First Impression: Innocence, Fight Against False Charges (2019)

Netflix seems to be catching up with a lot of dramas these days - but I am not complaining.

Recently, I start to watch an old drama there (although to be fair, I don’t think it’s old - it’s from 2019 so pre covid life) titled Innocence.

The story is very typical lawyer drama that I am getting so tired of it. This is “Hero” all over again. Even Sakaken character looks like KimuTaku’s. They follow the formula to the T — even the female sidekick (hey Kawaguchi Haruna).

But let’s close our eyes at the blatantly obvious stuffs - and focus on the story.

Innocence told a story about a lawyer that fights back every ‘false’ charge. Japanese police is famous for their closing case rates, but there has been some talk that they just force people to plead guilty instead of investigating a case properly. Innocence tries to highlight that.

Sakaken character is that lawyer. He actually comes from quite impressive family — his dad is the public prosecutor — someone with title if you may. It’s still a mystery (so far) on why Sakaken is now at a small firm fighting for people that are falsely charged (and dare I say, probono?) while his dad is living the life.

The sidekick comes in a form of Kawaguchi Haruna. She’s another lawyer that got kicked out from a big law firm and now working at the same firm as Sakaken. Together, both of them solve cases.

Now.

I will say this. Sakaken and Haruna has zero chemistry together. If the writers try to duplicate KimuTaku and Matsu Takako from “Hero” — they failed. Everytime Sakaken and Haruna are working together, all I thought was that they are better off by themselves.

Like it’s not enough - the side characters make me raising my eyebrows. A university professor that grumpily helps Sakaken with his experiments trying to overturn guilty charges. A reporter that seems to be obsessed with Sakaken and willing to help him with anything (background on cases and suspects) in an exchange of an interview. The list goes ON.

At this point, you will probably ask: so why are you still watching it, Fanny?

To be honest - I don’t know. I am probably bored.