Kagi no Kakatta Heya final impressions

I made myself wait until the final episode of Kagi no Kakatta Heya to come out to watch the rest. I am glad I did as I do not think I would have been happy having to watch only one episode every week. Especially the final two which are a part of a two part story to end the series.

I really enjoyed this drama and would have trouble going back to watch it again, even though I would know how all the mysteries end now. But the characters are likable and play off each other so well I think that alone would make up for the loss of suspense. 

I will not say it was a perfect drama, as a couple of episodes did feel like the missed the mark a bit but even those were satisfying to watch. A huge part of this was the dynamic of Team Enomoto. They were fantastic in every episode and really made this series what it was. 

I will also saw for a mystery drama that focuses on a single type of murder mystery the series did very well in coming up with new ways for these murders to happen. I do not think you can make a long running series based off the same concept but for a single cour show it worked out rather well in the end.

I do not think Ohno Satoshi had to put much forth to play Enomoto but honestly that was just how the character was. But there were subtle moments with him and Ohno did those well which is a mark of a good actor as it would be easy to overdue them and that would have broken the believablity of Enomoto as a character. 

I am glad we got to learn more about him by the end of the series but in a very J-drama fashion there are still mysteries left unsolved, mostly about Enomoto. And this is partly why I want to see more from this series.

Toda Erika played her part well, as the young, passionate and optimistic member of the group. Her character played well with the rest of Team Enomoto and while the hints of romance between Junko and Enomoto never went further than being hints I still think the two would have been great together. In fact I am surprised with how much I wanted them to become some kind of couple as I normally do not get into shipping much these days. But alas, it was not meant to be in the end.

Serizawa was a scene stealer and really helped bring the comedy to the series with Junko. I do not recall watching anything with Sato Koichi in it before but I will try my best to remember the name as I really enjoyed him in this series and would find his name in a cast listing a plus to try that drama out.

Overall a good series and one I would have no trouble recommending to others to watch. And I really hope this is not the actual end of the series and we will get a drama SP or something for it in the future. It may not be the easiest thing to do story wise but I think it could be done and tell a great story with an interesting mystery.

Also I want to announce that thanks to this drama I am now freaked out about old fashioned Japanese toilets (the ones that are on the ground that you have to squat over to use). I avoided using them as much as possible when I was in Japan as it was just so unnatural to me but now I just cannot think about using them without remembering one of the more disturbing cases the show had. 

I will try to at least start another spring drama before moving onto the summer dramas to review. Maybe two as I only have two on my list still that I want to try watching, Ataru because it sounds like it could be good and Kazoku no Uta because of Nakajima Kento and how bad it is supposed to be. I would add Papadol but it really just does not sound like the kind of drama I would like despite it having such strong Johnny's connections. So it ends up being a maybe one day kind of thing for now.