JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: Kyohansha

Kyohansha

Atsuko Asano plays a murderer who awaits the 15-year statute of limitations of her crime (note: If a case is not proven in fifteen years, the person accused of the crime is literally out free or no longer charged with the crime). Unfortunately for her, someone discovers her secret.

[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, October 24, 2003, Wm. Penn]: The new NTV drama Kyohansha (Wednesdays at 10 p.m.) presents a somewhat perplexing problem. The acting is excellent. The pace is brisk, and the story, while dark and eerily erotic, is engrossing. But do viewers really want to descend into the hellish, psychotic world of the two protagonists?

Is there truly any value in learning how their fiendish minds work and attract each other? Whatever the answer, it is difficult not to want to wander back into their surreal world and discover what factors have created such frightening characters and just what suspenseful surprise ending the scriptwriter has in store for us. If you want to get in the mood for Halloween, this ghoulish tale is perfect.

" Kyohansha" means accomplice or partner in crime, and the partners in this tale are Hiroshi Mikami, who plays a mysterious, nameless man, and Atsuko Asano, who plays Misaki. She is an office worker who, we learn right off through a gruesome flashback, murdered a female coworker almost 15 years ago. She was one of several suspects at the time but the police never found any evidence to warrant her arrest. She has decided to stay at the same job and live a quiet, low-key life until the 15-year statute of limitations runs out. She is marking off her calendar and has just two months to go when Mikami shoves his way into her life.

He breaks into her apartment, reveals he knows where she buried the murder weapon and a mysterious item taken from the scene of the crime and then demands to live with her. From his conversation, it is also obvious he has been stalking her and knows quite a bit about her current life. The chemistry between Asano and Mikami is good and a raw energy permeates their interaction.

With the chance to get away with her crime looming, Misaki is nothing if not cautious. Despite being frightened, she decides to deal coolly with Mikami and ferret out just exactly who and what he knows. She suspects he has been employed by the police or someone at the office, perhaps her boss Nakao (Shiro Sano), who worked with her and the victim 15 years ago.

The inclusion of Shiro Sano in the cast insures that this is going to be one eerie adventure. Is it a hint or a joke on viewers that the writer has chosen to give Sano's character the name Fumihiko Nakao? Veteran TV viewers will remember it was Sano who starred as the infamous Fuyuhiko in the eerie early 1990s series Zutto Anata ga Suki Datta, in which he gave pop culture immortality to the name Fuyuhiko.
In the first episode, Sano did little more than make a few suspicious telephone calls. The action centered around Asano and Mikami, who continuously tries to impress upon her that he is really on her side and just wants to live with her.

The tension was high throughout Episode 1 but things took a surprising twist at the end when Misaki attended an impromptu company party at a club and found Mikamialready there, lurking at the bar.

In the ladies' room, she is confronted by an insolent young coworker. "What do you hang around this company for anyway?" the sassy lass asks. "Why do you keep living when you have no prospects of marriage or promotion and no life?" It is scathing stuff, and Misaki follows her out and is about to tell her off when Mikami grabs her. Don't lower yourself to deal with people like that, he says, and disappears.
Misaki returns to the party. She is not surprised to find Mikami waiting for her at home again but asks why he has not turned on the lights. When she does flip on the lights, she sees the sassy young woman dead on the floor. Mikami says he has killed her for Misaki.

In Episode 2, they dispose of the body, although Misaki does manage to keep Mikami from killing a witness to this act. There is also an aging and rather ineffectual detective who plagues Misaki. Perhaps the key figure in this tale will be the lonely young woman in the building across the street who has cut herself off from society but likes to spy on Misaki with a pair of binoculars.

Kyohansha is well done but far too sordid.

STARRING: Asano Atsuko, Mikami Hiroshi, Ikeuchi Hiroyuki, Okina Megumi, Arisaka Kurue, Ono Mayumi, Matsuo Reiko, Hashino Emi, Kagami Miyuki and more.
NETWORK: NTV
THEME SONG: "High Crime"
DURATION: October through December 2003
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