I think its been a long time since I've seen such a promising Nagasawa Masami show. I am usually singing the praises of WOWOW and NHK but Fuji TV is doing not bad this year with the decent Mahou no Rinobe and now Elpis.
Elpis is the story about an innocent person who is on death row and a bunch of people who have to find out the truth about the murder of little girls. The fun part about Elpis is that our main characters are not journalists but rather belong to the variety tv world. In this case, the show is the lowest rated show on the station Friday Bonbon.
Nagasawa Masami is Ena, a former newscaster who lost her job due to a scandal and has been banished to Friday Bonbon with her own small 'news' section. Everyone on the show are unwanted people and Maeda Gordan is a young director of the variety program who comes from a rich family and is blackmailed into investigating the guy on death row.
Rounding up our trio of heroes is Suzuki Ryohei as a political reporter with a connection to Nagasawa Masami and who once reported on the killing of the little girl. All 3 characters have their own past traumas and issues they have to overcome.
The first thing I noticed about Elpis was the directing. Its not the WOWOW signature style but its better than the usual generic directing. Turns out it is Hitoshi One, director of River's Edge, Moteki and Akihabara@Deep.
The second thing I enjoyed was the depictions of sekuhara in the variety industry. I like that they did not hesitate to show the cutthroat world of variety world and how awful women get treated in and out of the workplace. Enjoy is not the right word but I like to see jdoramas reflect what actually happens in the real world. Sometimes I watch tv shows and everything is too politically correct.
The pacing of Elpis is stead. Acting has been good and directing awesome. Still too early to judge but so far so good. Big thanks to edwardwong for subbing. Watchable and promising show and the tag of the title which means hope or disaster is very ominous.
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