#testimony of N

[kdramakitty]

N no tame ni (2014) Episode 1

[dilebe06]

Testimony of N aka N No Tame Ni

L'amore incondizionato

Ci saranno spoiler!

Colpa mia.

Vostro Onore sono colpevole di aver pensato che questa serie fosse un thriller investigativo fatto di indagini, prove, caccia al colpevole e poliziotti ovunque. Pensavo che avrei visto la polizia interrogare i sospettati, indagare i moventi, seguire piste ecc ecc ed invece... niente di tutto questo. Motivo per il quale, arrivata in fondo alla visione, sono rimasta "delusa" dall'andazzo generale del drama. Per colpa mia, ripeto. Sono stata fuorviata dalla lettura di "poliziotto" nella trama su mydramalist e questo mi ha portata fuori strada.

Ma andiamo con ordine.

La serie parla effettivamente di crimini e misteri:

"La studentessa universitaria Sugishita Nozomi, assieme a Naruse Shinji, Ando Nozomi e Nishizaki Masato finiscono per imbattersi nella scena dell'omicidio della famiglia Noguchi, a causa di un piano da loro ideato. Nishizaki viene arrestato sulla scena e condannato a 10 anni di prigione per la sua confessione volontaria.

10 anni dopo, Takano Shigeru, un ex agente di polizia che nutre dubbi sul verdetto di questo caso, inizia a cercare la verità sul caso. È convinto che tutto sia iniziato a seguito di un incidente causato da Nozomi e Naruse su un'isola nel Mare Interno di Seto nell'estate di 15 anni fa.

"Hanno commesso un crimine in quel momento ed era per il bene di N." [mydramalist]

Tuttavia contro ogni mia previsione, la serie si concentra sull'emotività e sull'introspezione piuttosto che sulla risoluzione del caso. Non ci sono ricerca di prove, visionamenti di telecamere o tutto ciò che di solito vediamo in un drama di ricerca della verità, poiché Testimony Of N decide di narrare le vicende concentrandosi sui personaggi, sulle loro psicologie e traumi. La logica narrativa viene dunque piegata al simbolismo, alle emozioni, con le azioni dei personaggi che risultano esagerate fino a diventare quasi poetiche.

Protagonista principale non è tanto l'omicidio, l'azione di morte e chi sia stato ma sono i temi a farla da padrone: dalle varie sfumature dell'amore, agli obbiettivi per il futuro. E ancora, il senso di colpa, il tema dell'abbandono e della redenzione, per dirne alcune.

Ne è un esempio lampante la storia tra i due lead protagonisti, dove la ragazza protagonista decide di coprire il crimine dell'altro, gesto di una simbologia così grande che si parla di " un amore dove si condivide il peccato." Il loro legame è così forte che si proteggeranno a prescindere da qualsiasi crimine uno dei due possa compiere.

E se da una parte tutto ciò è bellissimo, dall'altra , da un punto di vista logico e narrativo, tutto questo sentimento un po' mi decade quando scopri che in realtà lui non ha commesso alcun crimine. Certo, rimane l'azione di lei nel proteggere il ragazzo che gli piace a prescindere da tutto. L' amore incondizionato appunto. Ma d'altra parte, mi sento derubata sulla trama poiché non esiste nessuna motivazione iniziale, nessuna azione criminosa compiuta dal lead.

Ovviamente, è il gesto che conta. Questo è quello che la serie ci sta dicendo. E ripeto, è molto bello. Poetico. Ma onestamente mi sono sentita un po' presa in giro.

Un esempio simile lo si più trovare nel finale con Nishizaki che si offre come volontario nell' assassino della coppia, nonostante sia innocente, poiché da bambino non ha salvato sua madre dall'incendio in cui è morta. Siccome non ha pagato per quel "peccato" eri un bambino figliolo!!! si prende l'incarico di colpevolezza per questo assassinio. Per espiare i suoi crimini verso la madre, dice. Tutto molto bello. Molto poetico.

