Saka no Tochuu no Ie

WOWOW has done it again. Not only have they once again produced a better than average jdorama, they have produced a very good jdorama where for the first time ever, I found that Shibasaki Kou gave a very good performance.

Shibasaki Kou is one of the actresses that I always felt did not deserve her starring roles. It did not help that her character in the Galileo series felt unnecessary to me. The last time I said something good about her acting was in Hundred Million Stars from the Sky.

Anyways, Saka no Tochuu no Ie has Shibasaki Kou playing the mother of a young daughter who is selected to a spare jury member for a case where a mother played by Mizuno Miki is accussed of abusing and murdering her child.

As the case goes on, elements of the case start to seep into Shibasaki Kou's life and she starts confusing between the two. The case also effects two other jurors and the Judge's assistant as each of them also grapple with issues of child rearing.

First off as a thriller, Sakano Tochuu no Ie build tension really well. The tension between Shibasaki Kou's fears and being unsure whether or not the world is against her or she is just unstable. It also creates doubt on Mizuno Miki's crime and whether she is to be blamed.

The other thing is does really well is show how difficult and maybe dangerous it is raising a child especially in an age where any physical discipline can be easily be seen as abuse and how a parent who is under so much stress cannot slip up even once.

The second thing that Saka no Tochuu no Ie does really well is that it explores parenthood from multiple sides. From Ito Ayumi's character who cannot have kids to useless juror who blames everything on his wife to the judge's assistant to has to decide between work, child and husband.

The key to making characters emphatic and relatable is to make their problems real and their reactions honest to their characters and this jdorama does that really well and without any preaching, I might add. Except for the Shibasaki Kou speech at the end.

The script for Saka no Tochuu no Ie is so good, I could not believe it did not fall into the usual pitfalls. Congrates to WOWOW and everyone involved because they really did justice to the script. Thanks to HPriest for subbing and Robert for recommending it! Must watch!