Ladies and gentlemen, we have our third must watch jdorama of the year after Kageri Yuki Natsu and Yami no Bansosha! Its sad that none have been subbed maybe Tenshi no Knife will be seeing as its got Nogizaka 46 girls although Yami no Bansosha deserves to be subbed the most. After episode 2 I could not stop watching because every episode ended with a goddamn exciting cliffhanger.
Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way; the acting is not very good. Koide Keisuke is no Koizumi Kotaro. Koide Keisuke does an ok job but there are some scenes that are just bad and I couldn't keep comparing his acting with Koizumi Kotaro's in Namonaki Doku because the roles are very similar. Koizumi Kotaro does a much better job showing repressed frustration and fiery anger.
That being said, the story is effing awesome. Its a cross between Soredemo Ikite Yuku and Petero no Souretsu with your everyman trying to do the right thing caught in a unusual and complicated mystery suspense about juvenile crime and atonement. Do juveniles deserve to be treated less harshly than adults just because they can be reformed? Is protecting juveniles more important than keeping the victim's families from getting any closure? Tenshi no Knife asks explores a lot of questions but never gets too preachy.
Not is all bad in the acting front. Kurashina Kana does a great job, especially in the flashback scenes playing a 15 year old. Usually when an actor plays a much younger character they keep it short and don't try hard cause its not convincing but she really gave it her all in this. I guess she had to cause it such a long and pivotal flashback.
If the acting were really good, Tenshi no Knife could have been a Lady Joker. I hate to see idoru casting when supporting parts turn out to be very important. Surely WOWOW didn't have to do it to finance a dorama with a script this good? That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the story, maybe more than I should have and wouldn't mind rewatching it. Must watch. If you've got basic Japanese, give it a go. The most important word to know in Tenshi no Knife is kousei 更生 which means rehabilitation.