A Shot Full of Flail: arashi

Just when I thought that my addiction to jdramas wouldn’t reach new ~~lows~~ milestones, I now download jdrama episodes myself, instead of getting it from John or from the local pirates. It is but only fitting that the first jdrama that I will review would be the first episode of Maou.

Maou is a remake of the Korean drama Mawang (English title: The Devil). It stars Ohno Satoshi (of Arashi) and of course, my Ikuta Toma (now you know why I want to see this). This is the first suspense jdrama that I’ve watched, a departure from the light hearted and funny shows I’ve already seen. I have not seen the Korean version and I have no idea how the story will go, so I’m a little glad that I’m reviewing this drama by its own merits, rather than through comparison. I’m excited!

Warning! LOTS OF PICTURES AND SPOILERS!

The episode starts with a very scary picture of a devil.
We hear the story of Lucifer, who was once a beautiful angel but was banished from heaven because he provoked God. With nowhere to go, he went to hell and became Mao, the devil king.

Then we are introduced to Ohno’s character, Naruse Ryo, a brilliant defense lawyer. He also has some score to settle. And he’s creepy as hell.
Toma on the other hand, plays Senizawa Naoto. He’s a detective with questionable tactics. And he’s totally gorgeous.
Plus, he got a stalker. Other than me, I mean.
Have I mentioned how gorgeous Toma is?
And how creepy Ohno is? And yet he looks just as fine as Toma.
They first met on the police station where Toma (can I just call him Toma? Senizawa is a lot to type) works. Toma bumped into Ohno (same reason) and had an amiable conversation with him about his new client (who also happens to be a friend of Toma). Except that Ohno had some soulless eyes going on. And giving the departing Toma some cold dead stare. Yep, Ohno is totally Toma’s stalker. But not because Toma is hot.
You see, Toma had a dark past: the young Toma killed Ohno’s younger brother in a school fight. According to Toma’s claim, it was an act of self-defense, and his lawyer was so persuasive that young Toma was acquitted of the crime. Ohno, of course, did not accept the verdict, or where would we be? He vowed revenge, in the most twisted and cunning way possible. I’m not sure if that includes selling his soul to the devil in exchange for his creepy, creepy eyes but who knows?

We are also introduced to an adorable girl who happens to be psychic.

Ohno is also stalking her.

I have to admire Ohno’s multitasking abilities, what with him being a brilliant lawyer and a revenge-plotter and stalker of at least two people. Just what is it about psychic girl that interests Ohno? I’m interested to know as well.

Toma spent a better part of this episode running around.

Because he’s a dedicated and unconventional detective, is why. Or it could be a metaphor for the way he had ran away from his past. But that’s just me overanalyzing the drama.

When he’s not running around, he is being put down by his father for having a low job (father and older brother, I think, are successful businessmen).

Also, he receives a mysterious package that contains a single Tarot card.

The lawyer of Toma’s father was murdered. The murder was complicated by Toma’s discovery of a Tarot card in the scene of the crime – similar to the card that Toma also received.

Toma’s boss went to psychic girl for help. Psychic girl does her thing with the murder weapon and said that it was the victim who first held the knife that killed him and was pointing it to a man in dark clothes.

Toma of course was skeptical and dismissive. Toma is a man of reason! And still hot!

Ohno against a rainy background.

Ohno flashbacking.

The murdered victim was the lawyer who defended young Toma. Oh.

Just when the police had a lead suspect in the murder, the suspect himself turned up at the police station with Ohno as his lawyer. But of course.

Toma does his interrogation thingie while Ohno sits beside his client, looking cold as ever and a bit smug.

The suspect admitted to being with the victim on the night he died, but said that it was an accident. He also didn’t know anything about the Tarot card. Toma is disbelieving, but then Ohno produced a voice recording of the accident. Those who think that this isn’t part of Ohno’s grand master plan for his revenge, raise your hands.

Ohno made some creepy talk about justice and all that. Toma is starting to get unnerved by Ohno. You’re finally getting a clue, Toma.

And now, the scene that launched a thousand fanfics:

Nino (of Arashi) guest-starred as the victim’s son and he’s angry at the suspect’s lawyer. Ohno just gave him the dead stare and it’s awesome.

More awesome than the dead stare? The reenactment scene of the murder where Toma was the pretend victim. Toma had a flashback of his past crime and he was sweating and freaking out and OMG OMG OMG! He totally nailed it!!

And Ohno was just standing there watching Toma freak out and yeah, nice scene, Japan.

When Ohno used the same self-defense claim of Toma for his client, Toma was just about ready to lose it.

Verdict: Isn’t it obvious? So far, I’m loving this drama. Even with the early reveal about Toma and Ohno’s past connection, the drama still has a lot of mysteries left to pique the viewers. Like with other jdramas, the story is fast paced but they were able to establish firmly the gist and the characters’ personality. I love the lighting and how the light is almost always behind Ohno. There also seem to be a lot of red lights when Ohno is around. The music is also perfect in building up the suspense.

I have no idea that Ohno and his eyes can be so terrifying! Toma is playing a character that’s a bit older than his previous roles and I thought he was convincing. He was a bit over the top in the earlier scenes but he simply rocked the freak out scene. Ohno and Toma has some great chemistry going on. And yeah, the hotness was a bit distracting but who’s complaining?