No.of Epis: 9Year/TV Station: 2009/TBS
Cast:
Takizawa Hideaki ~ Ryuzaki Shinji
Nishikido Ryo ~ Aoi Ryosuke
Mizukawa Asami ~ Hasebe Nagisa
Synopsis: (from Dramawiki)
Ryuzaki Shinji who possesses a “God Hand”, the power to heal wounds and illnesses just by touching the patient, is in fact a dark introvert who does not reveal his true self to others. Aoi Ryosuke who possesses the “Demon’s Hand”, the power to kill a person just by touching him, is as kind and pure as an angel. When the demon meets the God, a fatal battle begins…
Detective Hasebe Nagisa gets caught by the criminals during a deep cover operation. Ryosuke, a man she does not even know comes to save her and she witnesses his “Demon’s Hand” in action. Thereafter she discovers by coincidence the existence of Shinji’s “God Hand” and brings the two together. Little did she know that this would cause great disorder to the world and even to her own life…
Slacker's review:
Surprise surprise! I never thought "Orthros" would be that interesting. Seriously, I'm reserved about "dark" dramas. Plus, with JE boys as leads, there seemed to be more doubts. Haha. Alright, I should not doubt too much. The plot was interesting, I was totally clueless about the direction of the plot, and I was still kinda clueless after every episode ended. (You just can't guess what would happen next!) Anyway, there's a twist in the drama, not a dramatic one, but if you know what's Orthros, then you should have gotten the hint. Well, I thought the development of the drama was great, I liked how those guys wanna get control of Ryuzaki, but like what Ryuzaki said, he's the one who got "control" over them. Initially, I thought there were sparks coming off b/w Ryuzaki & Hasebe, but nothing happened. Perhaps, that few scenes had been misleading? (But I believed Ryuzaki did like Hasebe, and he's concerned about Mio's illness). Ending was interesting too, but there were some unexplained details. I thought both Ryuzaki & Aoi had died, but I was wrong. Lolz! Luckily, in the end, they only lost their power. Finally, they could lead a normal life, without people trying to clone or make use of their power.
Takizawa has been absent from mainstream dramas for about 6 yrs, excluding his taiga drama "Yoshitsune" & those single-episode dramas in between. I still prefer Tackey's acting rather than his singing. (Not saying that his singing sucks, but his performance was better as an actor to me). "Orthros" gave him a chance to show his acting. Most JE boys were tagged for "being handsome, but can't act". Luckily, Tackey proved me wrong. Ryuzaki appeared to be a bad guy, as he kept asking for return before he cured someone with his "god's hand". Towards the end, I finally got a better picture of Ryuzaki's past, you just could not figure him out till the drama ended. Lolz! Chemistry with Nishikido was great, and like what I said just now, I loved the sparks b/w Ryuzaki & Hasebe. That few scenes b/w Tackey & Mizukawa made me anticipated the drama more. (I wondered why Ryuzaki had interest in Hasebe though. It's just not obvious at all! )
Nishikido was one of the few JE boys who could act. His performance in "Orthros" was not too bad, but not as spectacular as compared to his performance in "Last Friends". Also, Tackey sort of outshone him in terms of character. Ryuzaki just got this mysterious aura around him. Aoi, paled in comparison. Anyway, Aoi's character was established in epi 1, way more clear cut than Ryuzaki, who's a murderer & on death row. Unlike Ryuzaki, Aoi struggled with his "demon's hand". Aoi seemed to be confused with his power, but he easily killed a few people in the 1st few epis. It's fun to see how the two broke free of others' control and controlled the situation instead.
I always wondered about Mizukawa's role as Hasebe. This seemed to be a guys' show. So is she gg to be a flower vase? Not at all! Hasebe was like a "bridge" b/w the two guys. It's her who brought Aoi to Ryuzaki. It's her who let Aoi knew that there's a "God's hand". There was a scene where Ryuzaki forced Hasebe to decide on her collegue's wife's fate. I thought it was a confused & conflicted scenario as Hasebe herself struggled with right & wrong. Too bad, she could not save her colleague in the end. Finally, I loved the scenes & interactions b/w Hasebe & her daughter Mio. So heartwarming~
As for support cast, Sasaki Kuranosuke's Sawamura was very bad. Haha! Kudos to Sasaki for making this drama so interesting with his schemes. I hoped Aoi killed him in the last epi! Haiz...Sawamura was caught by Hasebe in the end. He should just die la. Lolz!
Theme song was "Hikari Hitotsu" by Takizawa Hideaki.
