Saturday, October 03, 2015

Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai


God does not roll dice is a jdorama a plane that disappears without a trace in 1996. Kobayashi Satomi who's been in a lot of Matsumoto Kana doramas/movies like Pan to Soup and Tokyo Oasis is the employee in charge of dealing with the families. She herself is also a victim because her boyfriend and best friend were also on the flight.

Otsugi Ren plays the crazy scientist who believes that the plane flew into something like a black hole and would reappear 10 years later.

10 years later in 2006, the plane and everyone in it reappears and for them 1996 was just like yesterday. The theme of Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai is how can people who have experienced change in 10 years reconnect with their loved ones who they have grieved for 10 years?

Its an interesting dorama with a great cast and made me think. Problem is the pacing really drags from the middle and there a few traditional jdorama time wasting tropes.  The other passengers have their own stories which gets built up over the course of the series instead of solving one story each episode but the problem is that the characters are no more than just problems for Kobayashi Satomi to solve and I just wanted them over and done with.

For a show with an interesting and original premise, the execution of it lacked imagination and felt like so many other jdoramas which is a shame. If you like old school jdoramas and the cast and don't mind pacing issues you might enjoy Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai but it was disappointing for me after starting with so much promise.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rootabega sez:
Is that Yamamoto Taro in the third screenshot? He was dropped like a stone by the entire J-Ent biz after having the nerve to voice an anti-nuke sentiment after the triple meltdown in Fukushima in 2011. Got his revenge by being elected as an independent to the Japanese parliament last year. This would be a very rare post 2011 dorama sighting, indeed.

Akiramike said...

Yup, that is Yamamoto Taro. I saw his picture on Japan Today, couldn't believe he was in parliament and watched youtube videos of his interviews. Its sad that he couldn't find work just for being anti-nuclear.