Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 天国と地獄 ~サイコな2人~/ Tengoku to Jigoku: Psychona Futari / Heaven and Hell: Soul Exchange.
Heaven and Hell: Soul Exchange is a 2021 Japanese drama about a headstrong cop, the shady CEO she suspects of being a serial killer, and what happens when they magically switch bodies.
With a premise like that, there are basically two tonal choices: You can make it a wacky comedy, or you can get real fucked-up and dark about it. This 10-episode series somehow manages the secret third thing of splitting the difference, so it's got a lot of deliciously fucked-up stuff in the setup, but it never quite has the courage of its convictions to go all the way. What that gets you is the kind of frustrating that you can't stop thinking about afterward, both for what it did and what it didn't have the guts to do.
So! If you're interested in a story that's compelling and occasionally very funny, with just enough unrealized potential that your brain keeps batting it around like a kitten with a squeaky toy at 4AM, I have five reasons that you might want to give this one a shot.
1. Half-Trans: Full Trans Consequences
We're gonna hit this one right off the bat: This is a story where a girl and boy trade bodies, so you know it's got the genders.
Mochizuki Ayako is the only female cop in her department. She's headstrong, kind of obnoxious, a slob, and not particularly feminine -- so of course the dude cops hate her. In the process of investigating a serial murder, she comes across Hidaka Haruto, who's got that kind of smug sinister aura of a smart man who's clearly hiding some shit, though all his underlings love him. When they unexpectedly bodyswap with no idea how to switch back, they're forced to keep one another's lies going so they don't both wind up in jail, except she's still trying to catch him and he's still trying to get away with it.
They work a very good contrast with the difference in their respective attachments to their genders. Despite her hardass demeanor and her lack of super-femme presentation, Mochizuki is without question a woman. She's deeply uncomfortable in a male body, and when someone calls her a man, her instinct is to deny it. Having to deal with a borrowed penis nearly gives her a meltdown.
Hidaka, on the other hand, is a fruity little guy whose first response to finding himself inside a woman's body is to get all girly and take it for a test drive. It's less that he's transfeminine and more that he just really doesn't seem all that attached to any gender. He's got boobs now, and boobs are what he's going to make work for him. Regardless of his sexuality -- and the show does leave that one a big row of question marks -- his gender is gay.
There's also some fairly solid bodyswap acting! ...kinda. Both actors have unfortunately different interpretations of Mochizuki's character. If you're being charitable, it's true she's freaking out and having some kind of gender dysphoria the entire time she's in boy mode, which could explain why she's much softer and girlier when she's being played by the male actor, Takahashi Issei. If you're more inclined to nitpick, well, you're not wrong that the performances don't line up. That said, the actors both do a great job of switching characters, so it's pretty clear when they're being different people (even if it's not necessarily the same different person).
Now, you should by no means assume this show is some conscious exploration of genderqueer existence in contemporary Japan. It is, however, way more thoughtful than I expected it to be. It leaves some very interesting silences, especially around what exactly Hidaka's taste in partners is and why Mochizuki's own body kinda gives her a lesbian awakening when someone else is in there. If you're the type who likes a trans-flavored imagination adventure, this is a spectacular starting point. You're going to have a blast.
2. The Mochizuki Support Squad
Nobody from Hidaka's side realizes what's going on with the swap; sure, the boss is acting weird, but they buy his explanations for it. Mochizuki, however, has exactly two people in the world who care so much about her that they figure out what's happened: her junior cop partner, Yamaki Hideo, and her roommate, Watanabe Riku.
You have to love a character where their closest friends are like, either you've started suddenly acting polite and nice, or you've mystically swapped bodies with another person, and honestly, the bodyswap is the more likely explanation.
