Uzukawamura Jiken (2022)

Gripping and dark!

This drama had me invested from the get go. Anything based on folklore traditions, urban legends, cult rituals are my pick and this is what it is based on. The plot revolves around a superstitious ritual, practiced for eons by the residents of a depopulated village Uzukawa to appease the god of the village.
The reason I was hooked from the start was the introductory section and a folk rhyme in a child’s voice. It gave that eerie feeling I was looking for. Had a peculiar, dense, uneasy atmosphere around it which I loved and also it’s cinematography.
Each actors played their characters well. But the actor who played the character of Yahagi Daisuke, it will be hard for me to imagine him as a different person.
I also loved the bgm which beautifully creates a mysterious and an uncanny aura around it..
It was short with no draggy fillers.
It was dark, weird as well as sickening.
It’s better to avoid if you are not fond of dark drama filled with uneasiness.
But if you want to experience something weird, tensed and disturbing as well, then you are up for it. I would definitely recommend this drama to them.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I usually do not rewatch thrillers, as I have already experienced all the thrills and the mystery is known. So, it’s difficult for me to rate it for rewatch value.
But for one time experience, it was quite good.

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Potentially Enthralling

(1) Story:
Drama was adapted from a Japanese novel* set around the 1980s, but the drama spun 12 years before (i.e. 2010) to when it was aired in 2022. This possibly led to a number of questions on how believable it is in modern Japan, even if it was set in a village, e.g.:
- Nothing set up for contacting public agencies in an emergency, i.e. not reliant on phone lines, etc.
- Only one policeman in the village with no contact to a larger police post in Japan’s Nagano prefecture.
- No emergency power supply beyond the Yahagi household? Beyond the richest family in the village, surely the town hall should have something set up by the prefecture government considering Nagano is known for its mountains, hot springs, etc.

[*Novel was published in June 2018, and authored by Kushiki Riu, whose novel "Haunted Campus" in 2012 won the Japan Horror Story Grand Prize Readers' Award.]


(2) Atmosphere:
The atmosphere was well set up, and reminds one of the Showa era**, reminiscent of Yokomizo Seishi's *** worldview.
[**Showa = 25 Dec 1926 – 07 Jan 1989.
***Japanese mystery novelist, known for creating the fictional detective Kindaichi Kosuke.]

This said, it was neither quite horror nor suspense, as it is a little subtle in both categories.
- From the beginning, the bus driver hinted the village to be cursed but it was not clear in what way.
- The villagers appear to know that something was broken, yet the younger ones (especially a few who obviously appear to be quite daring or strong-minded) for some reason, did not leave the village.

It's a pity that the atmosphere was not further expanded upon, despite the good set-up:
- “Eikichi" was never explained…who is Eikichi? why was this name used? what's the relation to the village?
- The duration... why the need for a 3-day prayer every 12 years?
- The "sacrifice"… any rationale (beyond the 3 main human desires) even if such forms of sacrifice are not uncommon in folktales?
- The ritual… why 4 straw men (4's pronunciation in Japanese makes it a synonym to death)?


(3) Twist:
The ending of Episode 5 (repeated in the beginning of the last episode) was unexpected in a positive way, given how the previous episodes tried to distract or suggest otherwise, about the truth behind Hitomi's death.


(4) Motives:
In terms of the truth behind the serial murders, the motivations could have been stronger or one would probably require a more “romantic” mindset, because the antagonist was not portrayed as a narcissist or some psychopath:

(a) The relationship with Hitomi… It would have been more understandable if they had a deeper relationship (e.g. she saved his life) as it is a little hard to grasp how he could go to such an extent (in anger or yearning) when:
i) He did not know Hitomi's death status;
ii) He mentioned that Hitomi is happily married;
iii) The first victim appears to be a close friend of his since childhood (this in comparison to Hitomi who already left the village for years and did not seem to have a very close relationship with him at all).

(b) Alternatively, the hatred for the other household or villagers in general could have went deeper, e.g. revenge for his family or himself for a very difficult/abusive childhood.

If one needed to understand and justify his extreme choices because he "loved" his village so much (that those who destroy the village deserve death) or he hated the deep-rooted sense of hierarchy or division (between people born in the countryside versus city), it had not been clear in the drama.


(5) Overall:
WOWOW did not disappoint:
- The casting and acting was good.
- The scenery and setting was very suitable for the story-line.
- The music drives a eerie feel, sometimes giving one goosebumps, befitting of the setting.
- Episode 1 did make one want to find out more about the mysteries, and left one gripping to continue.
Perhaps one needs to read the novel to appreciate the story better, assuming there are more insights to the village in the original novel.

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