Ashita no Kita Yoshio

Also known as 'Tomorrow's Kita Yoshio', this is a TV series of 11 45-minute episodes with good subtitling. It concerns a middle-aged man, Kita Yoshio, who has decided to commit himself in 11 days time on the anniversary of his friend's death. Each episode covers one day and there are many mysteries to be solved: Why did a rich man make friends with Kita in the first place? How did he die? Why did a beautiful young nurse agree to marry Kita many years ago? Why did she later leave him? How is she now the boss of a very large company.

The series is quite interesting in its mysteries. The main problem is the main character is such a drip. He wanders around, being terribly nice to people are are left deciding whether to help him or to use him for their own ends. The main character (who does both) is Keito, a club owner, who is played by Ryuhei Matsuda of '9 Souls' and 'Izo' fame.

The reason for my interest in the series is the presence of Chiaki Kuriyama as Keito's girlfriend. She is in each episode but only for about five minutes in each. She is still memorable, however, as she plays a very evil character. Not evil in her more well-known 'loving it' way, as in 'Kill Bill' or 'Great Yokai War', but as a selfish and weak-willed character who is willing to do the most terrible things to others to get herself out of the hole she has dug for herself. A very good performance!

Knocking down the stars I have awarded are inconsistencies in tone, such as a pair of comedy insurance investigators, amidst all this drama, who are trying to determine whether Kito's ex-wife murdered the previous boss of the company. Also annoying is the background music with frequent jazzy themes playing whatever the mood of the scenes being shown. But worth watching for the girl celebrity with a fetish for sucking toes who befriends Kito.

I obtained my copy from HKFlix. I have also seen it on e-bay.