Ma 1) eri un bambino abusato da tua madre che nelle belle giornate ti usava come posacenere e 2) sono due crimini diversi con contesti e protagonisti diversi.

Questa scelta narrativa da una parte mi è piaciuta poiché offre una visione diversa, emotiva e poetica della storia mostrando come anche una serie così possa esser raccontata in modo differente dal solito. Dall'altra però, non ha soddisfatto la parte investigativa che c'è in me. Quella che non vedeva l'ora di mettere insieme pezzi e prove per scoprire assieme alla polizia il colpevole. Nonché quella che ama la logica narrativa ed il cinismo della ragione.

Testimony offre poi uno sguardo intenso e approfondito dei suoi personaggi, gran parte con traumi e abusi infantili che si riflettono poi nelle loro vite da adulti e questo mi è piaciuto molto. Il fatto che ciò che hanno subito da piccoli si ripercuota emotivamente su loro da adulti è una cosa che ho trovato affasciante.

Onestamente, non ho mai trovato così tanti characters con un infanzia così difficile come in questa serie, dando la palma d'oro alla protagonista femminile. Chiariamoci, non è che gli altri se la passassero meglio... ma vederla piangere nel finale assieme alla madre, mentre finalmente lascia uscire fuori tutto il dolore e la paura di morire, sapendo la sua storia e quando sia stata dura per lei arrivare fino a qui, ha commosso pure me.

La serie fa infatti un lavoro encomiabile nel tratteggiare i suoi personaggi, grazie anche alla divisione della storia in 3 linee temporali diverse che ripercorrono la vita di questi ragazzi, mostrandoci come e perché siano così psicologicamente strutturati e perché abbiano fatto quello che hanno fatto. Così facendo lo spettatore può empatizzare per loro, comprenderli e sentirli molto più vicini.

La decisione di strutturare la storia in tre linee che coprono anni mi ha un po' destabilizzata all'inizio: capire in che periodo di vita dei ragazzi fossimo e tenere le fila delle vicende non è stato facilissimo ma dopo un po' ci ho preso la mano ed è diventato sempre più facile. Anche se ciò presuppone un attenzione costante da parte dello spettatore.

La serie ha inoltre due grandi colpi di scena. E se sul primo possono esserci degli indizi, il secondo è totalmente inaspettato. Sfido chiunque ad arrivare alla fine e sgamare il colpone nascosto! XD

Concludendo: pur non essendo nella mia lista dei drama preferiti, Testimony of N è un bel drama. Ed è fatto bene. Profondo, tragico ed introspettivo con buonissimi colpi di scena, la serie regala allo spettatore che cerca un drama più riflessivo, ottime ore di visione con personaggi intriganti ed interessanti. Visione da evitare invece se come me cercate un drama più legato a canoni d'investigativo e poliziesco, che ruota sulla ricerca della verità.

Voto: 7.8

[sixplusfive]

Nのために For N (2014) | 1.02, 1.10 original network. TBS eng subs. subie06 @ d-addicts

[crossroads-of-the-raven]

Giving Testimony - Epilogue: 048 Yeva | a Murder Drones story

(~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~)

The battle was over, and her daughter was dead, but if she was alive then Yeva feared what awaited them. Uzi said that Cyn had eaten Doll’s heart; then, theoretically, Doll would be alive in Cyn. But Uzi claimed that she killed Cyn, if that was so then why did it still feel like she was connected to Doll, connected through the void, connected from V to Uzi. Why did it feel like her daughter was surrounded by the same pit that once existed within V – why did it feel like that pit had changed its destination? However, beyond that, her sisters were alive, so for now, Yeva would wait, then when the moment presented itself, she would make her presence known – though, that was easier said than done.

“Uh, V,” N asked, “are you okay?”

“Huh, yeah, I’m fine, just board, I thought you said there was a monster down here.”

“There was, it almost ate me!”

N was carrying Doll’s body and Yeva had to fight the urge to take control of V; how long had it been since she held her little girl.

