[First impression] ON - Ijou Hanzai Sousakan Todo Hinako

[riji]

So I watched the first episode of ON last night. This is the one I'm interested the most this season. So I was actually a little disappointed when I saw it got mixed reviews. But I gotta see it myself to judge it. And turns out... It was pretty good. I watched it till the end without feeling bored or waiting for it to end, even though it was 1.5 hour long. This is saying something because I usually can't handle anything more than an hour. You know, because usually shows are an hour long, so anything longer than that will seem like it's overstaying its welcome. I don't know. It feels like my brain kinda knows when it's been an hour, and my focus will shift from the show to the remaining time left, and I start to grumble about why it hasn't ended yet. So when I don't do those things, it means that the show is good enough to keep my attention. And since I knew this was gonna be 1.5 hour long premiere, I was actually prepared to be bored (and I also wasn't sure it'd be good because of the mixed reviews). So I was a little surprised that I could enjoy it till the end.

The plot is quite interesting. I like that the case is pretty complicated. There are a couple of past cases connected to the main case, and also some surprising and interesting facts behind the killing methods. It's a lot more graphic and gory than I expected. This might be because I'm more used to kdramas where even knives and blood get censored. In any case, I was really surprised (and a little scared) when I saw the second body. Thank god I could still sleep after seeing that.

The acting is pretty good overall, but I must say that the two leads (Haru and Yokoyama Yu) are weaker than the supporting ones. They're not bad tho. I think they're still okay. I like that there's no incompetent cops here (so far). Yokoyama Yu's character is like a rude irresponsible cop, but he's not incompetent. I don't know what's the deal with him and the homeless(?) guy, but I hope he's not a bad cop. Haru's character reminds me of Himura from Himura Hideo no suiri. I'm not sure yet if she'd like to kill, but it does seem like she enjoys murder. In the first episode only, she got called out twice for smiling while seeing/talking about murder. I think it was kinda unexpected because she looked like a good innocent girl before that happened. Another interesting things about her are her love for chili peppers and her amazing memory. She literally puts chili peppers on everything she eats and drinks. Even her hot chocolate. Seriously tho, why? And she can amazingly memorize the details of all the cases in the past 10 years. At first, I thought she had a photographic memory, but she said she just memorized them, so I was like "Is that even possible?" Anyway, she always draws in her notebook to help her remember things, so I guess that's possible?

Now, onto the not-so-good parts. I have a problem with the background music. At times, it feels like it doesn't match the situation, especially when Haru's character had just been informed about the death of her best friend. I was like "Who's the music director?" It really didn't suit the atmosphere. And I also feel like the background music is too loud. Sometimes it's louder than the actors' voices. The other problem is the way they talk about the case. It seems like they all talk about it too casually, like what they talk about is not a murder. I don't know. I just feel like it's supposed to be more a lot serious than that. I hope they fix this in the second episode.

Comments

[spacecadet1017.livejournal.com]

I had almost the same reactions as you! I totally had no problems with the length - actually, I think it would've made a good little movie! Actually this week was kinda shocking when it finished in 45 minutes, lol. I almost wish Dr. Ishigami were the main character instead of Haru because she's awesome! I'd totally watch even if it were just her and Atsuta as the main roles. Haru just kinda weirds me out...... but her character moreso. What's the point of even eating food if you're just going to cover it in crap! It'll all taste the same (Reminds me of a scene from the drama Osen where the Okami scolds a little boy for drowning everything in ketchup.) And as much as I love Yoko to pieces, I spent so much time shouting at my screen, "CLOSE YOUR DAMN MOUTH, KID! YOU LOOK LIKE A GOLDFISH!" Still, he manages the fight scenes and the "tsukkomi"/bratty scenes well... he just needs to improve a bit on the more serious ones.

I noticed the music thing, too! Sometimes it was just jarring that they chose to play the music at certain points. Tsk, tsk. No best music director Oscars for these people, that's for sure.

RE: Homeless guy.......... I don't think he's a cop. No one would object to Shoji talking to him if he were a cop or ex-cop. I get the feeling he's more of a...... sneaky, black market type guy who moves easily through criminal circles and that's how he picks up s much information so fast.

