In 1994, a human skeleton is found in the mountain of Saitama. A shogi game piece is found with the skeleton. The shogi piece was made by a master craftsman. Veteran detective Takeshi and rookie detective Naoya begin to investigate the owner of the shogi piece. Keisuke is a genius professional shogi player. While doing an interview with a shogi magazine, Keisuke recalls his childhood. In 1972, Keisuke was an elementary school student and he lived with his father. His father was violent and did not even give Keisuke a proper meal. Keisuke happened to meet Koichiro, who was a retired teacher. Koichiro was nice to Keisuke and, because of him, Keisuke became fascinated with the game of shogi. Detective Takeshi and Detective Naoya go to see Keisuke. Is Keisuke the killer? Who is the dead person? (Source: AsianWiki) ~~ Adapted from the novel "Banjo no Himawari" (盤上の向日葵) by Yuzuki Yuko (柚月裕子). Edit Translation
- English
- magyar / magyar nyelv
- dansk
- Norsk
- Native Title: 盤上の向日葵
- Also Known As: The Sunflower on the Shogi Board , Banjou no Himawari , ばんじょうのひまわり
- Screenwriter: Kuroiwa Tsutomu
- Director: Honda Ryuichi
- Genres: Mystery
Cast & Credits
- Chiba Yudai Main Role
- Renbutsu MisakoSano NaoyaSupport Role
- Otomo KoheiIshiba TakeshiSupport Role
- Takenaka NaotoTomyo ShigeyoshiSupport Role
- Emoto AkiraKarasawa KoichiroSupport Role
- Dan FumiKarasawa YoshikoSupport Role
Reviews
The show pulls you into a dark, swift-moving suspenseful drama full of history, haunting emotions, mysteries, and the dirty underside of life. If you blink you may miss something important, but the catch-up between each episode is pretty clear and concise, too. The characters succeed in making each episode full of information, yet end at the perfect cliffhangers; almost as if they themselves are glued to the edge of their seats, excited to learn more about the story themselves. And sometimes it seems just like watching a docu-drama.
Each member of the cast has brought so much pride and respect for this show that it's almost tangible to the viewer. The detective/police work is not as prevalent to the show as the shogi games themselves, however, it carries the show quite well at an even 50/50 for each episode. So there isn't really anything missing or different that would make this less of a detective/crime drama.
Yudai Chiba is marvelous in his role; its almost scary how many sides this man has. Each moment was skillfully crafted for each moment in history and for the building of the game(s). The feelings of each character are intense and very raw, completely honest with their characters and themselves. Reality itself bleeds away from each actor, and yourself, as you continue to watch.
This show is very thought-provoking from beginning to end. If the drama is this fantastic, then I can only imagine how wonderful the book must be!
The story was pretty good, and the way they presented it was masterful and it made it seem even better, as they mashed up the mystery with the male lead's story, even past of his parents. Another great thing about this drama was the performances. The lead actor was amazing and managed to show a variety of emotions from the begining till the very ending.
I do have to admit that I had no idea what was the game and how it is played (though you can pretty much figure that out by watching this drama). That's why I feel like I missed a big part of what the drama wanted to say.
So, overall, eight out of ten.