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Aidhmg
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
I caught the replay of this on Monday about half way through and my initial reaction was is this Dotchi Cooking Show? All that was on screen at the time was Miyazaki (I think that was him) and it felt strange but nice to see him because I knew they don't air Dotchi early on Monday. I came to my senses and realized that it was the Sunday drama replay. class blockquote nchristi wrote:
My first reaction was that the actor playing the lawyer in the Korean version was stunningly enigmatic and fascinating. He was a very tall, beautiful actor who created an incredibly mysterious aura around his character. The suspense in trying to figure out what and who he is was palpable. This is completely lacking (so far) in the Japanese version. I will have to try to set aside all memories from the original drama and avoid comparisons, viewing this one as a standalone to be judged only on its own merits.That's my reaction exactly nchristi. While I wasn't too crazy about the Korean version ( I think it's the plot), at least the main leads made it interesting. From what I saw of this Japanese version neither one had that mysterious but confident factor. They both seemed kind of blah. The only thing that might make me watch again is the Dotchi guy.
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10/14/2009, 2:12 pm
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
Episode 1 (Part 2)
Well, that concludes the first episode of this drama. What an intense plot! It reminds me a little of Bound by Shooting Stars, where we were seeing a story from the past told through many flashbacks, some of which didn't make sense until later. We saw about three or four new flashbacks in this second part of Ep. 1, so things seem to be making a little more sense now. From the looks of the flashbacks, it appears that when he was younger, Serizawa was involved in the death of Lawyer Naruse's younger brother, Hideo. However, we see a scene during the murder trial, where Serizawa's lawyer (who was just murdered in the previous episode) decided that because Hideo was apparently the one who threatened Serizawa with the knife first, Serizawa was not guilty of murder because he was defending himself against someone with a weapon. However, the circumstances of what happened between the two boys is still very unclear.
This might explain why Serizawa became so uncomfortable when he was carrying out the investigation of acting out the murder of the lawyer with the murder suspect. The events of what happened (with the victim pulling out the knife first but then getting stabbed with it) is identical to his case with Naruse's brother. I don't think Serizawa knows that Lawyer Naruse is Hideo's brother, but it appears that acting out the murder of the lawyer reminded Serizawa of his own past and what happened with Hideo.
Maybe Naruse became a lawyer because of Hideo. In one of the flashbacks, we see Naruse and Hideo talking to each other. Hideo tells his brother that he wants to become a lawyer one day and "make lots of money." The harmonica on Naruse's coffee table appears to have once belonged to Hideo as well.
Then there's this business about the lawyer's murder. We know Naruse called the lawyer and caused him to leave Serizawa's father's party, but how did the actual murderer (who is Naruse's client and was in jail for 12 years) decide to come to the lawyer's office and murder him? Somebody claiming to be the secretary called him and told him to come to the lawyer's office, but the secretary doesn't even know his name, so somebody else had to have done it. It looks like it's the business of this mysterious 'Makoto' character, who sent the tarot cards to the lawyer and Serizawa. Makoto was sending mysterious letters to the murderer while he was serving his 12-yr jail sentence, egging him on about how his sentence wasn't fair. Though the murderer took responsibility in killing the lawyer, this Makoto character was the one who was pulling the strings, causing for the murderer to meet the lawyer that night and kill him. But, like most other things in this drama, the circumstances are still unclear.
Naruse looks like the most suspicious character behind all of this. He certainly has a motive (his younger brother's murder) but we still don't know very much about what he plans to do as well as the circumstances behind what happened with Serizawa and his brother, if that's indeed what the flashbacks are showing us. At the end of the episode, we saw Naruse's 'secret chamber' with pictures of Serizawa and all the people involved with him, including his father, brother, brother's secretary, and the murdered lawyer. At this rate, anything could happen!
Episode 2 airs next Sunday, October 25th.
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10/19/2009, 8:13 am
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nchristi
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
This is moving right along! I was looking for certain events last night, only to realize we'd already moved beyond that point in the story. Then it dawned on me that, by necessity, some events are condensed or eliminated to fit into Japanese drama's standard number of episodes. This one is 11 episodes, while the Korean version is twice as long at 20 episodes, each episode with a running time of 70 minutes (unedited).
