What a fun mystery jdorama the second season of Yamiban was especially after watching Signal and Innocent Days. Nowhere as good as the first season though, but they've largely kept all the things that made Yamiban fun and told the story ina tight 5 episodes.
However, I want to talk about the ending which I wasn't that happy with and what I think would be a better ending, so spoiler alert!
SPOILERS
One of the biggest mysteries in season two of Yamiban was the Shimoyama incident where President Shimoyama's death was unclear whether it was a murder or suicide. What was clear however was that President Shimoyama was caught between a rock and a hard place. This also parallels the Chief Editor Nanbu's situation where he was caught between obeying his corrupt boss or protecting his staff.
In the manga, it is suggested that President Shimoyama caused his own death by hiring an otoshiya to do him in. The kamishibai old man also did the same thing, causing him to limp.
The question is, did Chief Editor Nanbu cause his own death by purposely provoking the former chief editor to push him over the roof or was he just being an asshole as usual?
The overly sappy ending saw away that theory. Nanbu had already prepared an escape plan for him and his staff so there was no way he was in despair and wanted to end his life. Watching the ending with all the crying editors, it felt like just another typical sappy Saturday afternoon dorama where this person wasn't a bad person like everyone said.
I don't know. I just feel that if they had left the cause of Nanbu's death open to interpretation like the Shimoyama incident it would have been better. Making it conclusive that Nanbu died because he liked provoking people takes the mystery out of it especially after introducing the idea of hiring one's own assassin in the Shimoyama Incident and the Kamishibai person's story.
Still, the mizuiro explanation was a great way to finish the story off.
2 comments:
SPOILERS BELOW!!
I was prepared for something completely different from, and more prosaic than, season 1, with all its serial killing dark glamour and the truly original relationship between the killer/mangaka and the boy/editor. But even then I was rather disappointed by the ending of season 2. All the interesting stuff about running a manga magazine kinda turned into mush, with Nanbu presented as a saviour who gave his life for manga. And all this in spite of him having failed while he was alive to get the best out of the editors and the mangaka. The new magazine was an unconvincing deus ex machina - i simply cannot believe someone as poor at human relations and at communicating his ideas as Nanbu could have convinced the "Kiwi" guy to invest so much in him. Also, Daigo-san waxing sentimental about Nanbu was a total disappointment to me, especially as so much of it appeared to be pure speculation about the guy and his motives.
Yami no Bansosha season 1 is a one in a million case where the lucky stars all lined up, making a perfect chemistry among director, screenwriter and actors. The first 3 episodes of season 2 is pretty good, but I didn't even bother to watch the last 2 episodes, since I sensed the story was turning into mush.
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