summer 2016 jdorama: ON ~ Ijou Hanzai Sousakan Todo Hinako

Ratings: 6.6-9.6%

The name is a bit of a mouthful, in both Japanese and romaji: ON 異常犯罪捜査官・藤堂比奈子, meaning "unusual crime detective Toudou Hinako".

Another entry in Japan's ample catalogue of police dramas, ON comes with a bit of a twist - the main character, Toudou Hinako, is a detective, but under the cover of her righteous profession is a darkness she's torn between hiding and unveiling. She is "emotionally cold", so whereas most people would react with some degree of horror or sadness to a murder, she has only an intellectual fascination. She is drawn to them because she wonders what it takes to become a murderer - and what it would take for herself to cross that line, to "flip the switch" - and hence the title, "ON".

This is not actually as unusual a premise as the series tries to make it out to be. The police drama genre has no shortage of borderline sociopaths, such as the enduring creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What does make it unique is the gender of its lead - in both a genre that is traditionally led by men, and in a character trope that is traditionally assigned to men (at least in main or major characters).

Starring as Toudou Hinako is Haru, in infinitely better make-up than last season's Sekai Ichi Muzukashii Koi. She gives Toudou an innocence that saved the character from being painfully bland. Toudou is fascinating, if only in a metaphysical way. Unlike, say, Sherlock or Kimura's character Tsukumo Ryuusuke in Mr Brain, Toudou is amazingly socially appropriate in spite of her supposed lack of empathy. Perhaps sadly reflective of gender roles in Japan, the highly intellectual Toudou has studied the behaviours of those around her and emulate them in order to "fit in" - as opposed to Tsukumo or even Nakai Masahiro's autistic Ataru, who are allowed to be their unconventional selves and still be considered "great". Apart from her lack of empathy, Toudou does not have the usual characteristics of this trope of being disinhibited and overbearingly egotistic, and if you didn't see her face off with crazy murderers with that excited glint in her eye, you would think that she's just a reserved and smart girl.

The series also takes a slightly aberrant route that does not focus on crime-solving as much as it does on Toudou's quest to define herself and her own motivations. From that end, it's an introspective series that isn't often seen in this drama, and it poses some interesting discussions about the creation of serial killers, and the effect of personal choice versus environmental selection pressures. It was also interesting to see Toudou's perspective turning from "I approach murderers because I want to find out if they can drive me to finally kill, as I am destined to" into "I approach murderers because I want to prove to myself that I will make the right choice and not kill them".

Opposite her is Hayashi Kento, whom I've never watched before but puts up a thought-provoking portrayal of a conflicted, well-meaning forensic psychologist. Many of the deeper philosophical reflections come from him, one of the more interesting and always topical observations being a (rather off-hand) "weapons do kill people" - that the possession of a weapon both enables and psychologically reinforces the intent to kill, and may be what causes people to take that step across the line.

The other major character is Yokoyama Yuu's short-fused policeman, who likes to beat up murderers ever since his own sister was murdered 5 years ago. I've previously enjoyed Yokoyama's portrayals of some odd-balls in various dramas, but he's really quite forced and awkward here. This was especially poignant in a scene in the final episode where he meets with Hayashi Kento's psychologist, as he struts his Johnny's Junior stage walk while Hayashi lowers his head and looks exactly like the self-effacing psychologist he is meant to be.

Rounding out the main cast is Kaname Jun in a surprisingly bland turn as a fellow policeman that likes Toudou but never gets noticed. The older colleagues provide a parental role to Toudou that helps lead her out of her moral quagmire, but in themselves are quite forgettable. Apart from home, crime scenes and work, there are odd intrusions of scenes in a maid cafe, which often come off as cringe-inducing than cute or funny.

