Yakusoku 16 nenme no Shinjitsu Episodes 1+2

When she was young, Nakamura Anne's father was arrested for the serial murders of schoolgirls and was found guilty and died in prison. 16 years later, Nakamura Anne is a detective and asked to be transferred back to her hometown of Nozomino which became known as a cursed town and it is not long before someone is murdered along with marbles stuff in their mouth, the signature of the serial killer.

Yakusoku is pretty standard uncover mystery in rural town with Nakamura Anne having a circle of friends who were in this movie making club with a script which had a script that was never shot as the writer/director's sister was one of the victims. Of course every member of the club will have their own secret for Nakamura Anne to uncover from the dodgy taxi driver to daughter of big company.

Yakusoku feels a lot like Triangle, a mystery with the dorama starring Eguchi Yusuke and Hirosue Ryokyo that was so bad that I compare every generic murder mystery show to it. Also, is Yakusoku Nakamura Anne's first main role? She is the better actress compared Araki Yuko from Suits but is she main actress material? I also forgot to write about Suits S2.

The writing does not feel solid. Hayabusa Shobodan feels focused while Yakusoku feels like cliche after cliche. The director shot the series with this soft fuzzy and grainy filter, perhaps to mimick the look of film but does not do it well. The visual style or vocabulary for a dorama series is important and nothing visually in Yakusoku impressed me at all. You can see from the screenshots everything looks dull and boring. I know Yakusoku does not have the budget of Hayabusa Shobodan but this is inaka. I guarantee there are beautiful scenery out there. A lot of WOWOW shows will use the grainy look but there is something wrong with the camera and shots in Yakusoku.

As for Nakamura Anne's acting? There is a lack of conviction in her voice, especially the voice overs. Her character needs to be a bit more hard boiled, needs to be seen suspecting everyone and thinking in her head along with the audience as she uncovers more clues. Her character of Kiryu Aoi just doesn't have that presence.

While at this point it may seem like I hate Yakusoku is that I don't. The two episodes were not as bad as Triangle was. At least every character isn't saying 'that incident 16 years ago' for every scene. There is a revelation in relation to the script in episode 2 that makes the mystery more interesting. If not for the script revelation, I probably would have dropped the series straight away.

I don't dislike Yakusoku and most importantly I have not fast forwarded any scenes yet so it is not a meh but also not a watchable show. It is a by the numbers rural town mystery which I don't mind watching but my jdorama senses are telling me that it will turn out the be forgettable because the execution has been pretty bland. Thanks to Monchi for subbing.