Hippocrates no Chikai

Once upon a time, Kitagawa Keiko did Sailor Moon and Mop and they were good. (stop snickering about Sailor Moon!) She certainly showed glimpses of acting ability and I enjoyed watching her on the screen. Then she started doing a bunch of crappy mainstream jdoramas including the insult to common sense show Lady. Since then I have basically avoided her shows until Hipprocates no Chikai, that is. Main reason being that its a WOWOW show.

Hippocrates no Chikai is a thriller about an intern who gets sent to the hospital morgue to learn about autopsies and slowly discovers to her horror that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

The interesting part about this show is looking at Japanese attitudes towards autopsies. That cutting up of dead bodies is desecration.

There is just something off with Kitagawa Keiko's acting. If anything, I would say that her character doesn't feel real. I think she's stuck in mainstream, bright and sunny jdorama acting mode and doesn't fit the gritty WOWOW style acting.

Instead of going on the story's journey with her character, I find myself looking at the story from the autopsy mad Mitsuzaki's viewpoint and wondering if Mitsuzaki is wondering why Kitagawa is not picking up on the clues. It doesn't help that it took way to long for Kitagawa's character to begin suspecting the hospital.

I really loved the choice that Kitagawa Keiko's character makes at the end though. I remember thinking when she made the choice that if her character were a bit smarter and they had cast a better actress, this would have been a very good thriller.

Rakujitsu jdorama review

 

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

Kitagawa Keiko is a new director whose first movie won best picture at an international movie festival. For her next movie, she wants to make a movie Tateishi Rikito who stabbed his sister Sara and burned his parents to death 15 years ago.

Yoshioka Riho is an aspiring screenwriter who has been working for Kuroki Hitomi who is a popular scriptwriter. Yoshioka Riho is approached by Kitagawa Keiko to write the script for her Rikito movie and to help investigate what really happened 15 years ago.

WHAT IS GOOD ABOUT IT?

+ The dorama is based on a novel by Minato Kanae who wrote Shokuzai, The Snow White Murder Case and Kokuhaku. If those 3 doramas and movies don't ring a bell then you owe it to yourself to watch them because they are very very good.

+ Beautiful WOWOW direction kept me in suspense for the whole 4 episodes. There are some beautiful shots in the last episode.

+ I don't remember Kitagawa Keiko being in a WOWOW show because she is a more mainstream actress. Just realised that she did one with Shibata Kyohei a long time ago called Hippocrates no Chikai.

+ The story teased me with enough interesting possible twists but the real twist is very good and moving. 4 episodes is a good length for mystery doramas because it prevents it from being too twisty and having too many red herrings.

+ The actress playing Tateishi Sara does a very good job despite being an idoru. I like that she does not overact which usually happens in most jdoramas.

+ I really like the office that Kuroki Hitomi and Yoshioka Riho work in. A lot of times jdoramas don't have the budget to dress up a set but when an office looks so beautiful and real it really sells a story.

WHAT IS NOT SO GOOD?

- The final twist felt tacked on in the end. Not really tacked on since that story was also built up during the series but rather I did not have time to digest the Rikito revelation before the final revelation.

SUMMARY

Must watch for me. The acting is good, not great but everything else is very, very well done by WOWOW and big thanks to HPriest for bringing WOWOW goodness to jdorama fans. If you like your murder mystery doramas, Rakujitsu is a must watch.