This is one of those places where the show takes the goofier and more lighthearted tack. Leaving it so the only people who knew about the swap were Mochizuki and Hidaka themselves would be incredibly isolating and paranoia-inducing, especially for Mochizuki. Giving her (eventually) two buddies who know what's going on both gives her a cushion of support for her ordeal and creates a number of comic moments where these guys are looking at a stranger and seeing their friend -- and vice versa.
They're both kind of daffy sweethearts, too, which adds even more comic relief to the show. Yamaki is an easily flustered, mildly hysterical nerd who just wants his mean bestie back so she can go back to telling him what to do. Riku is a blue-collar himbo who would technically be a hobosexual except for how he both really does pull his weight around the house and (probably) isn't getting laid. They're willing to put themselves on the line and do what they can to make sure their friend is okay, no matter what body she's in.
I actually like how the show has more than couple male-female dynamics where the people involved are just friends -- or, if things change so they're not, it's strongly implied that they could have gone on being just friends and that would have been fine or even better for both parties involved. Romance is not the endgame of every mixed-genital relationship! Sometimes people who love one another dearly are friends without further obligation! You can care for people a lot without wanting to fuck them! And that's great.
Besides, I know it won't shock you to learn that the real horny part of the show plays out as...
3. An interesting game of cat and mouse
Mochizuki's got an interesting problem: She's a cop inside the body of a murderer, and as long as she's stuck here, there's a murderer inside the body of a cop out on the loose. She could, as Hidaka, confess to the murders and in a way that puts him physically in jail, but she doesn't know how to swap their bodies back. She's got to keep Hidaka appeased, or he, in her official capacity, might arrest her and just keep her body forever while she goes down for the crime. She could find a way to take them both down, but that would ruin her life too and is an absolute last resort. She could just let him go and cover up the crimes, but her sense of justice won't allow it.
While Hidaka ... well, Hidaka's got a lot going on. I'm not even going to get into Hidaka's whole deal, because it's related to some late-series spoilers. The simple version is that he's got to be pretending to catch himself while actually trying to destroy evidence about the murders, all while having to dig into gendered expectations to play a version of Mochizuki capable of ingratiating herself with her asshole coworkers instead of alienating them.
And yeah, it's pretty darn horny.
It's one of those delicious enemies-to-allies-to-grudging-friends setups where you've got two people at cross purposes who have to play nice with one another (while still being very mean to one another), and in that process they find things about the other person that are actually worth liking. Because this is a literal life-and-death situation, emotions are running high! Wanting to kill someone and wanting to save them are not mutually exclusive states.
The show makes a great decision not to have Mochizuki and Hidaka hook up, or even to acknowledge that their bond has any erotic component beyond whatever's inherent in borrowing someone else's genitals. This means that their dynamic is very intimate and physical without being textually sexual, which actually winds up making it way more sexual than it would have been otherwise. It's like horror, where what you don't see is almost always scarier than what you do -- with sexual tension, especially across ostensibly heterosexual pairs, subversion and longing are almost always much sexier than having things brought to completion onscreen. I mean, seriously, think of the number of things you've seen where there's pining, and pining, and more pining, and you ship it hard, and then they finally get together and it's a giant disappointment. Better to be left hungry for more of this almost-t4t goodness.
There's also an incredible amount of lapel-grabbing and kabedon-delivering here, so if you're in to that, itadakimasu!
4. A Cop Are Bastard
There are a number of antagonists in this story -- I mean, not shocking, considering both the premise and the way the serial murder case at the heart of the story gets weirdly complicated. The most prominent and persistent of those antagonists, though, is not a serial murderer, but one of the cops.
The character's name is Kawahara Mitsuo, but Mochizuki and Yamaki call him "Seku-Hara," as those are the first two syllables of each word in "sexual harassment." It's fitting. He's sleazy, arrogant, and an entire bag of dicks who talks like a gangster and is willing to do a lot of backhanded dirty-cop shit to get his way.
All this lands him firmly in the Love To Hate category. If you enjoy throwing popcorn at onscreen villains, pop some extra for Kawahara, because that fucker deserves it.
