Fan reviews: Byakuyakou

mrsmith10 · 29 Dec 2011

Byakuyakou has quite an interesting plot that was written pretty well. It was interesting to see a couple fugitives in a more sympathetic viewpoint and had some good character development. However I can't say this was the best or the most enjoyable drama. While I felt Ayase Haruka did a good job acting here, her character, Yukiho, got on my nerves. I thought she was quite selfish, and it was hard for me to take her seriously after she had her friend sexually assaulted because of her own jealousy. Yamada's character, Ryouji, on the other hand I did like. He was just doing things he needed to in order to survive and to protect Yukiho. The other issue I had was with some disturbing scenes, like Ryouji having to screw a dead corpse. Thankfully that was never shown, but even implying it creeped me out.

anon001 · 19 Jul 2011

i dunno whats wrong with me. but i rooting the two main cast to succeed in every crime they did. i dont think they should suffer for this kind of darkness so much..this is indeed a very well written and well played drama. the acting also great..

andryvee · 27 May 2011

The most shocking drama.
Two main casts are totally impresive!!

iluvasiandrama · 30 Mar 2011

I liked this drama. It was sad though. Wish I could give a little spoiler but anyhow it's worth a watch.

Sajen16 · 25 Jan 2011

Haruka Ayase of course gives a great performance and even though I'm less familiar with him so to did Yamada Takayuki. My only complaint is that they didn't get away I wanted them to get away.

mitayashi · 7 Nov 2009

Poirot - A character of Agatha Christie once said that once you killed, you would killed again...

Most story telling would take protagonists as their main characters. From Japanese itself, the most notable story telling was Death Note. It was said as the first manga with antagonist as main character.

The similar characteristic went to Byakuyakou where the main characters were antagonist and the story was also about crimes. However, for some points, Byakuyakou stood more because it carried more issues like prostitution, threatening matters, and dark secrets which actually close to our daily lives.

Whether you gave your sympathy to the characters or not, for me, myself, this story had clear question toward our humanity, beliefs, and ethics.

The next paragraph of my review contains SPOILER but after that, no more spoiler.

The story had taken two young children, around age 11, meeting in library. They had fallen in love but their meeting was the beginning of their disastrous lfe. The girl was sold by her mother for sex and the client was the father of the boy. But rather than ended to hate one each other, they helped one each other. As an accidental action, the boy stabbed his father and caused him dead. The girl, in return, was the one who covered and made her own mother as the suspect. Later, she killed her too. To cover it, the girl said goodbye. But later, after years, they met again to commit more crimes.

The story was surely not for young viewers. There were sensitive issues including sex which made this drama could be watched by adults. More than it, the story need our wise thought and understanding. For some people, the story might be lame and annoying especially because it had so many repeating scenes but I think it was enough reasonable. This was a detective story. As the point of views were given from both criminals and detectives, you can see the difference and similarity of their thoughts.

Byakuyakou was a j-dorama that was filled in great details from plotting, characterizations, continuity, great music scores, including best in photography and sounds. I rarely see a drama with such of passion to photography and sounds. The musics had suited the ambiance of the story's mood and it really moved your heart.

For me, the only thing that might annoying was because the characters were mostly crying which made me unable to cry. But, it was still touching my heart. If I was in such situation, I might cried too. But I must gave all actors and actress thumbs up since all of them brilliantly played well.

As conclusion from me, if you like a serious drama, if you like a tense story, psychology, no ordinary story, beautiful scenes and poems, great dialogues, music scores, and strong acting, Byakuyakou is a must to see.

Chitose_valiya · 26 Aug 2009

If someone ask me: "Will You watch it again?", I will answer: "Yes, of course!!!", but if someone ask me: "Shall I watch It?", I will answer: "No, I won't recommend It!". It taught me a lot, even thought It's full of inhuman things. An intriguing and unexpected plot, a lot of deep meaning about love and life and great acting from Yamada Takayuki, even if It's a drama that made me feel really depressed, It won't change the fact that It's one of the greatest drama I ever have seen!

morical · 4 Aug 2009

Amazingly dark drama gave me tons of surprises! I'm usually more into basic tearjerkers and not so much into these mystery/thrillers, but I just had to finish this one after first couple of episodes.

