Just finished: Youkai Ningen Bem

Japanese dramas are usually quite low budget and unimaginatively shot, but throughout this series the director showed some nice touches with scenes framed by dramatic skies and a lovely bit where two people are walking and talking and just as their conversation becomes more positive, they emerge out of a shadow and into sunlight.

So I wonder how he felt when he saw how much talking there was in the last episode. There's only so much you can do, stylistically, with people in a room chatting. About halfway through the last episode, there are a few scenes in other places, but before too long, they're back at the same dusty old room.

I did a bit of research and discovered this story was first adapted for television in the late 1960s. This could explain the long-winded final episode where people chat endlessly but, then again, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de also suffered from the same fate.

The moral of the story is that people often do not appreciate what they have. And it's true: I did not appreciate the final episode of this show. I mean, I appreciate the hard work of the producers and fansubbers, and I'm still amazed by the technology that allows me to watch dramas from the other side of the world like this, but this show did not need a whole episode for such a lengthy, wordy conclusion.