Maybe the most interesting thing about him is how often he's actually right. When he's not being an asshole who's doing bad cop work, he actually does good cop work, and he comes to some pretty astute conclusions about what exactly is going on with the case. Despite Mochizuki and Hidaka's joint interference, he figures out a lot of what's the two of them are up to, even without ever picking up on the bodyswap angle. So he's not just a slimy buffoon -- he's actually a formidable opponent.
Also, did I mention he's hot in a gross way? I dunno, maybe it helps that I've seen Kitamura Kazuki be hot in a not-gross way in other things, like Nekozamurai, where he plays a handsome and noble samurai sworn to protect a very cute kitty. Here, though, he's not noble at all -- he's a thug of a cop with a cocky swagger and a deep voice, and I am not above admitting that I see the appeal.
Like, fuck, I'm not usually into eyebrows, and I'm into his eyebrows. Those are some good eyebrows.
5. argh it's almost so good (but still pretty good!)
I'm about to be slightly spoilery from this point forward, not about specific plot points, but about general narrative moves. If you'd prefer to remain unspoiled for such things, stop reading right now and go to either Viki or Netflix to watch the whole show. You're welcome.
Still here? Great. See, where this show really lacks the courage of its convictions is with Hidaka's character. He starts off the series really evil! He does some very bad things! He's clearly quite sinister. Then about halfway through, the show starts to backpedal real hard and introduces another factor into the murder cases that makes him a much less outright bad guy than he seems at first blush.
...And that sucks! Because as the show first portrays him, he's deliciously kind of a fucker. He's not only confident and threatening, he's happy to take Mochizuki's body and do whatever he wants with it, regardless of her feelings. He reads as a straight-up two-faced psychopath who just wants to keep on ridding the world of bad people by straight-up grotesquely murdering them. But the show doesn't have the guts to either take him down in a blaze of glory or create a redemption arc for a guy who's got a taste for some pretty gnarly body horror, so it's got to find a way to convince you not to believe your lying eyes.
However! I do not consider this a dealbreaker, because I find what the show does wind up doing actually pretty interesting. Just because it's not the ending to the story I, personally, would have told doesn't mean it's not a story worth telling. It's maybe a little artificially convoluted, but you've already suspended your disbelief for the bodyswap thing, right? So just roll with the rest of it.
At the risk of belaboring the duality metaphor, I really do feel like this is a show constantly being pulled in two different directions at once. It seems like half the show loves to roll around in the blood and perversion of vigilante serial murder, while the other half wishes it'd picked a more innocuous crime, like art theft or securities fraud. Half of it wants Hidaka to be a right cold bastard who deals Mochizuki a lot of serious damage, and the other half wants to keep him always on the side of the line where he never does anything unredeemable. Half of it wants this to be a sexy queer exploration of gendered expectations through suddenly different bodies, and the other half wants to play a straight PG-13 bodyswap comedy. Half of it wants to be Hannibal, and the other half wants to be Freaky Friday.
And where it all lands is ... well, in the middle.
Obviously my general disappointment with the show's eventual final form has not left me heartbroken. To the contrary, I've had a lot of fun thinking about it afterward, both pondering what was actually on the screen and having imagination adventures about how I would have done it differently. That, to me, is fun. I enjoy this. Like the Maxx said, the shows in my mind are almost always better.
I might have been a little more put off by the lack of my ideal resolution if the show had required more of a commitment from me, but no, it gets things done in ten one-hour episodes, which makes it a great small-medium bite. You can knock this one out pretty quickly, and then have all the time in the world left for thinking about how things could have been different if the show had not taken the Goldilocks approach to its queer serial murder bodyswap setup. The Hump of Compelling Mediocrity strikes again!
Up for a watch?
As I mentioned earlier, both Viki and Netflix have this one!