A lot can happen in all those additional drama hours, but I must say this Japanese version is presenting the story very well and with good continuity.
What a Friend We have in Jesus must be a very popular song in Japan! LOL! Wasn't that one of the main theme songs in Innocent Love, where the church piano guy was taking care of his comatose fiancée? Definite flashback hearing the children singing that one!
Last edited by nchristi, 10/19/2009, 9:50 am
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10/19/2009, 9:48 am
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
Episode 2
Woah, what an intense drama! The story is really full of suspense and surprises. During the final twenty or so minutes of the episode, I was sitting on the edge of my seat! The writer really knows how to keep the story moving right along without a dull moment. This drama has been full of action right from the start, hasn't it?
We gained a little more from the flashbacks today. It was revealed that Naruse, the lawyer, lost his mother shortly after his younger brother was murdered. She collapsed at the funeral and passed away shortly after. Her favorite flowers were lilies, hence the scene with Naruse leaving a bouquet of lilies at his mother's grave. Also, apparently Serizawa (the detective) still hangs around with his friends from junior high school. They've been friends for years, and we saw flashbacks of Serizawa's three friends witnessing the death of Naruse's younger brother.
These three friends are all very involved in Serizawa's life even now. One is the man with glasses who works for Serizawa's older brother. He's also revealed to be having an affair with the older brother's wife. The second friend is the guy with long hair, who was recently released from jail. The third friend is the debt collector who was murdered at the end of tonight's episode. He was planning on quitting his job as a debt collector and opening a restaurant, but he wasn't able to.
We haven't really seen Naruse actually send the packages or compile the tarot cards, but I think keeping certain things in the dark is a way for the writer to keep the audience constantly guessing. From the looks of events so far, it appears that Naruse is trying to get revenge for his younger brother's death by targeting everyone who was involved. But I think another one of Naruse's tactics is indirectly having people commit murders for him without even knowing them or getting his own hands dirty. He set up the lawyer's murder in Ep 1 with someone he had never even seen before, and now he's reeled in one of Serizawa's father's employees at the hotel to do the dirty work for him (again, a complete stranger). This woman has a young daughter, and one day while she was playing at the park, a teddy bear was given to her. Coincidentally, this woman owes money and was being harassed by the debt collector. After asking Serizawa's father (the owner of the hotel where she works) for an advance in her pay, she was ordered out of his office.
The next day, while at the park, the woman's daughter mysteriously disappeared. The woman's first thought was that the debt collector might have kidnapped her and was holding her for ransom so that the woman could pay the debt right away. At the same time, debt collector (DC) gets a tarot card and a teddy bear mailed to him from Makoto Amano. When the woman barges into DC's office and demands to see her daughter, DC has no idea what she's talking about -- but the mother sees the teddy bear on his desk and assumes it was the same teddy bear that belongs to her daughter. She didn't know that DC had just received this teddy bear in the mail, so she took it as proof that DC had kidnapped her daughter. She points a gun at him. Next thing we know, Serizawa's discovered the body of DC, who has been shot.
I'll have to count how many times the camera zeroes in on the evil expression on Naruse's face. We must see it about 20-30 times per episode! I'm interested in finding out what role Ms. Psychic will play. She's gotten rather close to Naruse, and she seemed quite alarmed upon seeing the little girl of the hotel employee crying in front of the church, holding her teddy bear. Maybe she was surprised because she had seen an image of the teddy bear when she did a psychic reading of the tarot card that had been sent to Serizawa. In the beginning of the episode, we saw the two teddy bears sitting on a shelf in Naruse's 'chamber of secrets' where he keeps the pictures of Serizawa and his family/friends. I'm guessing Naruse used same bears to pit the hotel employee against the debt collector.
Ah. What a convoluted and involved story, isn't it? Lots of different events going on. But the story always keeps moving and evolving, so there's always some new element of the mystery that's getting revealed. Lots of suspense! Two people close to Serizawa have been killed -- one was the family lawyer, and now it is his close friend.
Good drama so far. Episode 3 airs next Sunday, November 1st!
