Unfair

“Unfair“ is one of these series you cannot stop to watch until you know the end. Convincing actors make the thrilling plot enjoyable, especially the duo of investigators Shinohara Ryoko and Eita.

Main character of “Unfair” is Yukihira Natsumi (Shinohara Ryoko). She works as a police officer at the murder squad of Tokyo. Among her colleagues she is not very highly respected because of her headstrong methods. Yukihira is a self-confident, rational thinking woman who acts by the guiding principle: As long as the criminals get punished everything legal is allowed. Since her father was murdered she only knows the good and the bad side.

Although Yukihira’s success as officer proves her right, her private life is in tatters. When she shot a 17-year old suspect in a case of hostage-taking five years ago, she came into a public cross fire and got marked as down-and-dirty woman cold as ice. Her husband Sato Kazuo, who works as a journalist for a big newspaper, wanted a divorce and took their daughter Mio with him.

One day Yukihira detains a suspect again while risking the life of a hostage, so that her boss Yamaji Tetsuo (Terajima Susumu) reassigns her a new partner: Andou Kazuyuki (Eita). The young police officer is asked to look after Yukihira but this task proves to be much harder than he thought.

Soon the officers of the murder squad see themselves occupied with a puzzling double murder which seems to be starting a serial murder case. All traces lead to a publishing house and in no time the investigators recognize that the murderer writes a book about his actions that he wants to sell to a publisher at best offer.

The strands of the “Unfair” plot reveal in no time but it takes a while for them to become enmeshed with one another. What looks like a serial murder done by a lunatic at first soon develops into a far complex spun conspiracy that involves Yukihira personally at least. Although she thereby gets closer to her family, the price she has to pay is high. Like the policemen trying to solve one after another riddle we as the audience are in the dark as well until the very end. Eventually the final hits us as hard and unexpected as it hits Yukihira.

While the serial murder stands in the center of “Unfair” the series reveals a lot more. Having Yukihira as the main character the dorama not only concentrates on the investigation but also on the fight of a woman for her family and her own way of life. Furthermore it is shown how unethical the media are – bodily as the sensation-seeking journalists who jump at Yukihiras case and ruin her reputation, and as mercenary publishers who accept even a murder to get a bestseller.

Besides the brilliant duo Shinohara Ryoko and Eita other actors make a shining appearance in their roles. Such as Terajima Susumu as cranky chief of the murder squad, Abe Sadawo as officer, who always sticks to the rules, and Kato Masaya as coroner Mikami Kaoru, who masters his part as funny side show perfectly. The partly hectic, partly cliff-hanging and partly melancholic mood of the series is well underlined by the soundtrack. Additionally to the 11 episodes of this dorama there was a special episode shown in Japanese TV, furthermore “Unfair – The Movie” was to be seen in Japanese theatres in March of 2007.