15 years ago in a small village, an elementary school student named Emiri was kidnapped and killed by an unknown man. Her body was discovered by 4 of her friends. The man was never caught. Emiri's mother Asako blames the 4 friends who could not remember the murder's face. Years later, the 4 kids are now adults. Based on a novel by Kanae Minato.

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  Yu Aoi (Kikuchi Sae)

  Main Role

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  Ando Sakura (Takano Akiko)

  Main Role

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  Koizumi Kyoko (Adachi Asako)

  Main Role

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  Koike Eiko (Shinohara Maki)

  Main Role

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  Ikewaki Chizuru (Ogawa Yuka)

  Main Role

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  Ito Ayumi (Murakami Mayu)

  Supporting Role

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• 8 days ago 5 of 5 episodes seen

  forweg
  3 of 3 people found this review helpful
  Other reviews by this user
  • Overall  9
  • Story  9
  • Acting/Cast  10
  • Music  9
  • Rewatch Value  10

  Positive thoughts:
  
  -Kiyoshi Kurosawa's films have always had a wonderfully surreal and eerie pitch to them, and the same goes for this TV mini-series. If you didn't know, there'd be no way to tell this was a TV show rather than a film.
  
  -The cast is excellent, no exceptions.
  
  -The premise and format of Shokuzai is highly intriguing: Five grade-school girls are good friends. One is abducted and murdered. Each subsequent episode reveals how this event screwed up all of their lives in completely different ways.
  
  -The plot-line is highly suspenseful and unpredictable. One never knows what exactly is happening with each individual storyline or the overarching plot until near the end of each episode.
  
  Negative thoughts:
  
  -The show goes a bit too far into twisted and disturbing territory towards the end. I do immensely enjoy tragic and disturbing stories, and Shokuzai succeeded in this aspect for most of its duration, but by the end of the show it feels like the show starts becoming as twisted and disturbing as possible merely for the sake of it.
  
  -Nearly every male character is either deranged or evil.
  
  Overall thoughts:
  
  I've always been more partial to Korean dramas, but Shokuzai has launched me into the Japanese drama scene, particularly WOWOW's mini-series'. Great show, and I hope to find more like it. read more

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