‘Unnatural’…Scientific investigation is the sole focus of this mystery drama.
A quick Google search, after completing Unnatural, told me all about Japan’s low rate of autopsy and it being the major reason why murders and murderers go unnoticed. Plus, being a country where it is a custom to cremate a dead body, not bury it, means all the DNA evidence is completely lost. As Shoji Yuko (played by Ichikawa Mikako) exclaims ‘Must be nice in America, they can just dig up the grave to exhume the body’. The low number of professionals and the lack of incentive to spend time and effort to figure out the cause of death also leave many crimes to go unnoticed. When Misumi Mikoto (a wonderful Ishihara Satomi), states that they are only 170 forensic doctors in the country, it is a true fact and not a mere dialogue.
Director Tsukahara Ayuko and Murao Yoshiaki and writer Nogi Akiko use these issues as a backdrop to present to us a tightly wound mystery show, where forensic science takes the centre stage. In that manner, our central characters — consisting of a pathologist, a recorder, an autopsy doctor, a clinical technologist, and the institution’s director — are detectives that unravel each mystery. The catch? — they use only the information extracted from the dead body to solve their mysteries (in one case, a note is hidden in the victim’s mouth and in another, the water’s saline and pH level help the scientists to discover where Mikoto is trapped). Hence, it’s deductions based purely on objective reasoning.
But that objectivity does sometimes meander into sensationalizing the victim’s life to arrive at their hypothesis. In the very first episode, Mikoto, Yuko, and Rokuro (an impressive Kubota Masataka), upon hearing a piece of office gossip, immediately conclude the victim as a two-timer and hence, was killed by his ex-lover in a crime of passion. But the lab results quickly show this isn’t the case at all, dismantling their theory. This is especially true in the case of Rokuro, the part-timer who also has a side job as a reporter, and hence always jumps to the most imaginative conclusions than the rest, and even goes out of his way to satisfy his curiosity and digs deeper into victim’s background.
When the show introduces us to each character, I was half expecting Nakado Kei, the arrogant, but knowledgeable superior to be leading the investigations (Iura Arata humanizes the trope). This is based on the fact that when we meet the other characters, they all discuss how difficult it is to work with him. So, I was genuinely surprised when Mikoto turned out to be the protagonist. It is to Ishihara Satomi’s credit that the character doesn’t come across as a completely goody two shoes, always inherently in search of justice (and in comparison Kei isn’t a complete douche, he is actually quite helpful, just a bit grumpy). This can also be credited to the show’s tight rein on the investigation, except for some filler scenes, which allow the show to breathe and gives us some necessary character development.
This sole hinge on the investigation means a deeper insight into the unnatural death investigations in the country, where detectives (Ookura Toji) hope it isn’t a homicide, as that would mean more work; a prosecutor (Fukikoshi Mitsuru) doesn’t see the autopsy report as a valid piece of evidence, or a doctor (Ibu Masato) who thinks working with the dead is far inferior to healing living people. Along with this, the show also takes time to critique the various social ills existing in the country like blatant sexism, bullying, catfishing, suicide, arson, and the high rate of conviction (99.9%) which forces prosecutors to convict the suspect regardless of them being guilty or innocent.
Unnatural is equal parts emotional and gripping and in the right parts, chucklesome. If you love Japanese, medical dramas and mystery, here’s a show for you.
