Kiken na shamen

Based on a novel by notable Japanese novelist Seicho Matsumoto, Kiken Na Shamen was written in the '50s, and has been a popular story to be used for the basis of a television drama. It's been made into TV drama eight times so far.

Bunsaku Akiba (Atsuro Watabe) is a low level manager at Nishijima Electric's factory. One day he meets Rie Nozaki ( Kyoko Hasegawa) who works for the chairman of the company. He remembers that she's an old flame that he had relation with before he got married. Rie while being an assistant to the chairman was also his concubine. Bunsaku figures that it would be advantageous to be intimate with her again to gain foothold onto higher position in the company. Rie had idea to be pregnant with Bunsaku's child and ask him to marry her knowing that he's already married. Bunsaku, due to Rie's help gets noticed by the chairman and starts to climb the corporate ladder. Rie is somewhat loose woman, and she's also seeing another much younger man. Rie confesses to Bunsaku that she's pregnant. Six moth later, her body is found in the slopes of a mountain.

Rather simple plot, but shows that fooling around has high price to pay both for a man and a woman. Also shows that coveting something that isn't yours really isn't worth the price. The story outlines how a simple greed and dishonesty can destroy each other's life, and this seems to be the point of the story.

Although simple, the story is written many times better than most Japanese drama. The flow is smooth, and the points very clear. Most Japanese drama are way too non-linear, and convoluted to understand the story. I can see why Seicho Matsumoto is such a popular novelist. This story has clarity unlike most TV drama from Japan.

This was an intriguing drama that was entertaining to watch.