Appointment with Death - Japan
Appointment with Death (死との約束) follows on from Fuji TV's previous two popular Agatha Christie dramas, Murder on the Orient Express (2015) and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (2018). Detective Takeru Suguro returns, once again played by pioneer of Japanese 'Kyogen' Mansai Nomura. The screenwriter is Koki Mitani. The show premiered on 6th March 2021 and garnered high audience ratings.
Show Synopsis
Detective Takeru Suguro meets Doctor Kinuko Sara while on vacation in Kumano Kodo, in the Wakayama prefecture, and the two immediately get along. Sara points out the unusual Hondo family, also staying at the hotel. According to tax accountant Kota Jumonji - who has known the family for a long time - the master of the house, Mr. Hondo, left enough money in his will so that the whole family could live affluently for the rest of their lives, and they spend their time traveling around Japan. However enjoyable that may sound, they never seem like they are having any fun, and they look like they are being controlled by their oppressive mother.
Sara is planning to visit the main shrine with the Hondo family, and invites Suguro to come with her.
At the shrine, Suguro encounters congress representative Honami Uesugi and editor Hana Asuka. Honami is visiting Kumano Kodo for personal reasons, and it seems like she has known Suguro for a long time...
The next day, the Hondo family, Suguro, Sara, Honami, and Asuka embark on a bus tour. Kumano, often regarded as a sacred mountain, has lots of divine mountain roads, and sightings of mythical creatures like ‘Tengu’ are common. As the sun starts to set, Mrs. Hondo’s body is found on a bench. The chief of police of Kumano, Taisaku Kawabari, asks Suguro to investigate her death. Mrs. Hondo always had a weak heart, but Suguro finds a mark from a syringe on her right hand. Did she die from illness, or is it a murder? Suguro then remembers a conversation he overheard the night he arrived at the hotel...
“Do you not understand? The only choice is to kill!”. The family was not a happy one, and everybody seems to have a motive, but at the same time they also have an alibi. In the lounge of the hotel, in front of everybody, the most complicated mystery of Suguro’s career will be solved.
Cast
Mansai Nomura is Takeru Suguro
Manami Higa is Kinuko Sara
Yoshiyuki Tsubokura is Kota Jumonji
Kyoka Suzuki is Honami Uesugi
Satomi Nagano is Hana Asuka
Kanji Anan is Taisaku Kawabari
Production
Producer: Koya Watanabe, Masataka Takamaru (Kyodo TV)
Director: Hidenori Shiroho (Kyodo TV)
Production cooperation: Kyodo TV
Production: Fuji TV
View the trailer below.