Oh, and RE: Not being so serious........ well, I kinda get it. The dead bodies (Ep1 & 2!) were so ridiculously fake looking I actually burst out laughing! So apparently no SFX Oscar for this drama, either. I guess Fuji TV spent too much money on the Haru KJ8 Chronicle episode for the fish tank and stuff, so they couldn't hire awesome props and music people. lol. At least everything else is pretty solid, though! ^^

[riji]

Omg yes! I also think Dr. Ishigami should've been the lead! I love her from the moment she appeared. I don't know why but for some reason I forgot to talk about her in my review lol. And I love Atsuta too! It'd be great if those two were the main characters. Not only their acting is way better, but their characters are also more interesting. But maybe it's a little unfair to say that this early, because the drama has just started. I'm hopeful Haru and Yoko will improve their acting, and their characters will get some interesting development. After all, they did pretty good so far. Haru kinda succeeded in giving off the "possible psychopath" vibe, and (like you said) Yoko did the fight scenes well. And their characters already had something to begin with, like the shichimi obsession and the shady deal with the homeless man. So I remain hopeful, at least for now.

Oh and about what I said about being a bad cop, I wasn't talking about the homeless guy. I meant Yoko's character. Even though so far we only saw the homeless guy helping him with the information about the case, I feel like there's more into it. I mean it looks so shady. Like maybe they're also working on something bad or illegal (or maybe not now but in the future). We'll see, I guess :-)

[spacecadet1017.livejournal.com]

She needs way more screen time! I kinda think they could cut the forensics squad time down to give her more. And even a bit of the other police squad. I mean, there's so much going on that we don't need "rival factions". Atsuta makes me laugh because he's a detective, yet can't remember names! And he doesn't get bossed around by anyone, but is still kind.

Do you think Haru and Yoko improved? I think Yoko has. His face is registering a lot more subtle emotions these last few episodes. Haru....... well, i think we understand a bit better why her acting is so off now. It's partially her character.

Yoko's a bad cop legally, I suppose... but the one we're all supposed to root for. He's going out and getting justice when the law fails us. Those types are awesome in dramas and terrifying in real life. I do wonder if the guy he always does deals with is going to have some kind of back story, too...

But Hinako drives me nuts with the way she goes around. She might not care about herself, but she's going to get one of the other detectives killed soon!

[riji]

I thought Ishigami sensei would get decent screen time because she seemed pretty important in ep 1. But on ep 2 and 3, she only appeared for a few minutes. I guess the writer doesn't need her character that much :(((( I'm surprised Nakajima sensei plays a bigger role instead. I thought he was just a side character that would only appear in some episodes. And I kinda feel like he gets more screen time than Shoji? I don't know. Maybe it just appears that way because Nakajima gets a bigger part in solving the case? But I do think that Shoji's screen time doesn't seem like he's the main role. Because I remember I wondered why I didn't see much of him when I was watching ep 3. Oh, and now that I think about it, the rest of the team don't appear that much either. Even though I know they're only side characters, I expected them to be there during the investigation. But Todo just does everything by herself. I agree that she might bring harm to the others by doing this.

Hmm... About the acting, I can't say they've improved, but now that I know what their characters are like, I kinda think their acting is better than I thought. Like Todo is supposed to be cold and emotionless (and a psychopath), and Shoji is supposed to be a little rude and annoying, and lack of empathy (and maybe also emotionless). So yeah, their characters are to blame.

I also hope they will give that homeless guy a back story. I wanna know who he is, how he and Shoji know each other, and how and why they start having the secret deals. I have so many questions about him lol. Oh, and the background music is still bothering me so much. That one piano piece is always played during intense scenes even though it's more suited for romantic scenes. *sigh* I don't understand why they think it's a good idea.

[spacecadet1017.livejournal.com]

I guess it's hard to balance between all the characters since they're all pretty awesome. (I suppose Shimizu could be cut since Kurashima's taking on the goofball role recently.) Plus it's not natural for an entire team to do everything together... so I guess it's OK they keep breaking into pairs to do stuff and meeting up for information sessions and whatnot. I think each character will have their time in the spotlight on a different episode. Shoji's past is kind of a big thing, so I think they're revealing it slowly, making him seem more like a background character. Nakajima seems - in a way - to be the male lead. Not that it's a bad thing. I like him, even if he's a werido.

I think Yoko's improved a bit. I can see a lot more emotions flashing on his face now - worry, irritation, confusion, etc. Before it was all just kind of one giant lump of Grumpy Goldfish. But you're right - Hinako's character is SUPPOSED to be hard to read since she can't feel emotions. Does make her weird, though.

I bet the homeless guy's story will be revealed as Shoji's past is revealed. I get the feeling they started working together about the time he "fell off the wagon," investigation-wise. Before his sister was killed, he was the Police's golden boy...... so we need to learn more about his sister to learn about his shady deals.

