every time he was around because you weren't sure what he'd do or when he'd yell etc. His back story explains why he's that way too which makes the character even deeper. But I loved all the character but these three were my favs <3
The story was set in Osaka too so they used a lot of Osaka ben which I thoroughly enjoyed listening to <3
There was all of ONE funny moment in this which is when we get a random, separate murder case and they talk about baseball and the suspect is an Osakan but is a Softbank (Fukuoka's team) fan but his favourite player is in Hanshin Tigers (Osaka's team) xD and it was funny for me cos I could understand what they were talking about and cos I like baseball ^_^
The ending killed me! (Spoilers coming >>) Towards the end the suspects lawyer tells him that he should tell the truth about how he knew the victim and where he last saw her in the interrogation and so he does and Sera Yuuki's character types it all down and then leaves the room to inform the others cos now it's proof he didn't do it and could now let him go. BUT during the time that Sera is off stage, Korechika's also in the room and tells him that his mother is dying and that if he confesses to the murder, he'll let him see his dying mother straight away one last time before he gets put away for life. The suspect is conflicted by sticking to his story which would (for some reason) make him get out after the trial was completed or to say he did kill the victims in order to get this 'see his mother' deal before the trial starts. And to see him decide to take the deal of being labelled as a murdered just so he can see his mother one last time and to see the bad cop go OVER to the laptop and delete the previous confession and to see Sera come back in and see the entire confession's been deleted and now the suspect won't speak at all just omg... and THEN to see a rose be given to the suspect at the end - meaning his mother has died even though he didn't get to see her and now he's going away as a murderer even though we don't even know if he actuall did it! just omg the feels... I'm dead thinking of it now (End of spoilers)
I think it was a small company but very famous company who produced this and they tend to always bring out DVDs so if this does come out on DVD I probably will buy and watch it, or at least buy it and share it with everyone because it did feel very raw and it's very different to what I normally watch (but did feel real like ORPHANS was) and I do think you should all see it for yourself even if it is emotionally breaking and a lot of concentration is needed. The company's website is here
Overall: Very different to what I normally watch and you need a lot of concentration and it's a very slow paced, dark story with lots of backstories and it's very deep and depressing. It will mentally and emotionally drain you. But I loved all the characters, I found the story completely interesting and the ending broke me! It defo leaves an impression on you. I was very impressed and will probs keep an eye on the company who produced this.
Rating: 8/10
The story is based around a guy who gets arrested for drugs and then it turns out that somone he knows and someone who he had previously been caught for stalking has been murdered alongside her mother and brother, and thus he becomes the prime suspect of a murder(s). Throughout the 2 and a bit hours of the play, we slowly see his 11 days in interrogation and how he breaks down and slowly the story comes out and we see what judgement or saving he gets in the end.
This was a very depressing, serioust story and you HAD to concentrate - not that it was difficult cos I was completely hooked! I was completely in it, I loved all the characters, I wanted to know if he'd killed them, his relation to the victimcs, if he hadn't killed them then who did, and while this wasn't action packed and it was 90% taking place in the interrogation room so it was pretty much ALL talk but the suspence and tension was high the entire time. Especially cos there's a very violent and aggressive cop and you're just sat there in fear of when he's gunna yell or when he's gunna grab the suspect again and stuff. << So tension comes from these types of character attitudes too.
Speaking of characters: ALL of them were diverse and had some dark or sad backstory and of course you can't go wrong with a little 'police breaking the law in iterrogations' sprinkled in there too. There were good cops, bad cops, polite cops (*I've just realised how BRITISH 'cop' is. For those that don't know! I mean policeman/woman!), newbie cops who were trying to find their place in the ranks and then there's the suspect himself. He was so diverse and he went through an ARRANGE of emotions (and turns out the actor himself had expereinced a drug charge in the past so being interrogated and stuff is something he's experienced and hits close to home for him).
I had three favourites; Sera Yuuki's was the young newbie of the group and he spent a lot of time typing the notes in the interro room and he was very overwhelmed by the case and by bad cop and there's moment towards the end where he tries do hard to help and protect the susectand he was so cute and you just wanted him to be okay and to be able to help others. The second one is Watanabe Hiroyuki, he was the OLD and experienced cop who spoke in keigo the entire time and was overall a wonderful and the ideal policeman. His story got real sad towards the end and it got tears out of me. Finally we have Korechika Atsushi's character was the scary cop, and several times he grabbed the suspect and handcuffed him to the chair and dragged him around the stage (WHICH by the way was TINY!) and he was overall terrifying and he held the atmosphere so well and I actually feared every time he was around because you weren't sure what he'd do or when he'd yell etc. His back story explains why he's that way too which makes the character even deeper. But I loved all the character but these three were my favs <3
The story was set in Osaka too so they used a lot of Osaka ben which I thoroughly enjoyed listening to <3
There was all of ONE funny moment in this which is when we get a random, separate murder case and they talk about baseball and the suspect is an Osakan but is a Softbank (Fukuoka's team) fan but his favourite player is in Hanshin Tigers (Osaka's team) xD and it was funny for me cos I could understand what they were talking about and cos I like baseball ^_^
The ending killed me! (Spoilers coming >>) Towards the end the suspects lawyer tells him that he should tell the truth about how he knew the victim and where he last saw her in the interrogation and so he does and Sera Yuuki's character types it all down and then leaves the room to inform the others cos now it's proof he didn't do it and could now let him go. BUT during the time that Sera is off stage, Korechika's also in the room and tells him that his mother is dying and that if he confesses to the murder, he'll let him see his dying mother straight away one last time before he gets put away for life. The suspect is conflicted by sticking to his story which would (for some reason) make him get out after the trial was completed or to say he did kill the victims in order to get this 'see his mother' deal before the trial starts. And to see him decide to take the deal of being labelled as a murdered just so he can see his mother one last time and to see the bad cop go OVER to the laptop and delete the previous confession and to see Sera come back in and see the entire confession's been deleted and now the suspect won't speak at all just omg... and THEN to see a rose be given to the suspect at the end - meaning his mother has died even though he didn't get to see her and now he's going away as a murderer even though we don't even know if he actuall did it! just omg the feels... I'm dead thinking of it now (End of spoilers)
I think it was a small company but very famous company who produced this and they tend to always bring out DVDs so if this does come out on DVD I probably will buy and watch it, or at least buy it and share it with everyone because it did feel very raw and it's very different to what I normally watch (but did feel real like ORPHANS was) and I do think you should all see it for yourself even if it is emotionally breaking and a lot of concentration is needed. The company's website is here
Overall: Very different to what I normally watch and you need a lot of concentration and it's a very slow paced, dark story with lots of backstories and it's very deep and depressing. It will mentally and emotionally drain you. But I loved all the characters, I found the story completely interesting and the ending broke me! It defo leaves an impression on you. I was very impressed and will probs keep an eye on the company who produced this.
Rating: 8/10