Rewatching Tsugunai The Unforgiven

Sometimes when I've seen too many mediocre shows and all my reviews can't be summarised as 'meh, I've seen better', I just want to watch something fun, even if I've already seen it twice like Tsugunai, a pretty good 3 part series from 2012 with Tanihara Shosuke in the lead role.

Its one of the rare shows where the main character is a homeless guy and not some idealistic asadora hero who gets involved with a murder mystery. I've already reviewed each of the three episodes so I'm just going to write about things that stood out for me on the third viewing. If you have not seen it, I recommend you do though I have no idea where you would get access to it today.

1) KUSANAGI MAKOTO MADE A COMPELLING SUSPECT

The general rule of mystery thrillers is that the first suspect is always innocent. A lot of times, I'm just waiting for the main character to eliminate the first suspect from the list so we can move on. However, Makoto is different because the show plants this seed that this weird kid is the killer because he can hear people's sorrow and wants to silence them. The audience's first reaction is, this can't possibly be true! But its so weird and creepy that it could be and that is what a good red herring is.

2) KUSANAGI MAKOTO'S ACTING IS AWESOME

I really enjoyed the kid's acting on third viewing because he gives the vibe something is off with him which makes the viewer not dismiss Makoto as the killer. You know something is not quite right with this kid but you can't get a read on his intentions.

3) THE PARRALLELS BETWEEN EISUKE AND MAKOTO

Both characters endured great trauma, their loved ones have endured great hardship and both characters blame it on themselves. Eisuke, the doctor cannot forgive himself for the death of wife and child and the kid blames himself for being the victim, surviving and having his mother go crazy. 

I know 99% of Japanese doramas are about characters coming to terms with their pain/past etc but Tsugunai does it by showing, with depth and making the audience feel the pain. Makoto life was saved by Eisuke but that only brought him even more pain and suffering.

4) THE COPS WERE NOT INCOMPETENT NOR VINDICTIVE

Not saying all cops in jdoramas should all be good at their job but making the police look stupid so the main character can look good crutch has been used way too often. I liked that they suspected the main character but did not do so in an evil moustache twirling way and used him to help solve their case.

5) WATCHING HOW THE HOMELESS SURVIVE

Homeless people are everywhere in Japan and hardly seen in jdoramas and it was interesting watching this homeless main character look for a place to sleep or hunt for food behind a convenience store.

6) WHERE IS THE SEQUEL?

I want another murder mystery with the homeless, recovering alcoholic doctor.

SUMMARY

I did not give Tsugunai a must watch because I didn't think the execution was as good as it could have been but now I think the negatives are relatively minor and maybe I just like it a lot more than I should but Tsugunai is now in my must watch list.