JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: OUT ~Tsumatachi no Hanzai~

OUT ~Tsumatachi no Hanzai~

Out, which debuted Oct. 12 at 9 p.m. on the Fuji network, is certainly one of the most chilling, grisly tales of the season, all the more so because it is so simply and realistically done. It leaves us watching believable, family-next-door type characters, who are easy to empathize with, descend into the role of accomplices to murder.

The plot: Four housewives are trapped in bad family situations. They all yearn for escape but, having none, work all night in a grueling assembly line at a boxed-meal factory where they seem to be exposed to more stringent decontamination measures than Tokaimura workers. The only bright spots in housewife Misako Tanaka's life are an old friendship with Naoko Iijima, a police detective, and her three friends at the box lunch plant. One has an uncommunicative and unhelpful husband like her own. Another woman's husband has died. Her only inheritance is a nasty, bedridden mother-in-law.

When the youngest member of the group murders her gambling and abusive husband, the others are called upon to help dismember and dispose of the body. Previews of the second episode were grotesque. I won't be tuning in again for awhile. I don't have the stomach for such ghoulish fare. For those who can stomach the grisly aspects, it does offer very capable performances from Iijima and Tanaka and a strong supporting cast.

STARRING: Tanaka Misako, Iijima Naoko, Watanabe Eriko, Hara Sachie, Danta Yasunori, Emoto Akira, Takada Seiko, Aikawa Sho, Hosokawa Shigeki, Ito Hideaki, Izumisa Yuuki
THEME SONG: "Heaven" by Fukuyama Masaharu, "Kanashima no Boat" by Matsuda Seiko
DURATION: October 12, 1999 through December 1999.
REVIEWS:

Believe it or not, this drama did pretty well for the season making it into the top 10. My friend said it's pretty good. In a way it's an interesting storyline of wives helping out another wife who has murdered her husband. A story touching on friendship, murder and domestic abuse. It is a bit grisly. -KNDY