No joke, I hope people read this, get enticed by the horny potential of it, watch the show, go a little feral for what fits into those silences I mentioned, and write some dang sexy fanfic for me to enjoy. There's only one piece of anything on AO3 about it! One! One is not a sufficient number of things! Especially not with this promising of a setup. Come on, fellow perverts. We can do better.
Aw, look, they're so cute when they get to be themselves.
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21年度版年間目標結果
1 幽霊を見る
見れてない
2 タトゥーを入れる
入れてない。悩む。帰国前に入れたいけど、多分入れない。
3 記憶をなくすまで呑む
んー半分記憶なくなるくらいは飲んだかもしれない。でも中途半端に覚えてるから恥ずかしいですね。ほんと思い出したくない。迷惑かけた方々すみませんでした。。
4 ダイアン津田にスーを頂く
スーを差し上げてもらってません!
5 真冬の海に朝日を見に行く
寒いよー早く帰ろうよーとか言いながらも〜のやつ。できてない。
6 人を判断しない
んー難しい。してるようなしてないような。してない気味ですけどね。
7 後悔しないふりをすることをやめる
後悔ばっかしてる!
8 星野源と宇多田ヒカルのライブに行く
宇多田のライブは配信で見た。でも生でみたいな〜
9 磐船神社に行く
イケテナイ。そもそもどこか忘れた。多分岩の神社だったと思う。
10 傷つくことは悪くないことだと実感したい
傷つくっていうのは悪いことです!全然良くない!傷つきたくない!!
11 高知のカルスト台地に行く
行けてない。
12 カワイイ人からグイグイ来られる
グイグイは来られてないんですけど、人生初モテ期だった気がする。もう色恋勘弁。
13 ピラミッドを登りにいく
天辺まで、登りたいね。男になりたいね。
14 恥ずかしがらない
恥ずかしがるっていうのは良いことですよ!でも消極的に恥ずかしがるみたいなことはなくなったかな〜
15 めんどくさい人間になる勇気をもつ
今年めっちゃめんどくさかったと思う!色々付き合ってくれてありがとうございました。
16 一番大事なこと以外はあまり大事にしない
一番大事なこと以外も大事だよ!
17 でもそれでいいのかなという反芻をやめない
それは良いことだね!クリティカルシンキング!
18 後回し癖を治す
これはマジでやめれてない。てゆうか後回しにしちゃうものは興味がないだけ。そんなのは最初からしなくていいもの。だから後回しにするなら永遠にグッバイ!
19 レコードを積極的に集める
フランクオーシャンのをメルカリで高額で買ったら再発されて、タイミング。。ってなったり。フレシノのLP買えなかったり。カネコの再発LP買えなかったり。初恋のLPもすぐ売り切れてたね。来年は積極的に買います!(多分
20 将来についての覚悟を決める
決めた!音楽で食べて行きます!
21 岡本太郎美術館に行く
行った!青山の方。川崎の方も行きたい!
22 自分を肯定する
できない!22年間否定し続けてる!最近は肯定ってより受け入れることの方が大事な気づいた気がする。でもポインティ見て元気出す!
23 死ぬことを恐れない
怖くないよ!早く死にたいね!できる限り!!
24 友達とドライブで遠出
したんじゃないかな〜してないかな〜あんまり覚えてねえや〜
25 泳げるようになる
すぐ溺れる!そもそも水の中から進化して陸に上がって来たんだからもう一度海に戻って退化する必要なし!
26 仲のいい店員さんをつくる
自分が店員さんになった。店員さんとは仲良くなってないかな?美容師さんくらいかな?
27 川でスイカ食べる、アレルギーだけど
食べてない!スイカ食べると喉痒くなる。
28 KIDFRESINOのライブに行く
行った!ceroとツーマン!前から3列目!サイコー
29 江ノ島に行く
行った!恋人と喧嘩して帰りの電車2人とも無言!それも思い出。。。
30 母なる祖国像を見に行く
でっかいロシアの像。いつか見たい。
31 基本的に金欠じゃなくなる
基本的に金欠じゃなかったかも。これから金欠になる予定。
32 韓国に行く
行ってない!チーズハットグ好き!