For a series that focuses more on the psychology than crime-solving, its crime scenes is more bloody and confrontational than most other Japanese series I've seen, not for the weak in stomach and definitely not to be watched during dinner. The plot is rather simple but between the philosophical musings and the atmospheric music and camera angles, it's surprisingly easy to digest. Worth a watch when there is nothing else to see.

summer 2016 dorama: ie wo uru onna / 家売るオンナ / woman who sells houses

When you read the synopsis, you wonder how this could possibly be interesting. Sangenya Manchi is one of the top/legendary salespeople-real-estate-agent in her company. This is the story about how she sells houses..............

Not only that, Kitagawa Keiko pulls one of her most expressionless blank-faced acts, not that this is her fault because Sangenya is supposed to have 3 expressions - normal expressionless face, faint slight-relaxing-of-jaw "ochita" (got them) smile, and her ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ　GO!

In fact, most of the central characters are caricatures - from the icily efficient Sangenya, to the puppy-like Iwano, the try hard Mr-Nice-Boss Yashiro, the company "prince" Adachi, the waste-of-oxygen Shirasu, the cute-happy-to-be-adultress secretary, the sexy bartender....

Fortunately, it takes these caricatures and runs with it, doing what Japan does best, which is live-actioning what is essentially a moving comic book.

You keep watching because of the comic interactions, and then a few episode in you realise, actually, it's a pretty damn good drama.

As opposed to the tropey central cast, the guest stars are much more well-defined and multi-layered. The script is written by a woman, and after a while it shows - the amazing thing is that this show, not only in its central cast, but also in the numerous guests each episode, has an abundance of strong-willed, independent women that Japan often tries to pretend does not exist.

And through these women (and men), the series is actually a shrewd and often painfully realistic dissection about what family is supposed to mean. Rather than taking the moral high ground or the idealistic sundrenched tone of many a Japanese series, it accepts that reality isn't perfect and sometimes it's not possible to fix what has long been broken.

Sangenya's approach is incisive but also warmly empathetic, and she addresses what the customers need rather than what they want, and in that way reflect upon what "home" (ie) is supposed to be. For example, in the first episode, she convinces a gynaecologist couple to buy a unit much smaller than what they wanted or what their means could afford. Her reasoning, as she points out, is that their young son doesn't need a big empty house where his family is never home, but rather, a place close to where the parents work and a small living area where - in the rare moments that the family is home together - they can bond tightly, at least until the child is old enough to get past his loneliness.

In the second episode she addresses the Japanese "hikikomori" phenomenon, and in a twist on the usual J-dora way of encouraging these people to step out of their shells, she reasons that it's unreasonable and unrealistic to expect a man who's been cut off from society for 20 years to relearn the skills to live in society again, so she creates a home where he could self-sustain his wealth while living in as much isolation as he can.

Then there's the pair of lovers who adore each other emotionally but can't stand each others' living habits, the divorcee who keeps trying to get back with a guy she doesn't love but really just needs a home where she can be with her girl friends, the father and son who really want to live together but are too scared to bring it up with their hawkish wives who can't stand each other, the divorcing couple who actually become closer after given some distance....

It's a nice reflection of how society has evolved, and how the idea of home doesn't have to be the nuclear family. It can be for one person, it can be for a group of like-minded individuals who want to grow old together, or even the idea that a family can have two homes and be better off for it.

It's also a gentle illustration of how Japanese women are also evolving - that they can be measurably better than their male counterparts at their jobs (Sangenya and a number of other female guests), that they can now be single, that they can now be divorced, that they can now be the breadwinner while their husband looks after the domestics. Japan is without a doubt catching up with gender equality, but even these days the dramas that come out of Japan can be so...implicitly sexist in what they expected of the two genders. Female main characters are rarely high-ranking, high-achieving or highly skilled in their field, and if they are (e.g. in Doctor X) there's always friction with hoards of ageing men that try to maintain their iron grip on authority.

It is a fun series and the strategies about selling the right house for the right person are interesting, but the pleasure is the underlying commentary on society and the quiet revolution it leads for the overturning of Japanese gender stereotypes.