Sleeping Forest - 眠れる森

Finally I watched this drama, Sleeping Forest - 眠れる森.

• Title: 眠れる森
• Title (romaji): Nemureru Mori
• Title (English): A Sleeping Forest
• Genre: Mystery
• Episodes: 12
• Viewership ratings: 25.2％
• Broadcast network: Fuji TV
• Broadcast period: 1998-Oct-08 to 1998-Dec-24
• Air time: Thursday 22:00
• Theme song: "Camouflage" by Takeuchi Mariya
• Insert song: "With or Without You" by U2

Synopsis

Kimura Takuya plays Ito Naoki, a mysterious man that seems to have some special connection with Oba Minako (Nakayama Miho) by their childhood. But Minako has lost her memory long ago and she won't remember anything about her childhood or him. Naoki knows almost everything about her and he secretly invites her to the "Sleeping Forest". From there on their story begins, into a mix of dark and romantic drama.

Cast

• Kimura Takuya as Ito Naoki
• Nakayama Miho as Oba Minako
• Natsuyagi Isao as Ito Naomi
• Nakamura Toru as Hamazaki Kiichiro
• Okada Masumi as Hamazaki Masateru
• Harada Mieko as Hamazaki Makiko
• Yusuke Santamaria as Nakajima Keita
• Kazama Shunsuke as Nakajima 敬太
• Honjou Manami as Sakuma Yuri
• Yokoyama Megumi as Tamaki Harue
• Jinnai Takanori as Kokubu Yoshiharu

http://wiki.d-addicts.com/

I found a site here for detail synopsis for each episodes. Haven't read it yet, but I will later cause I need to know something..

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I have to say that this drama is dark and depressing, but.... I like dark drama even if it's depressing like 'Sora kara furu ichioku no hoshi' also cast Kimura. So, I can't help not to compare Sleeping Forest with Sora kara. Say I'm on Kimura's character view. Both are dark, mysterious. This story started with murders and ended with murders too. But for the whole story, I prefer Sora kara best. Somehow, in Sleeping Forest, I was no patience waiting for the next scene. The story is not as surprising like Sora kara did. Without reading any synopsis before, I knew that Kiichiro is the murder. So I only wonder how it all be revealed. But the way it's revealed is not that surprising.
Sleeping Forest is still dark and depressing. But I was depressed more after watching Sora kara and the feeling left monthly after. That's why the name 'ryo' came to mind when I registered for a Kimura/SMAP forum at that time :D. I was impressed with Kimura's acting in Sora kara. Compare to Naoki, Ryo Katase is more mysterious. Without showing in explicit way, we can see that Ryo is evil. Kimura's eyes acted more and it's the best.
The ending of Sleeping Forest is not a big suprise, as I can guess the killer already. How Naoki died not explain, but I guessing he was in pain, because he fell while walking from work place to the train station. What kind of pain he suffered? So that's it. Though Kimura act good here, so with other casts, but Naoki didn't left much impression for me as Ryo did.