Things they did were just awful, and I just didn't se anything coming until it was actually happening. It gave me lots of wow-effects and it also made feel very sorry for their actions. Its nice to watch something like this every once in a while: where main characters are not the knights in shining armours, but do things which make make you cry "WHYYY??" aloud while watching TV.

This was so different that I'm definitely gonna watch it again to see how much I missed at the first round.

Don't compare this to Sekachu, even though the leads are the same and some background musics contain same themes. This one is not a true tearjerker as Sekachu was :) This is definitely for people liking mystery/crime/thrillers and I'm surprised that I liked it so much :)

HHND · 25 Jun 2009

First off, some comments here mesmerized me. The first question that pops out is, "Do people think?" OK, Byakuyakou has the two lead casts that are the same in Sekachuu. In Byakuyakou and Sekachuu 1 person dies, 1 person lives (main characters). THAT'S IT. I probably will never understand how people come up with the concept "Byakuyakou and Sekachuu are similar". Well let me ask you, are "Romeo & Juliet" and "Hamlet" similar??? They're both written by Shakespeare after all!!!!
That said, Byakuyakou is a dark drama. I haven't seen A million stars falling, but this is one of the best Jdrama, if not drama overall, that I've ever seen. Yes, its logic has some loopholes, but what kind of dramas/movies is free from loopholes? The important thing is, they tried to portray the connection between the 2 characters, and they did it well. The filming is impressive, the acting is superb. I don't know what else people are demanding from this.

Also some people give this drama a 5 because it's "depressing". If you can't stand dark dramas, don't watch them! Just because a drama is "depressing" doesn't mean it's bad. Many times it's quite the reverse, actually.

compaqmac321 · 24 Jan 2009

hmmmmmmm, this show was amazing......it was so raw.....idk what to say........every episode sucked me in deeper and deeper and deeper to where i ended up watching this show in less than a day. the casting was great, two of my top actors were in it, ayase and yamada...the story was amazing, nothing annoyed, except the detective...i feel like i connected with the characters more and more as each episode progressed, to the point where, i wanted the show to end faster because i was so concerned about the well being of yukiho and ryo. i still feel like maou was better than this, but i fully understand why this show won so many awards, if you havent seen this show, kill yourself

jed_ka · 5 May 2008

The two came from different worlds, the two would be hard, life, everything done the truth to light to get

The story is so dramatic that I think the tears from the eyes had received!

The two have Lost everything, even their selenium, so that their dream is true! -- "Walk together under the sun!"

A simple dream for ordinary people, but for both a very serious dream, which lasted 14 years,

So melodramatic series I've never seen in my life!

mercury0687 · 29 Mar 2008

This drama is UNPREDICTABLE.... Every episode sent chills down my spine.... What an amazing plot, performance... almost everything was perfect.... but at every point i thought, why? why would anyone do so much for one person... we have one life and spending it in doing such things is just ridiculous....
was it love or was it pity that made him commit such crimes, was it because she befriended him when he had none... or was it because he was so ashamed and guilty of what his father did that the only way to rectify the harm was through a series of crimes.... at a point u tend to hate Yukiho, because she does persuade him to do stuff....
i even pitied Ryoji when she fell for the other guy....
some parts were simply unnecessary.... but still.. this one is amazing.... i wouldn't watch it again since it's too sad but i can say it's the best drama i've ever watched.... long enough, scary enough, strange enough and sad enough.... for me!!

chokakoi · 21 Dec 2007

This drama is soooooo heavy, the whole tone is sooooo sad and heavy, it is really difficult to get to the end. Plus I think the story is crazy. What r the two characters thinking about? They have many chances to leave everything behind and start a new life, why do they have to go on and commit more crimes to cover their crime? I really don't understand what are they thinking about.
Ayase is very pretty I must admit (and oh man she is younger than me! envy!), but I just can't stand her character inside the show. A totally selfish character.
If not I was eager to catch the first dorama of Kassy since his 'comeback', I would not have finish this dorama... (n the fact his parts are very limited, it is really hard for me to continue watching... plus his hairstyle sucks big time... but i thought he done a good job)
The whole tone of the show made me sooooo depress. Was feeling Really really down for the few days I was watching this show.
Depressing, really dunno how I managed to finally reach the last episode.
I would never re-watch it again.

