I finished watching Maou about fifteen minutes ago. I should be sleeping now, but really, how can one sleep after having been made to -- as Kaelyn the Dove from Neverwinter Nights puts it -- wear someone else's skin, calluses and all? Because that is exactly what Maou makes you feel.
A little background on what I'm talking about. Maou, or Devil, is a Japanese drama series based on the original Korean drama, The Devil. It is about Ryou Naruse -- a lawyer whose younger brother was killed eleven years prior to when the series started. He grows up to be a very successful lawyer, and is referred to as the "Angelic Lawyer" by the media. Unknown to the public, however, Ryou has an alter ego -- Makoto Amano -- who, using his brilliant mind, draws out revenge on each person who was involved in his brother's death. Moving against Amano is Naoto Serizawa, a detective with a dark past who believes that a hand shrouded in layers and layers of mystery is controlling the series of deaths happening around him. Shiori Sakita, a woman with the the ability of psychometry, aids him in uncovering the shadows cast among these deaths.
Saying that this is a very painful series to watch is definitely an understatement. While Death Note treats death as a necessary tool -- a cold, unerring knife which a self-proclaimed God has power over, Maou pries it open with fruit-breaking, juices flowing, blood-warmed human hands. Ryou makes sure the terrible amount of pain he has shouldered for eleven years is felt in equal measure by the people who deserve it. And Naoto, bearing the burden of his past, suffers through these deaths as well. Throughout the series, the audience is compelled to empathize for either Ryou or Naoto, but any distinction is eventually blurred as both characters come to realize the human truth about the pain they were both carrying.
Truth by Arashi, Maou Opening Theme
There is one question Maou leaves the audience with at the end of the series though: What did Shiori see?
