The Many Faces of Ito (2017)

This is a very particular drama and not really what I was expecting when I came across it the first time. I haven't read the novel, so I don't know how it's constructed, but the drama doesn't quite follow the kind of format you'd think when you read the description. From the main plot, you'd think this is a story focused on Yazaki Rio, where these other girls and their situations with this mysterious man are secondary, but it's the reverse, for the most part. You know more about these women than you do about the protagonist, and her own story unravels slowly throughout the series, ending in a cliff-hanger that I assume is setting the story for the movie that follows.

The premise of the drama is developed as a multiple perspective story, where each of the girls (A to D) get 2 episodes each focused on them (the drama has 8 episodes in total), while small parts of the protagonist's story get shown along the way. Each of the girls is reduced to represent a character archetype for Rio to write her drama about, but reality tends to exceed these limitations and even if Rio's perspective most times seems to remain objective, the girls suffer from great changes in their lives prompted by these situations, but which ultimately have to do with themselves and their life choices, as well as their friendships and relationships.

Even though I find the direction of this drama very good and very distinctive, I felt it at times confusing to follow because of how it was filmed and how transitions and back-and-forth elements were disclosed. Maybe it was the intention, to keep reality and fiction blurred, so I can't fault it too much for that.

The leads are represented as flawed girls rather than plain characters, which I applaud in a jdrama. It represents elements of reality in different perspectives while keeping the characters less idealized, as dramas tend to do, and more flawed and complex. They all make mistakes, they all have to face them and you are at times shouting at the screen for some of the things they do, but it engages. The meta element of this being a drama within a drama makes this opposition of "plain archetype characters" and "real life flawed people" a very interesting thing to see set in this way.

I also feel that the marketing for the drama could have been better, because if the whole situation with who the E woman was would have remained secret, it would have been a really good plot twist, but the posters and public releases already give that away.

All in all, it's an unexpected, different sort of drama that takes a cliche premise and deconstructs it in very interesting ways. If you're looking for something more straightforward, with a steady plot that's focused on one character's journey, this is not your thing. If you're, however, looking for something different, a bit meta and very interestingly filmed and scripted, give this one a chance. I hope that the movie that follows stays interesting as well.

Lees verder