Zeni no Sensou #review

銭の戦争 

Drama -  War of Money
Genre -  Drama, suspense
Writer  - Park In kwon (comic), Noriko Goto
Network -  Fuji TV
Episodes -  11
Released -  Jan - Mar, 2015
Ratings -  13.4%

CAST

PLOT

Shiraishi Tomio loses everything. His money, job, and fiancé, and becomes homeless. The path he chooses is that of the moneylenders who drove him to the very bottom. 

REVIEW

Bravo on a job well done, and a well thought out cast of players for these unusual characters.

I know this isn't the first time a Japanese producer used a Korean manhwa to create live action, but hat's off to whomever decided to give this a chance because it worked.

Just too bad (as usual) that there is zero romance, zero chance of seeing any romance blossom, and zero HEA in that regard, but then it wouldn't be a Japanese drama, would it?

This time, the subs were back to being piss-poor but not entirely illegible -- just annoying enough to make me notice but not annoying enough to make it tough to watch.

Timing was the real issue here, with each episode starting out alright and then the 15-minutes-in sponsor break occurs and . . . argh!

On a personal experience basis, translating isn't the toughest job in the world and doesn't require possession of a college degree to perform, so I just don't get why or how it is that difficult for whomever to do their job AT LEAST satisfactorily.

The story itself is riveting -- even if it is done-to-death -- because of the original spin the writer took to tell the tale.

The ending surprised and didn't surprise -- just left me feeling a little empty inside.

Tomio being the good guy then the bad guy, then reverting back to the good guy before turning bad guy again occurred throughout the show, but the ending is left to ones own interpretation as to what he became next.

Despite his age and controversy, I love Kusanagi-kun and was really glad to see him playing the lead -- he's a terrific actor who lends himself well to whatever character he portrays, though it is a bit hard not to see him as opposed to a transformation.

This is not as dark a drama as you might suspect and had just as much comedic relief as it did nail-biting suspense.

The bad guy deserves credit for his portrayal of the nemesis because he really went all-out and convinced me he's evil but with a sense of humor.

Highly recommend this if you haven't watched yet.