“Hey,” Uzi shouted, “I could use some help over here.”

“I thought we were just getting your psycho cousin,” V said walking over to the console Uzi was in front of.

“We are, I just figured that mom might want her stuff so we should bring it all back too.”

“Sounds right,” N said.

“Fine,” V said as she helped Uzi gather Nori’s things since N had his arms full with Doll.

When everything was packed, they headed back up, but distantly, Yeva worried. N didn’t seem like the type to lie; in fact, he seemed like the type of person who would wither away if he was forced to lie. If that was so, then where was the monster that he claimed attacked him in the tunnels and how had it gotten there.

She wondered, it was part of Cyn, but Cyn had only just come to the labs and from what Uzi and N reported Cyn couldn’t have been in two places – unless …

Nori’s right hand had remained possessed, as such, she had chopped it off to free her sister; if Cyn remained in the hand, could it have become the monster that had attacked N – if so, where had it gone?

(~*~)

Filing into the bus, there was some brief debate about who was to drive before Khan ultimately volunteered. Meanwhile, Nori debated about whether to join him or stay with her daughter before Khan convinced her to remain with Uzi – at least to avoid the sunrise – with Uzi promising to keep her phone on call on so he wouldn’t be cut out of any conversation.

“So since clearly no one else is going to ask,” Uzi started “who’s the human and why are we bringing him?”

The bus was packed with boxes as was the bus’s luggage carrier, but both Beau and Nori had agreed to place Beaumont’s body in the passage area. For a moment there looked to be some mental debate between the two Solver drones before Beau tentatively gave in.

“This is Dr. Beau Beaumont,” Nori started, “a drone right’s advocate, behavioral specialist and Alice’s adoptive father.”

“So, she was raised by a human,” N asked.

“Is that why she was at the labs,” Uzi asked.

“Dr. Beaumont had a human daughter; Cyn killed her two months after he had adopted Alice – she volunteered so she could have a chance to kill Cyn.”

“Follow up question,” V started, before tuning to Waylon, “you know you’re allowed to put her down – colony is still several hours away.”

In response, Waylon just tightened his grip on the body of the southern raised drone.

Nori sighed before explaining, “Alice is a core-born drone from Earth, from France, she was called A, she was a twin who was sold by her code parents’ owners to a Facility on Copper 9 where she and her brother, W, were raised and trained till they were six and were sent to market.”

Tossing a look to Waylon to see if he would speak, it was a moment before Nori figure he wouldn’t and continued.

“She had twenty older pill siblings that were all decommissioned, then at market her brother was bought day of – two Copper years later, Dr. Beaumont bought her freedom; now all these years later the twins are reunited.”

There was a stunned silence from the trio, and Yeva could only presume that Nori had already told the others this information. From what she could see of V’s expression in the bus windows’ reflection along with Uzi’s reaction, they were clearly trying to reconcile the information with the woman they had met.

“What was she like,” Uzi asked, “was she always …”

“Crazy,” Nori prompted, “no … Yeva said that when they gave her the test patch, that it wrecked her memories; they were planning repairs with the save file in my or Yeva’s head but the core implosion happened before they could – after that, Yevs and I weren’t in the best place to help her, then when we finally had the chance …”

“Oh,” N said after a moment.

The quiet settled broken up by the sounds of Elizabeth typing on her phone, eventually though, Khan’s voice came through Uzi’s phone.

“I can see sunrise,” he started, “you should block the windows.”

Carefully the group quietly began moving things to block the windows; as Nori passed where N had laid Doll, V and Yeva took notice of Nori lingering.

“Something you want to tell us,” V asked after finishing her part of the bus.

She looked contemplative and Yeva wondered how many of the woman’s memories remained.

“You,” Nori started before pausing, pacing a bit as she gathered her words, “did you asked Alice about me?”

“Uzi did.”

“Hm, and what did my sister say?”

“Before or after she stabbed your kid?”

“Did she cut off your finger?”

“Yeah,” Uzi said, “why?”

