By the jdorama gods, I have just watched one of the best first episodes I can remember in a while. From the car crash scene in the beginning, the first episode of Warau Matryoshka wastes no time in setting up its interesting plot.
Mizukawa Asami is a reporter Michiura who is looking into his politician Seike, played by Sakurai Sho. Seike, is a popular young politician who might be Japan's future prime minister and has a very capable secretary named Suzuki played by Tamayama Tetsuji.
As Seiki just published a best selling book about his past, Michiura was just visiting his old school, finding out Seiki and Suzuki were best friends and wondering why Suzuki was not mentioned in the book at all. Michiura receives a call that her dad has passed away in a car accident that we see in the beginning of the episode. Side note, only TBS has the money to show an actual car crash. Most of the time, it is a fade to black.
At this point I am thinking is this a version of Sanctuary, where two people aim for one goal which is Prime Minister of Japan but in this case instead of politician and yakuza, one guy is a good cop and the other does all the evil things necessary?
Michiura finds some fishy things about Suzuki's past which is tied to her dad's past and by the time she receives the thesis in the mail, I am thinking this is one of the most interesting plot set ups I have ever seen! Political intrigue with some history, philosophy and manipulation is right up my alley! The only thing keeping me from proclaiming this as must watch is that this is a TBS show.
However, I did notice that Warau Matryoshka looks a lot better than your usual TBS stuff like Kurosagi and Atom no Ko. The director did WOWOW's Ame ni Kieta Himawari which I liked and legendary jdorama show Shimokita Glory Days!
I am cautiously optimistic because this is a book adaptation and the first episode is just perfect. I don't think I have ever seen a Sakurai Sho dorama but he is good as the politician who might be empty inside. (Sorry, have to get in my Johnny dig) So many revelations in episode 1, hopefully they have plenty more for the rest of the series. Can't wait for episode 2 and huge thanks to Monchi for subbing. Very, very watchable.
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