Genya Episodes 1~4

I know I promised I would not watch any more Fukakyon doramas due to her acting but I had several reasons to break my vow when I saw that IrozukuSubs had started subbing the show. First is that it is a WOWOW show. If WOWOW can get a decent acting job out of Kame in Shoutai, maybe WOWOW can do the impossible with Fukakyon.

Secondly Genya has Tsukamoto Takashi and Shibata Kyohei in it. Tsukamoto Takashi is the ultimate supporting actor and of course most remembered as Murakami Eiji from KDO. My third reason is that Genya is one of my favourite genre which is anti-hero story aka main character doing some not so good things to even worse people so you are cheering on the main character. 

Genya reminds me of Byakuyako, a dark drama about two people bound by trauma. In Genya, Tsukamoto Takashi plays a mechanic Masaya whose father has committed suicide after his factory fails. People attend the wake for free alcohol and the sleazy uncle is there to claim part of the insurance money as debt. An earthquake strikes and the uncle is buried underneath some rubble and Masaya take the opportunity to smash his uncle's head in.

Masaya's crime is witnessed by Shinkai Mifuyu (Fukakyon) but she does not breath a word to anyone. Masaya keeps a close eye on her and saves her from being raped and they band together to survive. Shibata Kyohei is a detective from Tokyo in pursuit of suspect who dies in the earthquake but he meets Shinkai Mifuyu and something about her eyes troubles him.

The elephant in the room is Fukakyon's acting and I must say I don't mind her acting in this and would say that she was well cast in this role. The reason is that Fukakyon is playing a manipulative person who will say or do anything to get what she wants and is really good at using men. That fakeness works in her favour as men ignore the red lights and are charmed by her looks.

In episode 1 Genya is sort of a survival dorama set in a camp for survivors from an earthquake as both characters as we see the limits of what Masaya and Mifuyu will do to survive. In episode 2 they both move to Tokyo Mifuyu is working at a high end jewellery store trying to move up while Masaya is her muscle that she uses to further her ambitions.

The fun thing about Genya is that it is a dark dorama and you get to see Fukakyon take care of not so nice people like relatives who are only after money or a manager who uses his power to sleep with his staff. A lot of Japanese dorama is about good over evil or kanzenchouaku and a lot of times bad people get caught instead of getting their just desserts in a not legal way.

Forgot to mention that Genya is another Higashino Keigo dorama. I feel like he is probably responsible for at least 5% of all jdoramas. The number is of course a lot lower since there are so many jdoramas every season but surely nearly 100% of his works must have been adapted by now.

Ultimate question is, is Genya is good jdorama. I like the first 4 episodes and this is the first Fukakyon show where I have no complaints about her acting. Plus any dark story with WOWOW branding and I am there. Watchable.