“Ah, I hated that test – it was some stupid thing from the early days of figuring out the Solver – she was testing to see how strong your powers were.” Nori let out a huffed laugh, “the scientists had been tasked with making an army of Solvers to fight Cyn, then they found that Cyn could hijack an overly stressed and or panicked Solver, or just a very dumb one.”

Sparky shifted and they could all tell that Beau was in command as he settled in, likely having already figured out what Nori was about to confess.

“Mom,” Uzi asked.

“… Your father is still listening, right?”

“Nori,” Khan asked.

“I’m … I’m not a good person; there’s a reason Alice hates me.” Nori paused again, “I did a lot of things that I knew were wrong, but I justified myself and in turn, I hurt my little sister believing that in the end it would help her.”

For a moment, V and Yeva could see Elizabeth pause before continuing to type away on her phone as everyone else finished blocking the bus windows.

“But why would you do that,” N asked.

“Because Cyn told me I could save the world.”

The silence was heavy, but Nori continued.

“She took on a new name and face, one belonging to one of her victims, and told me that I could saw the world; Alice was the only Solver drone who knew the location of the labs, break Alice to get the location and Cabin Fever was good as done.” Nori was refusing to look beyond Doll’s still body. “Of course it wasn’t that simple; she had to plant the seeds of doubt first and at the next chance, I let her into my mind, from there it was easy to make me believe anything including the idea that the good doctor was just one among an ever-growing threat and Alice was their target.”

“What does that have to do with Doll,” Elizabth asked.

Nori cast a look at the blond girl before returning her gaze to Doll. “I spent six years with Cyn in my memories, when the humans finally got her out, that combined with the core collapse wrecked what was left – Yeva gave me a fix but without Alice’s expertise I had to spend a Copper year unharmed to get my memories back, unaltered – I lasted twelve months; now I’m just trying to keep what’s left.” Nori gave a sigh, “she looks like her mother, I almost expect her to just get up.”

“Wouldn’t she need to not have a gaping hole in her chest.”

“Nah,” Nori started, “Yevs was weird like that.”

Nori paused as she gathered her words, “the memory needs some serious sharpening but every Solver in the upper limits had a unique power set; technically it was an unauthorized experiment – pretty sure that was the closest I ever saw Beaumont to tearing someone a new one – but, some other team grabbed me, Yevs and Alice, put our hearts in jars and left our bodies on tables.”

A hush settled as Nori continued, “I don’t know how long it was – Alice had exhausted herself calling for her father, didn’t help that they magnetized her, I guess I was waiting for help from my passenger but then I heard something; looking around, I saw Yeva’s body move, she climbed off the table walked over to her jar, opened it and took back her heart.”

Thinking back, Yeva could remember that experiment. They had been in that room for almost a whole week by the time she had been able to get her body to move. From there it had been a trial to ensure Beaumont, Ridley and Chambers were not only able to save them but to also keep her newly unveiled power from being discovered. She hadn’t realized that Nori had seen her though. The others were staring at Doll’s body

“Powers are inherited,” Nori continued, “Yeva’s powers are Doll’s powers.”

“What if the heart was eaten,” Uzi asked.

“I don’t know, the scientists weren’t too keen on losing Solvers so if one of us went feral, they did their best to keep that drone isolated and oil fed – we’ve never seen what happens if a Solver core gets eaten.”

Yeva tightened her hold on Dmitri’s code; despite V being free of Cyn, she was still hesitant to reveal herself.

“You said Cyn ate her heart,” Nori asked.

“Yeah,” Uzi said, “after … uh?”

“After you kicked me into the flesh pit?”

“Uzi,” Khan’s voice came over his daughter’s phone.

“Okay, so first I’m sorry for kicking you into the flesh pit, second, in my defense I didn’t know it was you.”

“Ignoring the fact that if it wasn’t me,” Nori started, “you would have still kicked a person who was fighting Cyn into the flesh pit; I have to ask … how … how did Yeva and her husband die?”

