ザラ Notes: 鍵のかかった部屋 Kagi no Kakatta Heya

04 January 2014

鍵のかかった部屋 Kagi no Kakatta Heya

Title: 鍵のかかった部屋スペシャル Kagi no Kakatta Heya Supesharu (Special)
English Title:

The Locked Room
The Locked Room Murders

Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2014
Episode: 01
Cast:

大野智 Ohno Satoshi
佐藤浩市 Sato Koichi
戸田恵梨香 Toda Erika
宇梶剛士 Ukaji Takashi
黒木瞳 Kuroki Hitomi
佐野史郎 Sano Shiro
藤木直人 Fujiki Naohito
岡田義徳 Okada Yoshinori
松井珠理奈 Matsui Jurina

SYNOPSIS

嵐 Arashi - Face Down

Enomoto Kei is a security otaku who used to help a couple of lawyers in their cases that involved locked rooms. He is back in Tokyo after traveling around the world for a few months and he now manages his own security company.

Lawyer Serizawa Go works on a murder case where the victim was killed in a house with locked doors and windows.

Lawyer Aoto Junko works on a strange case where the owner of the apartment was saved by a mysterious person that managed to get inside the locked room.

Junko accidentally runs into Kei while working on her case. Happy to see Kei again after a long time, she enlists his help on her case.

REVIEW
Kagi no Kakatta Heya is about a complicated case that actually involves three different cases that all took place in locked rooms. It is particularly fascinating because the case is somewhat related to arts, museums, creativity, and optical illusions.

Inaba Toru: A human's brain receives information from the eyes but it's possible for it to judge that information incorrectly.

The drama's plot is very interesting because the protagonists' task is not just to figure out who is the killer but also to find out how the crime was committed considering that the place where the crime occurred was closed or locked. More than that, it is also important for the protagonists to determine the killer's motivation and to gather evidence because without these, they are just speculating and won't be able to get the authorities to take them seriously.

I like Enamoto Kei as a character because of his mannerisms. I especially like how he does not answer questions he doesn't want to answer, or rather he answers questions but without actually giving any information.

However, I don't really like the fact that Kei is a bad guy. There are indications that he could be a bad person in the drama prequel but those clues are vague enough that viewers can still give him the benefit of the doubt. In this drama special though, Kei sells questionable merchandise at his security shop.

Aoto Junko: (Your merchandise) are more like goods for burglars rather than crime prevention goods.
Enamoto Kei: Is that so?
Aoto Junko: There's no signboard outside, is there? The security here is top-notch too. Will customers come here?
Enamoto Kei: We only accept referrals so we don't accept walk-in customers.
Aoto Junko: So that means Kohiyama Susumu (our client) was referred by someone too?
Enamoto Kei: That's right.
Aoto Junko: That person must be a burglar too, right? So that means this is like a hang-out for burglars?
Enamoto Kei: No, it's not.
Aoto Junko: I guess so, huh?