OH OH! I thought Fukuda Mayuko (the young girl) acted really good. I was quite scared of her while watching the show. haha
Her eyes are scary when she said all those words. Like an adult trapped in a kid body. Scary.

Wynter · 23 Aug 2007

This drama is a love story between two children forced to commit murders in order to protect each other. The drama follows the events that take place afterwards in their lives, each event more complicated, each event more terrible, for one simple goal: to walk together beneath the sun once more.

This is the darkest drama I have ever seen. There isnft a single ray of light in it and while watching I felt like I was drowning in the darkness. I wanted to stop watching, but I couldnft. I didnft like this show.

But it is brilliant.

Why are people bad? How do they become bad? Can you blame children for their actions? When do they become adults? This drama really makes you reevaluate rather dangerous morals. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions while watching. They were only childrenc and this must happen in life every dayc. This is the second drama (Ichi Ritoru no Namida being the first) that has ever hit me emotionally and mentally this hard.

Every single actor/actress in this drama was brilliant, especially Yamada and Ayase. Never have I felt for, nor hated, two characters more.

This drama was sickening to watch at times and I felt dirty throughout most of it. I will never ever watch it again.

I donft recommend this drama at all. And yet I do.

darc_blade · 19 Apr 2007

Let's see... After watching the first 3 episodes, you think to yourself. This is implausible. But I can't stop watching the ever-so-slow plot and melodramatic tragic characters. It makes no sense, but I can't stop watching cos I want to see how it probably explodes in some form or another in the end. I put this somewhere close to koukou kyoshi. Crazy. Over the top. Making it all of a sudden seem comical. Cos you can't relate to the insanity at all. Why watch you say? Now that maybe a question we will never know the answer to.

maui · 20 Mar 2007

Awards
48th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Drama
48th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Actor: Yamada Takayuki
48th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Supporting: Actress: Ayase Haruka
48th Television Drama Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor: Takeda Tetsuya

Great story and great acting.Dark theme but the drama was not boring at all.The best human drama ever.

k4g0me · 14 Mar 2007

I quit watching I think after episode 4...Started out with great potential of being really good dark drama a la One Million Stars Falling but fell apart before my eyes. **SPOILER**It was bizarre and kinda sickening (that Yamada hotel corpse scene). I thought the love between the leads would be so deep you would actually want to root for them to win...but after episode 3...what the heck happened....It was too depressing for words and felt downright sinful. ugh! I hate it and I'm a huge Yamada fan. :(

edsin · 2 Mar 2007

NO doubt byakuyakou is a great drama... i finished it in one day... i never saw the drama sekaichuu but i saw the movie... I really dont think the plot of the story are similar in anyways.... I dont understand why people say they are similar... maybe the leads are the same but the story are total different...

Monkeyboy2 · 25 Feb 2007

For those who want to watch this and are expecting it to be like Sekachu, you'd be wrong. You could call it the Antichu....it was dark and for adults. The storyline is a little far fetched but once again the brilliant acting by Yamada Takayuki and Ayase Haruka make this dorama shine. The suspense was snipping at me the whole time. It was truly a Journey under a Midnight Sun..... from start to finish. I can see why this dorama received so many awards. This show is a definite SEE IT in my book.

Thank you Sars-Fansubs for fan-subbing this dorama

jchurch · 20 Nov 2006

intense. what more can i say.

this drama just cant be compared to sekai. though it shares the same leads, the similarities end there. the story is very well written and flows along with never a dull moment. overall, its a very well executed production.

highly recommended.