33 金縛りにあう
あったかもしれない。疲れすぎてただけだけど。ほんまのやつにあいたい。
34 買う買わないの線引きを決める
結局無駄なもの買ってたりしたかも。でも基本的には、買う理由がお金なら買わない。買わない理由がお金なら買う。っていうのは参考にしてる。これに従えば、後悔ないのでオススメ!
35 JAXA筑波宇宙センターに行く
行ってない!行きたい!we are very very jaxaってゆるふわです
36 やっぱり皆んなで花火したい毎年みたいに
してない!でもバーベキューしたね。個人的には地獄でしたけど。
37 スカイダイビングをする
したい!
38 バンジージャンプも
した?規模が小さかったけど。橋の上から落ちるみたいなやつがしたい。
39 親孝行とかもする、多分
しない!!!
40 ティーシャツを作る
作ったことないなーデザインできる脳がないんですよね。歳を重ねると自分の向き不向きがわかってくる。
41 りんご音楽祭に行く
行きたい!行ったことない!振り返るとすごいメンツ出てるよねほんと。
42 国立新美術館に行く
行った!佐藤可士和展めっちゃよかったな〜生活全てが計算で作られてる気がしてゾクゾクした。
43 popeye にのる
載れてない!いつか載りたい。
44 考えすぎない
いっぱい考えようね。でも考えすぎてる天才は低脳ってあのラッパーも言ってたよ
45 痛風になるぐらいイクラを食べる
イクラ大好き!北海道行っていっぱい食べた。幸せだったな〜美味しいウニも食べれました。修学旅行で行った時食べれなかったやつリベンジできた。
46 ジャムを作る
作れてない〜イチゴとラズベリーとかで作りたいな。
47 chelmico のライブに行く
行きたい〜。レイチェル結婚出産おめでとう。。。
48 裁判所見学
興味無くなっちゃった
49 小岩井農場に行く
行きたい!東北巡りたい。今なら青森とかめっちゃ行きたい。
50 他人の痛みを知る
知った上でまた誰かを傷つけちゃうんだもんね(意図してなくても)。やってらんねえよ
51 ビートブックを作る
アルバムもミックステープも作った!また新しいアルバム作ってる!もっとクオリティ上げます。
52 軍艦島に行く
たしか、もうしばらくすると行けなくなるんですよね。その前に行っておきたいな。
53 死体をみる
おじいちゃん亡くなったんですよね。誕生日が命日で。その日が最後の誕生日になるだろうからって親戚一堂で祝おうとケーキ予約して、当日亡くなっちゃって。遺体を囲んで皆んなでケーキ食べたのが今年一番サイコな時間だったかもしれない。
54 ナショナルギャラリーに行く
行った!めっちゃ広かった!イギリスは色々なミュージアムがタダで見れて本当いいと思う。日本もそうしてください。
55 自分で現像できるようになる
できないね〜。でも機会あればしてみたい。フィルム熱が若干冷めて来ちゃったけど、写真はいいですよね、やっぱり。裸の芸術って気がする。(?)
56 富士山に登る
登りてー。山がより一層好きになりました。
57 映画に出る
でて〜。今年見た映画で一番面白かったのは、街の上でかな。そんな見てないけど。
58 レザーコートを買う
レザーのロングコートが欲しい。買えてない。でも重いよね。肩こりたくないな〜
59 嘘発見器
嘘ばっかついてますからね。それを自分で暴くスタイル。拗らせた素直さ。
60 運だけでバズる
バズった先の方向性は考えてないんですけどね。
61 運だけで不労所得を得る
働きたくね〜。でもバーでのバイトは働いてないみたいに楽しかったから、あれは実質不労所得でした。
62 友達と働く
クルーって概念はほんとに憧れる。
63 友達を増やせればなあ
増えたねえ。ちょっとずつね。同時に減ったりもして。それが本当にきつかったりもして。
64 スキューバダイビングをする
泳げないのにね。
65 野菜を栽培する
緑は生活を豊かにしますからね。栽培したいね。
66 マクドでハッピーセット頼む
頼んだ。恋人と別れた日に頼んだね。ハハ
67 歩くことをやめない
常に歩いてた〜歩くの大好き!
