Manekazaru Homonsha (1985)

An interesting beginning but descends into bizarre nonsense.

I'm becoming a huge fan of the lead actress Momoi Kaori and found this randomly online. Suspense + Mamoi Kaori sounds like a good time to me. For the most part it is. But don't expect a very coherent or logical story.

The show starts off quite well with a woman finding her self in odd circumstances and trying to help a boy be reunited with his father who is a gambler and shows little interest in wanting to be a good father.

Kaori plays a good role as this strong female character as she tries to get involved in their problems. But that's sort of where it ends. The 2nd half she seems to just change completely into this weak woman with a sort of change in relationship that feels incredibly unearned and silly and I just didn't understand the character anymore. The ending arc is utterly bizarre, and high dysfunctional and left me bewildered as to what the writers were even trying to say.

I gather this is based on a short story in a book and perhaps that's why it had that sort of air of an open ended twist ending but it just didn't work for me as almost a movie length TV special I had got invested in. In the end it's a pretty miserable story about miserable people.

All that said, Momoi Kaori chews the scenery as she always does and it's enjoyable for that reason at least.

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