13 episodes of unexpected (mostly) twists and turns down a dark alley of paranormal mystery. The storytellers pack quite a lot into those 13 episodes. The focus begins on the two main characters and deftly brings in other characters, expanding the viewers knowledge of their friends and family, while at the same time giving us a broader, more insightful, look into Yakumo and Haruka.
The usual tropes are there, but there are reasons these tropes are used over and over again. When done right, they make for good story telling.
Yakumo is the tragic, good looking hero who just needs the love of a good heroine to put him on the path of righteousness and, of course, happiness.
Haruka is the naive, heedless of her own beauty and charm, heart of gold, but courageous of spirit, young woman, who finds herself drawn into our hero’s world. Both hero and heroine are forever changed.
Good overcomes evil, love overcomes hate, but what happens in between, and is told in the 13 episodes, is definitely worth watching.
The story has a great buildup of seemingly unrelated cases that begin to intertwine and mesh into each other in unexpected and delightfully twisted ways. There are places where one does guess accurately what will happen but then the show will surprise you when you least expect it. Don’t be surprised if a gasp or two escapes you while watching.
There are a few areas that I did find lacking, but certainly not enough to detract from the enjoyment I took in watching the series. I’m not certain if the intention was to do more than one season or not and they may have been planning to fill in or fix those areas at a later date.
The villain, while suitably evil, was not a satisfying villain. They were more of a caricature of evil than something or someone to truly fear. The story, in my opinion, would have been better served if we had learned more about the motives and history of the villain—something to flesh them out, so to speak.
The last episode was done well in that, if it was the last episode it would be fairly wrapped up with a few loose ends so that if a second season were coming they could build on it.
Overall, I loved this series. If you like mystery, romance and a good story, you need to check this out.
