I'm a huge Kiyoshi Kurosawa fan. I find that he and my other favorite director, John Carpenter, really know how to use well space and eerie tone to maximize the dread and atmosphere. This is clearly a low budget drama series and Kurosawa does what he can with the budget (and ample space!). There are definitely key scenes and overarching sense of dread that Kurosawa fans have grown accustomed to. I have no problem with the direction but the plot...!
I've read the book and really loved it. I was curious to see how the book got adapted into the film and let me tell you, it seriously doesn't make any sense! Of course, when adapting a novel, there will be many changes made to make it work on the screen. However, the changes they made are incomprehensible, especially the second story. The conclusion to that story was simply unnecessary and seeing characters take abuse for no reason makes viewers feel annoyed. The plot leaves out so many details that were in the book that it seriously doesn't make any sense whatsoever. For example, the first story doesn't even bother why they had French dolls decorated in the house. Therefore, it was bizarre when the protagonist of that story suddenly says that they had a French doll displayed in the house. The ending came out of nowhere and didn't make sense; it doesn't not fit with the theme of "penance". The series doesn't really do a great job explaining how much the even that took place 15 years ago affected these girls. Asako's character was changed greatly to the point that it wouldn't fit the big revelation. I guess it won't be much of a spoiler since things changed but the book does make it clear that Asako is a selfish thoughtless woman and the entire event happened because of her. I felt a great catharsis when Yuka tells off Asako but that was lost in this series. The fact that Asako stopped being the selfish nightmare in this adaptation really made the final revelation not work and also shows how much the screenwriters didn't understand the original source.
