2019 was a really good year in jdoramaland. We had KDO2, Kore wa Keihi de Ochimasen, Dakara watashi wa Oshimashita, Mukai no Bazuru Kazoku, Saka no Tochuu no Ie, Kabukicho Bengonin Rinka and now I have to add Yuganda Hamon to this list. I can't believe I did not pay attention to jdorama with Yamaguchi Sayaka and Mimura in it!
There are 3 main characters in Yuganda Hamon. Firstly, Matsuda Ryuhei is a newspaper reporter who is given a scoop by his sempai Kirino. However, it turns out that the scoop was false and Matsuda Ryuhei had made a false accusation in the newspaper.
The 2nd character Mitazono played by Matsuyama Kenichi went to the same university as Matsuda Ryuhei. He now runs a online news portal.
The 3rd character Aiga, a retired reported who was a colleague of Matsuda Ryuhei whose final remaining friend commits suicide and he wants to find out what drove his friend to do that.
The first few episodes of Yuganda Hamon are really, really slow. I did think of dropping it because everything was moving at a snail's pace setting up the 3 characters. I started to get really invested in the characters around episode 4 and I finished the show in no time.
Yuganda Hamon is a story about truth in journalism. When reporters are rushing to get a scoop without double and triple checking their facts, innocent people will get hurt. In today's world fake news can lead to death and people doing stupid things.
Yuganda Hamon made me think about the value of news. How newspapers and online news portals have to survive in today's age of internet. How websites can pass of vague or marketing articles as news and click bait titles are everyone. Boring actual in depth news does not generate the same amount of interest.
I have to commend the writer Mukai Kosuke for writing a complex story about media and trust. Yuganda Hamon is a very relevant show for today's world.
I don't hate the ending but I don't love it either. Still I am in awe of the writing of the series and can easily see myself rewatching Yuganda Hamon and taking in all the dialogue again. Must watch and thanks to Gabrielmpf for subbing! Just get through the slow first few episodes and once it gets going, Yuganda Hamon is a reminder that all you need is a good script and actors to make something great.
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