MOZU Season 1 Episode 1

For those who watched “Double face” the names of Nishijima Hidetoshi and Kagawa Teruyuki may made them look forward in excitement for this drama, and of course I am one of those people. However, given the past high hopes I used to have for different dramas, I tried not to have over the top expectations out of it. Luckily, “Mozu” surpassed every expectation I had.

It’s a little hard to understand the whole story and concept behind the drama just from an episode, even if it was a 90 minutes one. Of course, there are a lot of hunches regarding a lot of things, but for now I’ll try to let it go and think about the story and motives after watching more episodes.

But now, why were my expectations surpassed? Well, that’s easy to answer. Although it may sound unsuitable to say this just after one episode, I’ll take my chance and say that “Mozu” is a well polished show, which has everything you could ask from a drama that will keep the views on the edge of their chairs.

The flavor of “MOZU” are definitely the well portrayed characters, be it sides or main ones. Even if there are Kuraki (played by Nishijima Hidetoshi), Osugi (played by Kagawa Teruyuki) or Miki (Maki Yoko) as main, were the story –for now- spins around them, those characters are highlighted with the help of the side characters.

For sure this drama will be compared with “Hanzawa Naoki” for the time being; even before airing those two dramas were in a “battle”. The question now is if “MOZU” will be able to beat “Hanzawa Naoki” in terms of ratings, because as already known Hanzawa had great rating points (surpassed the 40 mark) and those numbers aren’t something easy to beat. However, it has been anticipated (in the media) that “MOZU” may break the 40-50% rating points. Honestly speaking, this drama may indeed hit that mark. I mean, it has everything – great acting, directing and script.

If I were to compare it to Hanzawa, but from my own point of view, “MOZU” is better (and I mean way better) in terms of acting, because it is made in a more natural way, where the acting in Hanzawa was a bit more stiff/forceful and made in a rather clenched teeth kind of way. There is tension in both dramas, but in “MOZU”, the tension is more laid back, making way for the hints of the story.

As for the characters, for now I’m confused. There was a lot of information about every character of this drama, however, although it may seem like a lot of things said about them, at the same time I feel like there weren’t enough to actually get a hold of the whole situation.

In regards of the plot, in episode one, a bomb incident occurs that will become the “alter ego” behind the drama. In the bomb incident, Kuraki loses his wife….wife about who there seems to be a lot of questions, but as a whole there are a lot of questions about Kuraki’s family, like for example the wife who killed their daughter, the daughter’s blood type and so on.

We get introduced to Shingai Kazuhiko a young man who may be the one who planted the bomb but loses his memory along the episode. Throughout the 90 minutes of the first episode, he tries to find out who he is, if he has a sister (the dudes who try to get a hold of him keep mentioning his little sister) and if he is indeed the one behind the bomb incident.

There are a lot of questions but also a lot of connections between the characters, however for now I want to enjoy the whole show as it is – enjoying the thrilling story, the awesome directing sprinkled with great acting while catching the hints given in every episode.

 Another review of this episode can be found on psycho-drama written by jedmed.

Watch MOZU Season 1 Episode 2 online at dramanice.com