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10/25/2009, 9:29 pm
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nchristi
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
When the hotel worker asked for a huge advance on her wages, her supervisor turned her down flat. Later, when she was cleaning the hotel president's office (Serizawa's father), she sees his wallet on the table and is about to steal some major money from it when the prez walks in and catches her. He then fires her on the spot.
Soda (ex-con w/long hair) certainly is a loose canon, isn't he? Trouble on legs. He walks in unannounced to Mr. Glasses' apartment, finding him with Aniki's wife! (Aniki is the older son of the hotel president and Serizawa's brother. Mr. Glasses is Aniki's right hand man, his most trusted assistant.) Soda has decided that his friend has an extra room and he's going to stay in it for a while. Soda doesn't know, however, who this woman is. He only thinks his nerdy friend finally, and unexpectedly, has a beautiful girlfriend he hasn't told 'the boys' about.
Earlier, when Soda has his 'coming out' party at the bar for his group of friends and they begin dissing him, he gets angry—especially at Serizawa. He reminds Serizawa that he did him a 'big favor' sometime in the past. Serizawa looks nervous.
The relationship between Naruse and Ms. Psychic is getting interesting. She really lights up every time he comes around. Did he bring the lilies to the library as a gift for her? I missed that part. While she's walking with him, they talk about the first time they met. She says that she sensed they both have the same 'aura.' Of course, Serizawa has the hots for her and is disturbed to see Naruse in the psychic coffee shop having a cup of Joe with her (Say it ain't so!).
Yep, the clues are broadening out, especially of the original death scene of the two schoolboys. All the previous flashbacks have been of only two boys. In this episode we see that others from their group of friends apparently witnessed the crime, also.
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10/26/2009, 12:27 pm
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Hiroshi66
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
class blockquote nchristi wrote:
Of course, Serizawa has the hots for her and is disturbed to see Naruse in the psychic coffee shop having a cup of Joe with her (Say it ain't so!).
Haha, every time I hear that phrase now, I get reminded of Love Shuffle. I miss watching that drama now, especially with all the funny scenes and jokes. Say it ain't so, Joe! LOL! 
Yep, I was sitting on the edge of my seat when Soda walked in to Mr. Glasses' apartment and caught him with Aniki's wife! At first I assumed that Soda might know that the woman was married to Aniki, but as soon as he started asking Mr. Glasses who his new girlfriend was, I realized that he had no idea and only thought that Mr. Glasses hadn't told his pals about dating someone. Phew! But Soda sure is pretty reckless, isn't he? I was surprised when he walked in unannounced and declared that he would be staying in Mr. Glasses' extra room. Even after meeting Aniki's wife (or, for all he knows, Mr. Glasses' GF) he still wanted Mr. Glasses to take him drinking!
I wonder what Soda knows about Serizawa and what he 'helped him out' with before. Things are getting more and more mysterious.
If I remember correctly, I think the lilies were sitting on Ms. Psychic's desk when Naruse came by and commented on how much he loved lilies. They are indeed getting pretty close. I didn't think Naruse would visit the psychic coffee shop like he promised, but it turned out he did. But Naruse left after taking only one sip of the coffee -- after Serizawa walked in!
Very good drama. I can hardly wait for Ep. 3! Lots of suspense and mystery.
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10/28/2009, 5:37 am
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nchristi
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Re: J-Drama: 魔王 (Devil)
Looks like Aniki's wife is played by Kichise, Michiko. We've seen her just about everywhere lately... BOSS, Tenchijin, Bloody Monday, Around 40.
They have somewhat changed the Serizawa Mari character (Aniki's wife) in this one. In the K-drama, she is more quiet, having a more sweet and innocent demeanor, the proper wife of a high-powered exec who notices her little more than if she were an expensive vase sitting on a shelf in his apartment. Mr. Glasses, as Aniki's head assistant, has more normal daily contact with her (aside from their affair) than she has with her own husband.
In the J-version, Aniki's wife gives me the feeling sometimes that she is the more aggressive seducer than is Mr. Glasses. Of course, it has to be quite mutual for both of them to be playing such a high stakes game right under the nose of the husband!
Yep, I'm finding this version very exciting, too. Lots of suspense, with unexpected events around each corner. Good drama by a creative, skillful writer.
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10/28/2009, 10:19 am
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