Beginning with a wonderfully executed opening scene of a police officer in hysteria, the show captures you with a sense of morbid intrigue and somehow just builds upon itself with each new episode. However, this isn't a fast paced show that throws high speed curve balls at you to catch you off guard. Instead, it works at a pace that more reflects the perfect stillness of its isolated forest setting, with a slow moving sinister undertone beneath its canopy. You follow the trail of a new, young, and impetuous police officer who's transferred with his wife and daughter to a small town precinct as its only law enforcing officer. While presiding over the unassuming sleepy territory, he never quite settles down as he attempts to uncover the disappearance of his predecessor (the very same hysterical officer from the opening scene). The detective mystery unravels one layer at a time but not so quickly that the viewer quite figures out what's happening too soon. The end of each episode creates a brooding desire to guess what will happen in each new following episode as the story builds suspense and the towns nefarious secret begins to show its face.
The directing is top notch at times, as in the opening scene. And the cinematography is artful-at times. However, the show isn't perfectly polished and ends up breaking you from its hypnosis at points, usually caused by low budget computer effects, or unbelievable gun play. As an American watching a Japanese show with gun fighting and usage, the gun physics was laughable. A shotgun with no recoil from shooting what appears to be slugs was boggling to me. But you can't blame a culture that doesn't glorify gun violence to pay much attention to that type of detail. Nonetheless, the show tends to stick to its lane of masterful storytelling over pretending to be a fast action shoot em up, thankfully. It's not long after each noticeable deviation before Gannibal entrances you back in with its storyline and gloomy style.
This show is well worth the watch, definitely refreshing despite its dark overtones.
