Gedou no Uta Season 2: More gritty, grimy and ultimately satisfying revenge.

 

Two years prior to this blog post, DMM TV launched with a live-action drama adaptation of Deisuke Watanabe's gripping manga, Gedou no Uta. The six episodes followed the adventures of a cool and stylish duo of vigilantes by the names of Takeshi 'Kamo' Kamonome and Toranobu 'Tora' Shimada. The two run a used bookstore attached to Kamo's name, but their vigilante justice is used to help victims who come forward, picking up the specific book, Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche. Anyways, after what seemed like a longer wait than it truly was, season 2 arrived and my first impressions are that it's good.

Picking up from were the first season concluded, Kamo and Tora have a run-in with deadly duo, Kayoko Enoki and Yu Tsurumaki regarding one of their old clients. After that business is wrapped up, the duo's bookstore receives an unexpected visit from one of Kamo's childhood friends. Unfortunately, this visit has consequences due to Atsushi Sakurauchi's association with a man named Kunimatsu and their plans to kill for the 'good of society'. On top of that, there's a certain organisation to which the aforementioned Kayoko Enoki and by extension, Yu Tsurumaki belongs to which runs interference.

Pairing accomplished director Koji Shiraishi with the high-production values was always going to be a wise decision. Everything looks crisp and clear, as Shiraishi knows how to shoot a project whether it be a drama or a movie. In combination with some rather astute camerawork, there's some delightful use of colour, especially browns, blues and oranges which highlight the dramatic tension and visceral nature of the revenge taking place within the drama. 

Tora gets a nice fight scene in the very first episode with 'Megane' Yu Tsurumaki. What I like about that fight is the fact that it isn't overly flashy and most of the stuff we see of it is applicable technique. Most other 'fights' in throughout the duration of the drama are really just one-sided beatdowns.

Whilst the idea of there being an organisation that carries out revenge similar to the protagonists sounds good on paper, the execution with Kayoko is rather tiresome. She preaches to the protagonists and comes across as annoying more than interesting in her speeches, I couldn't wait for her to be shut up. Sure, she's got a differing philosophy when it comes to the business of revenge, but that doesn't make her right. Kamo and Tora have dished out cold vengeance that punished criminals and aided victims countless times. It doesn't matter whether they gain any sort of pleasure or satisfaction from it. Having said that, I did enjoy were Kayoko ended up at the end of the season as it is rather intriguing and open to a world of possibilities. 

Sonoda returns after escaping any real consequences for his murder spree in the previous season. Season 2 sees him being an antagonist once more with him still being obsessed with Nanako. We get to see a bit of backstory for him, which is rather sad in a sense, but he learnt the wrong lessons from his tragedy and became the killer he is. His story ultimately reaches a satisfactory conclusion with a confrontation and resolution that made me happy.

Our beloved yin and yang duo are back and as fun to watch as always. Kazuya Kamenashi delivers another splendid performance as the much more emotionally driven, badass ass-kicker, Tora. Kamenashi's improvements as an actor have been a joy to experience and he has always excelled when it comes to roles with some physicality due to his background as a J-pop idol with KAT-TUN. His best and most emotionally impactful scenes in my opinion, occur in episode 5. The main trio, Nanako included, head to her home were her family was murdered and it's there in Nanako's old bedroom were Tora connects with her regarding their respective pasts. 

In contrast, Yosuke Kubozuka delivers a much more nuanced, subtle performance as the much more subdued, quiet Kamo. He is the brains of the main duo, acting as the appropriate stoic thinker to Tora's emotional storm. For a hard character to nail down, Kubozuka did a fantastic job and came across as likable and cool, especially with him using a deep tone of voice. His best moment to shine came in the very last episode of the season in my opinion with him having an absolutely badass confrontation. 

The new additions to the cast included veteran actors Hiroyuki Ikeuchi and Yusuke Iseya. It seems that I can rarely escape the former these days, however Ikeuchi delivers a great performance as the very conflicted childhood friend of Kamo, Atsushi Sakurauchi. There's enough meat on the bone to make you question his motivation and loyalties. Yusuke Iseya has always had such unbelievable presence and poise, something which serves him well in the role of Kunimatsu. He convincingly portrays the conniving, cunning schemer and looks incredibly dapper whilst doing so. He seemed to be having fun, which makes it even better to watch. 

Overall, I am hesitant to state that season 2 is as good as the first because the focus was split between wrapping up the business with Sonoda and the new organisation with Kayoko. That's not to say that it's bad, it's just not to my taste as much as the first season was. There's some great stuff within, such as the aforementioned satisfactory conclusion to the Sonoda saga. It's well worth a watch if you enjoyed the first season.