Speaking of music, I'm also a bit confused why KanJani didn't get the theme song. It's not like they can't do serious or ballads. Not that "Swan" is a bad song; it's just weird that they have a musician acting in their stuff and then outsource the soundtrack.

[riji]

But don't you think that Kurashima and Atsuta's screen time is too little? I thought Atsuta should appear in more scenes (since he's the chief), even though it's just 1-2 mins per scene. Like just giving orders or leading the investigation. But I barely saw him in recent eps. And about Nakajima... I also don't mind if he's the male lead. I like him. And I think he's more capable of solving the case lol. I'm so impressed he can solve the case from just reading/hearing about it. It's just a little surprising, because in the synopsis and the correlation chart, it seems like Yoko is the lead.

Oh, and you're right! After rewatching some scenes, it seems like Yoko did improve. He does show more emotions now. And I start to like his character a lot better. In the first ep, I thought he was just rude and annoying lol. And ughhh.... I can't wait to find out about Shoji's past. The drama is gonna have 10 eps, right? So we're almost halfway. They better start working on that soon.

Ah, I didn't notice the soundtrack. The other day though, I was watching Hope and wondering why Hey Say Jump/Johnny's West doesn't sing the soundtrack. Because like you said, they usually sing the soundtrack of their dramas. Even in Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, News sings the closing theme. But now that I think about it, I think it's because both eito and HSJ just released a single? I'm not familiar with Johnny's West tho, so I can't say the same about them. But I think it's because the time is overlapping.

[spacecadet1017.livejournal.com]

True... though Kurashima seems to be getting more screen time lately! Atsuta I think is more of an office worker than a field investigator these days (or so says the website) so I guess it makes sense he'd be sending the other detectives out more.

I like Nakajima, too. Which is why recent episodes have left me so confused T-T;; But I suppose Psychiatrists are good at analyzing the data they're given since they can't crack open people's heads to examine their thoughts to see if there are any lies or secrets. Still, without Shoji's muscle they'd never be able to make the arrests..... so I guess they're the brains and brawn of this operation. That'd make Hinako the beauty I guess, since she can't really make arrests... but she does figure out criminals pretty fast.

I bet the first episode Yoko was just terrified. I mean, he hadn't done a drama in ages even though he really wanted to, so he didn't want to disappoint people. Then you have Haru coming on Chronicle and saying how awful he was..... Our Yokocho really takes things to heart! But maybe more people are praising him now. He's definitely the type to swell under praise. I'm not sure how many episodes it's getting. 10 seems like a standard number, though. Though often it feels like they have odd numbers of episodes. I wonder if there's more to Shoji's past than just "Sister got killed. He beat the crap out of the guy who did it." Yoko keeps saying on his blog there'll be more developments, but it's kind of the same...

True. Even though it's about "crime," I'd think the audio director would get TOTALLY fired if they tried to Tsumi to Natsu as the theme song for this. You'd think HSJ would get the single even if Akito-kun is in HOPE because it always goes to the senior group............ but my guess is that Johnny's was just totally crap in their singles scheduling this year. That or the PD's flat-out refused to take songs from them and they decided getting the actors was better than nothing.

[riji]

Yeah, I'm so disappointed they only make Todo a pretty officer that needs to be saved every time. I wonder why they make her seem so weak. I'd understand if she couldn't win against bulky guys. But in ep 5, she couldn't even escape when Nakajima held her. Nakajima isn't even that big tho. I just don't understand. And why does Shoji have to save her at the end of every episode? Now I wonder if she really did pass the police exam. But Nakajima in the last ep tho.... OMG!! I'm not ready to lose him this soon. I know he'll still appear in the next ep, but still... I can't believe he did all that. Well, I mean it was pretty obvious there was something bad going on between him and Hayasaka sensei. But I thought it was more like Hayasaka did something awful and Nakajima was somehow involved, so he had no choice but to keep quiet about it and go along with whatever Hayasaka planned. To think that Nakajima was actually the mastermind behind everything is pretty shocking. I can't imagine if someone like him actually existed. That would be so terrifying.

I wonder why the writer really takes their time. When can we expect to see some character developments? We're already on ep 5 tho. Now that we're done with the case from 5 years ago, I hope we're gonna see some developments in ep 6. I saw in the preview, Shoji and the homeless guy will have some dispute(?), so I guess that's something to look forward to.

Haha, just imagine watching expressionless Todo with tsumi to natsu playing in the background. I definitely wouldn't take this drama seriously lol. Oh, I just found out that Johnny's West also just released a single. They couldn't even give it to the kouhai if they wanted to. Yeah, I think it's a crappy scheduling on Johnny's part. Or maybe they got the drama offer after they finished the singles scheduling?

