After Death

I was surprised by the series Unnatural, which is quite good and has a couple of unusual running plot threads that come together for an interesting finale. The characters are not the usual apologetic bunch of self-effacing people usually seen in Japanese dramas, too, but more like real life forensic scientists.

Part of a highly effective team, forensic doctor Mikoto Misumi (Satomi Ishihara) works at the Unnatural Death Investigation Laboratory (UDI Lab), a fictional facility, to solve various cases involving deaths arising from unnatural circumstances. The other forensic doc who works there, the very grumpy and foul-mouthed Kei Nakado (Arata Iura), is trying to find the killer of his lover, whose death he's long been blamed for. Other characters weave a nice balance to the cast, and the mysteries the UDI team take on aren't as simple as you might expect. One episode dealing with the aftermath of a building fire was very unpredictable and well-plotted.

Unlike forensic shows in the West pretty much everything dead, wounded or shocking is blurred, which didn't bother me as I've seen the real thing. Some of the conclusions the team jumped to were a bit hasty, and quite thin on evidence, but they only had an hour for every episode so okay. If you like interesting mysteries this is definitely one to watch. Available on Viki.com.