J-Drama Spotlight: Usotoki Rhetoric

Ritsu Miyako’s Usotoki Rhetoric manga series ran in shojo magazine Hakusensha Bessatsu Hana to Yume between 2012-2018. Having finished so many years ago, I never thought we’d be treated to an adaptation. However, to everyone’s surprise, Fuji TV announced a live-action adaptation last year which aired between October and December. Most recently the adaptation has been licensed by streaming platform Viki for an English release, so what better time to take a closer look at the show? 

Key Details

Usotoki Rhetoric is based on Ritsu Miyako’s ten-volume manga year and stars Honoka Matsumoto (Blue, Painful, Fragile; Miwa-san Narisumasu) as protagonist Kanoko Urabe, with co-star Ouji Suzuka (From Me to You, Silent) in the role of Soma Iwai. 

The series was directed by Hiroshi Nishitani (Silent Parade), Kozo Nagayama (Sherlock: The Untold Stories) and Shunsaku Kawake (Shikakenin Fujieda Baian), with music handled by Yugo Kanno (Monster).

The Premise

Usotoki Rhetoric is primarily a mystery series set in the early 1900s (Showa 1) and follows sixteen-year-old Kanoko Uraba. She has the unusual ability to ‘hear lies,’ which has caused endless problems for her as she’s at best seen as a nuisance and at worst, some kind of monster. Now she’s come to Tsukumoya, where she encounters Detective Iwai Soma in a meeting that could only be considered fate. 

After meeting Soma and his childhood friend Hanasaki Karou, Kanoko ends up embroiled in an incident concerning a young boy who lies to his parents about stealing money. Unable to help herself, Kanako steps in to reprimand him, but when the boy later goes missing, our heroine can’t help but feel it’s all her fault. 

Together with Soma, she searches for the boy. One thing leads to another and she ends up telling him about her ability. To her surprise, Soma believes her and in all the time they’ve spent together she far, she realises he has never once told her a lie. This becomes the foundation of a relationship that charmed readers of the manga and once again proves to captivate here in a new form. The two go on to navigate many difficult mysteries with Soma’s keen eye for detail and Kanoko’s ability to discern lies from truth. 

Why It’s Worth Watching

I’ll readily admit that when they announced this adaptation I was sceptical. With the manga having finished so long ago, I was worried that they’d cut corners and cheap out on the live-action version, or that it would simply lack the charm of the original work. After all, it’s a historical setting and that requires quite a commitment to sets and costumes to ensure it’s realistic. And let me tell you right now - I adore the manga, so the odds of me being disappointed with this were quite high because I knew I’d fuss over the minor details. 

Thankfully, what we got was a beautiful work that wasn’t afraid to adjust the original material to better suit the format while also faithfully sticking to Miyako’s characterisations and the emotional exchanges between the cast from the original. The set and costume designs were also excellent, and convincingly portrayed the period with plenty of attention to detail. From a production standpoint, it helps that they managed to keep the story set within a few key areas, mostly set up in a studio rather than constantly location shooting. And it’s impressive for a show that’s got eleven hour-long episodes to fill how interesting you can keep that without a great deal of variation!

Of course, an important aspect of an adaptation like this is having the right actors for the job. Kanako is played by Honoka Matsumoto who even from the first visual I felt was perfect for the role. Kanoko has a great deal of depth to her because despite having suffered so much due to her power, she’s lonely and doesn’t want to give up on finding a place to call her own. She’s quiet but not meek, she’s stubborn and outspoken when needed and more than capable of wrangling the free-spirited detective, Soma. She’s a character that grows a lot throughout the story and I think Matsumoto conveyed that well through her acting. In subtle ways, as Kanako grows more comfortable in her environment and newfound relationships, Matsumoto makes adjustments to her depiction of the character to show that development to the viewer. 

Soma on the other hand is played by Ouji Suzuka, who I became fond of after seeing him as Shota Kazehaya in the Netflix adaptation of From Me to You, as well as his supporting role in MIU 404. When I read the manga, I always thought if it became an anime they needed to cast someone like Mamoru Miyano as Soma. And yes there’s some bias there as I really like that voice actor, but Soma is the kind of dorky but warmhearted male lead that requires charisma like that in my mind. So, when it was announced Suzuka was stepping into the role for the drama, I wasn’t convinced he could pull it off -  not because he’s a bad actor by any means, but because he’s young and a little babyfaced for how I imagined Soma to be. However, my initial fears were completely unfounded and now I can’t imagine anyone else playing the role. 

Suzuka perfectly captured Soma’s quirky nature and his onscreen chemistry with Matsumoto was fantastic. The two perfectly conveyed the relationship between their characters. While I wouldn’t say Usotoki Rhetoric is a romance as one of its main themes, it’s hard to deny that there is something between Kanako and Soma. It’s a delicate bond that they both cherish without ever putting it into words or even discussing it, but through the run of the show, we see from both their perspectives how much they treasure one another. This would never have worked had they miscast either of the leads and I’m so glad it was Suzuka and Matsumoto they chose. 

In Closing

Usotoki Rhetoric is a carefully balanced project that’s well scripted, acted, directed and so much more. For me, it’s one of the best manga-to-TV drama transitions I have seen, with so much love put into capturing the story and characters. This is a series that’s not always serious, it can be silly (in good ways!), but it’s also heartfelt and always charming while keeping the viewer engaged. I’m still hopeful we’ll get a Season 2 in the future since the series went to the effort of introducing Shiro (a major character later on in the manga), but even if this is all we ever get I’m so grateful to have seen something I love so much brought to life so well. 

And now that it’s licensed by Viki I can encourage you all to watch it and hopefully love it just as much as I do. It certainly deserves your time. 

Usotoki Rhetoric is available to watch with English subtitles on Viki. At the time of writing, the service has released the first two episodes, with the rest set to follow over the next two weeks.  The original manga series is available in digital and print via publisher One Peace Books.
©Fuji TV