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Saeng

in my Pillowfort

Saeng

in my Pillowfort
Unnatural japanese drama review
Completed
Unnatural
1 people found this review helpful
by Saeng
Mar 26, 2024
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 10
Story 10.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
That was an outstanding drama about a small team of pathologists, with casas that seemed well researched to me who is a non-medical person.

Things I liked most:
* The female characters! Although they were still in the minority, they were fantastic! The two main female characters were an equal part of the cast -- in most cases the female forensic doctor was the one who found the deciding clue, even. Both were shown as professionals, with interesting personal lives, own ambitions and well-rounded personalities.

* The team! We get to know all five (hm, six) people of the UDI well, and how they learn and grow together. They start as distant, even uncomfortable colleagues -- and in the end, they work as a well-integrated team. Some of them get some character development, some don't really need it.

* The supporting cast! Even they got a personality, some are more mysterious, some antagonistic, some familial. All of them clearly have their own motivations and goals.

* The acting! The directing! The soundtrack!

* No Romance! Well, over the course of one or two episodes, the male part-timer wonders if the female lead might be interested in him, and it seems he wouldn't have rejected any advances -- but! That fizzles out and is never even thought about again.
(Although, as I read through the other reviews, I see Orangevine's who states that "There is also a love triangle (with the caveat that one must be well-versed in Japanese romance tropes to spot it)". I'm obviously not well-versed, so I don't see it.)

* Minimal gore! We see blood, contusions, discoloration of the skin, some wounds, the occasional part of an organ preserved in formalin. Faces of the deceased are never disfigured, there are a few scenes where we see how the scalpel starts to cut, but never any opened bodies or any inner body parts while the autopsy is in progress.
All in all, it's remarkably respectful of the dead (compared to US productions) and there's never any kind of voyeurism.

* A fascinating insight into Japanese culture! Concerning death, and how the deceased and those who have contact with them are regarded and what it means for the politics around them.

* Last but not least: The cases! Not every case is a crime, but they are all interesting. The first one is noticably from before CoViD. The seventh had me in tears, that one hit close to home for me. The overarching plot was also intense, and was the main focus of the last three or so episodes, and tied all the personalities and their development together.
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