THE GOOD
Tamako (Kanno Miho) deciding on whether to persue the case. I like the fact that they don't explicitly talk about how difficult her decision was. She was basically throwing away her whole life and career just to find justice for this girl.
Naoyuki realising the tough decision Tamako has to make. I like the way he conveys to Tamako the harsh consequences of her actions and then quickly offers her a way back. When he sees Tamako reading the letter, he realises that there is nothing he can do to change her mind.
Switching of allegiances. The PE teacher doing it for revenge and money and finding much more. And of course the battle for Densha's soul between Tamako and the Vice Principal. He's like the young padwan being seduced by the dark side and the dark side does look better. I just love the fact you can never be too sure who's on who's side.
Cliffhangers! OMG, I can't remember a jdorama that ends with so many cliffhangers. Especially for the 2nd last episode.
THE BAD
The last episode. The story of Vic Principal's son is rather weak. Plus the fact that no one cares about Densha or the bully makes the hostage scene rather boring. Plus the testimony of Asuka's friend took too long. And combining scenes of the hostage situation and testimony just made it worse. The moment Nishina said they promised to share everything, the big plot twist was revealed. Its just that it took so long for the explanation that I couldn't care less. It was really weired watching the last episode of such a good series and somehow it seemed so bad that I was wondering whether I was too tired or something.
Now, imagine if during the story, they showed undeniable proof that Asuka started some of her bullying herself and there was a strong possibility she was completely nuts. Imagine they never reveal the ringleader until the end. If they had gotten rid of the story of the son who got out of prison and made the series 10 episodes with the climax being testimony. How much more earth shattering the revelation would have been.
The characters I have most empathy with are Tamako and the teachers (except for Densha). They could have done much more with the teachers IMO. This show is an example of how an ending can make or break a show. The 1st 11 episodes were great and sadly the last one was all too forgettable. I'd still recommend this show. There are plenty of WTF moments. Just don't expect much from the finale.
3 comments:
100% agree with the BADs. After how they built up the entire series including the "ZOMG!!!" ep 11 cliffhanger, the last episode just completely fell apart.
One thing that kind of bothered me was the fact that there were no bars on the window in ep1 when Asuka died, but when they show the flashbacks of what really happened in ep11, there were bars on the windows.
If I remembered correctly, there was a scene where they have some workers in the classroom putting bars up on the windows in ep2 or something...
Just nitpicking.. ^^;
Anyways, this was a very enjoyable series. I liked how Tomomi was tied into the story. But, I don't think they needed to do two time jumps (1 year each) during the story.
And, yup, the major problem was with the VP's son's story. I thought that the concept of him fighting fire with fire was suitable, but instead, it became the fatal flaw of the last 2 eps because of poor execution.(hah!)
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thought that the last episode was so bad. Made me wish that the rest of the series wasn't so good. :(
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