Ikematsu Ritsuko is arrested on the charges of arson and murder of Kimitsuka Kohei. Ryosuke, partnered with Miss. Mimikawa, act as prosecutors, his role being to convict Ikematsu Ritsuko of the crimes she has been charged with.

Mukou no Hate follows the story of a woman with many sides to her. She is described, by people who have been close to her, as a liar, as slutty, brutal and gentle; but we see how everything she is or isn't is because of her experiences, and that, in the end, she is a woman who smiles like the sun. Warm and bright, the person she was meant to be if the world had been kinder to her.

Even though Ryosuke is not required to do so, he goes deeper and deeper into Ikematsu Ritsuko’s history, trying to scrape at the truth. The nature of the crime and his (and our) perception of it changes as the puzzle pieces of the backstory are put in place and we see the larger picture.

“Mukou no Hate” was all jumbled up in the genres. It was neither a romance, nor psychological nor was it completely a mystery thriller. It feels like a life story but neither can it be tagged under that genre. The tone of the drama was consistently dark.

“Tell Ritsuko, live!”

As a viewer, I was not sure about the message of the story, except that it showed us a fragmented human, a person who neither wants to backward in time nor is willing to go forward, who neither has solace in the past nor do they wish to continue to live. It was quite tragic and bleak, as wowow dramas tend to be. Supplemented with excellent cinematography and awesome acting from Matsumoto Marika as Ikematsu Ritsuko, it makes for a great watch. I would best describe it as bittersweet.