68 ロンドンで小袋成彬か宇多田ヒカルかオロノに会う
会えてないね〜もっと頻繁にロンドン行こうかね
69 完全にお金を使わずに遊ぶ
これは音楽のことですね!
70 東北をめぐる
巡りたい。めぐれてない。完全にタイミングを失った。
71 季の美のお店に行く
京都のね。行けてない。行きたい。
72 月に行く
前澤さんの後に続く。
73 宇宙人を見る
みたいな〜
74 ラブホテルに行く
友達と行ったりしました。カラオケとかして楽しかった。
75 オーロラを見る
見たい!!
76 マチュピチュに行く
行きたい!!
77 100歳の人と話す
話せてない。もう話さなくても良いかなー。歳取ってたら偉いって訳じゃないし
78 エロい人になる
髭と髪の毛でとりあえずの雰囲気は出せます。でもそれ以上の滲み出る何かが欲しいよね。
79 催眠術にかかる
かかった!めっちゃ不思議な感覚だったな〜
80 東大寺に行く
行った!ビッグブッダはビッグブッダでした。
81 流しそうめんをする
したいなーーーチャンスあったんだけどね〜行けなかったね〜
82 テクノロジーに頼らない
野生の勘を取り戻すことが大事だと思うんです。見知らぬ土地で携帯を見ずに目的地に辿り着くとか。食べログ見ずに嗅覚だけで美味しい所を探すとか。もっとそういうことをした方がいいと思って。最近やっと野生本能的なのが目を覚まし始めてる気がするので、もう後一年必要かな。
83 山崎工場見学
行けてない。
84 タモリさんとリリーさんとウイスキーを飲む
僕のメンタータモリさん。死ぬまでに一度はお目にかかりたい。
85 若い太陽の塔を見に行く
見てない。でも東京歩いてたら偶然こどもの樹を見つけてテンション上がった。明日の神話があの場所にあるのも相当イカれてるよね。でも日本人って本質的にイカれてると思うんで、もっとイカれた方がいいと思うな〜
86 東京に住んでみる
これから!
87 島にも住んでみる
いつかは!
88 weed人間になる
これは吸いまくるって意味じゃなくて、一緒にいるとリラックスできる人になるって意味です。どうなんですかね。
89 ブチギレられる
イギリス紳士にブチギレられたな。そういえば。年末。毎年イギリス人にキレられて年を迎えるかもな。
90 バナナマンと東京03のコントを見に行く
あー見に行きたい。Netflixはバナナマンコントを世界で配信してください。
91 NYに行く
行きたい。最近めっちゃ思う。
92 パリ再訪
行きたい。最近めっちゃ思う。
93 エロ本を買う
買ったことない。エロ本は文化だと思いますよ。。
94 鈴木親に撮ってもらう
撮って欲しい。あの色味どうやって出してんだ??
95 流行りものだからって否定しない
YOASOBIって聞いてみたらいいですね。流行り物だからって否定してました。
96 ナンパされる
されてみたい。
97 ニート東京に出る
出たい。ステッカー欲しい。
98 記録を止めない
辞めてない。最近tumblerも始めたし。
99 平気に生きる
全然平気じゃない。平気じゃないからこそ創作してるし。
100 無響室に行く
行ってみたい。音がない空間を味わいたい。
2021一番聞いたのはRondoでした。
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