[spacecadet1017.livejournal.com]

In her defense, she was probably in total shock and that's why she couldn't get away from Nakajima. Though one would think a psychopath could feel shock. Or maybe the female police exam isn't as hard.

Yeah... it's pretty terrifying. I mean, we trust psychiatrists with our minds and you never know what they could slip in there. I think I'm still in shock from Ep05, though. I kinda figured he'd be the bad guy because the gentle ones always are, but it hurts.

Yeah, maybe we can learn more about Kurashima, Atsuta, and Ishigami. They're total background characters. I mean, even Miki has a girlfriend arc! Shimizu.. well, he really is a background character.

Johnny's seems to do that a lot. I heard one actor had to give up a drama they really wanted to do because JE had no plans to do a single for them then... so at least they're finally letting go of the "Must get theme song if they're starring in it!" thing

[riji]

Oh, you're probably right. She did seem shocked. It's a little weird that I could tell that from her expression. I think that's the only emotion that's written clearly on her face, other than her I'm-enjoying-this-murder-case face.

Yeah, I forgot there was an unwritten rule on dramas/movies that the bad guy was usually the one that seemed the least likely to be bad. I guess I just love Nakajima so much that I didn't want him to be the culprit.

Yeah, especially Ishigami sensei! Her screen time keeps getting less and less. The forensic team even gets more screen time than her. *sigh* Oh, but it seems like Atsuta and Ishigami used to be married. Hopefully, that's an arc that the writer will explore more.

Omg I didn't know that. But then again, there are a lot of JE policies that make me go "wtf" to begin with. And sometimes I feel bad for everyone in the jimusho.

[spacecadet1017.livejournal.com]

I can't tell if Hinako's expression is one she should be having, though. If she's in "actor mode," sure... but in theory, she shouldn't be able to experience shock. Who knows, maybe Nakajima was wrong in his assessment - maybe she has something else. Another blogger had another idea about her, a different affliction. I forget the name but it's one where you have emotions, but you can't register them. Like, you don't understand what you're feeling. Maybe that's it!

I'm pretty sure *everyone* watching this got a huge, awful shock from that episode. Well, minus the crazy, hardcore Yoko fangirls mad that he wasn't getting enough screen time.

I think they maybe have too many characters in this drama. They don't really need the whole Kataoka Squad because the Atsuta Squad is so big. Just that one first episode where they throw Shoji back on his own team. I get that they want to have another young, cute female around, but Maki-chan is also unnecessary since they have Miki for forensics. Even Shimizu is redundant since Kurashima took over the goofball character and Hinako's a newbie. If they cut all those people out, I think the "main" characters could get better screen time for sure.

I dunno. I bet it's the same deal as with the Tenki no Oneesan storyline from Tacchon's drama. Like "Woooooooah! They were married?! NO WAY!" and that's it. No connection to the story now. Well, unless they get back together. That'd be both hilarious and weird.

Yeah... I mean, if you enter in elementary or junior high high school, you don't know much about life. So maybe they don't really understand what they're agreeing to...

[riji]

Hmm... I think I've read this somewhere before. Psychopaths (and others that are supposed to be emotionless) can feel emotions like anger, frustration, shock, and stuff like that. They just can't feel things like sadness, compassion, sympathy, empathy, love, etc. I think it's because those two kinds of emotions are in the different parts of brain, and psychopaths usually have some kind of damage in the part that's responsible for the "good" emotions (the frontal lobe, if I'm not mistaken). But I'm no expert in psychology so I might be wrong.

Yeah, that ep was REALLY shocking. I just hope it won't be anticlimactic at this point. *crossing fingers* Well, even I thought it was weird I barely saw Yoko in the drama. I kinda expected his fan girls to overreact lol.

Yeah, I get that the forensic team can't be made up by only one person. But I don't think we should have 2 lead(?) forensics. I think other dramas only have one that has a speaking role. The rests are usually in the background working quietly, or maybe speak a line or two when they get asked. But at least they decide to have Shimizu only cameo-ing once in a while. So we already have one less character to focus on, and Kurashima (and hopefully Atsuta and Ishigami sensei too) can get more screen time.

They tease the past marriage arc a couple times tho. I mean, I don't expect them to get back or something, but I hope they will use it as an arc for Atsuta and Ishigami sensei. You know, just to give them more screen time :p

Yeah, and it's worse for those who were made to join the jimusho by their parents/family. And it's kinda too late to quit when they realized it.