Ryûsei no kizuna

I enjoyed this one. Had a healthy balance of comedy and angst. There's also something innocent about the world of the pre-iPhone era when flip phones were in the rage and all the cultural peripheries that came with that time in Japan. You also see some of this in the way they shoot the opening sequence of the show, the colourful wardrobe being paired with high-exposure mirages and blurs.

If you've read some light amount of manga or watched anime like I have, the tongue-in-cheek Japanese-centric jokes with crack you up.

I was able to correctly guess who the killer was a few episodes before the unveiling but that still didn't stop the sadness of the tragedy's premise from feeling diluted.

This drama reminded me of the soap operas produced by TVB in Hong Kong back in the 80's and 90's. A lot of these tropes were later adopted by Korean dramas in the 2000's to 2010's. This Japanese drama, even though it was released in 2008, was refreshing and entertaining. The reason? Because it did not use melodrama like the others to sustain the viewer's interest.

What I liked:

• the dynamics of the three siblings
• some of the realism experienced in male-female romances
• unconventional characters > love how each sibling had distinct personality traits
• the fact that the younger brother and sister played a big part in the solving of the mystery, and did not simply be relegated to sidekick status
• character development for the protagonists and antagonisists

> showed a subtle complexity rather than relying on stock characteristics

• the ending

What was iffy:

• could have paid more attention to the relationship dynamics between Koichi & Shizuna

> considering the fact that they were the major players in the scams and the investigation of the mystery.