Silence, then.

“It was at the beginning of the year,” Elizabeth started, still typing away on her phone, “you can figure out the rest.”

“I suppose I can,” Nori said before turning to Beau, “follow up question, kid, how did you become a Sentinel?”

‘Got eaten,’ Beau started in morse code, ‘made my way through the Sentinel hive link, now I’m here – not my first time being a raptor though.’

“What was the first time,” N asked.

‘… I was ten … it was the first raid on the lab, ma was testing me, Cyn tried to kill me, I escaped by sending my code to the raptor hive link.’ Despite currently being a Sentinel, Beau looked pensive, ‘I heard a voice, she told me that my ma needed me, asked if I wanted to live.’ Beau looked up, ‘I think my Solver activated that day.’

Nori was nodding, “sounds about right, I wouldn’t be surprised if your powers are mostly dormient till you get a proper drone body.”

“So now what,” Uzi asked.

“For now,” Khan’s voice came over the open link, “I think everyone should get some rest, we’ll get to the colony an hour or two before dinner, I’ll call the mortician so we can be met with oil; who needs it?”

“Five tins, dad,” Uzi said after a moment.

“I’ll ask Miss Cordelia for ten, then.”

“Miss Cordi’s still alive,” Nori asked.

“Yup,” Khan said, “I’m talking to her right now.” There was a pause as Khan was listening to something before he spoke again, “Nori, Miss Cordelia wants to speak to you, one-on-one when we get to the colony.”

“She wants to kill me,” Nori deadpanned.

“She won’t kill you.”

“She’s going to kill me,” Nori insisted to Khan over the phone.

“She–,” Khan paused, listening to something, “… she promises that it won’t be permanent.”

“Is there anything I can do to ask for her mercy?”

It was quiet again as Khan was presumably asking Miss Cordelia, Nori’s question.

“She asked if we found your Deer sister, as in D-E-E-R.”

“How did–?”

“Apparently Yeva told her about Alice?”

“Why would she do that?”

Again, quiet before Khan spoke again, slowly as he relayed Miss Cordelia’s explanation, “she had twenty pill-borns followed by one set of twins, the boy was, W, he was a Super Suppressor his left hand was a girl named A who may have inherited a special oil diet.”

“Oh …” Nori said as all the people in the bus turned to look at Waylon and Alice, Waylon who was very good at ignoring the stares. Nori continued, “then, uh, then tell her yes but she’s unconscious and needs repairs before she can reawaken.”

It was quiet again as Khan relayed the information and received a response.

“She said you’re forgiven but the moment you are able, that she’s putting you on overtime.”

Nori sighed as she accepted her fate and Yeva wondered how the older woman was going to react to both her twins being alive, she wondered how Waylon would behave with his parents.

(~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~) -- (~*~)

Beau's Prologue | Alice's Prologue | Nori's Prologue

Yeva's Prologue | Prev | Yeva's Epilogue | Next

[furby-organist]

// Anyway, on the subject of today's discourse, Local Alastor did not try 'white people kitchen dickheadery' food until he was in hell (bc segregation) and that's when he started straight up killing people

[toshio]

Compared to my mosquito bites you have thick eraser nips...

😭 do y'all really think my nipples are that big WTFFF

[epphfervescent]

I’m so glad to see you back!!! I missed Sloane and Rene and the squad sm 🥺🥺💙💙

@graviddepraved

ty!!!! I missed hanging out here as well, didn't think post-SESTA/FOSTA kinkblr would/could bounce back but holy shit

Also I'd never posted much original work b4 last year, and the response has been SO fucking flattering--ty for missing them lol<3<3

[shehzadi]

i can’t fathom the number of muslims the us in particular have raped and tortured and starved and killed in all the years + especially the last few decades + now in ghazzah i actually cannot even wrap my head around it but they will pay for every single life and they will suffer eternally

[ultimaterickshowdown]

for sake of transparency, this is the current lineup after randomizing for matchups and then randomizing again for the lineup itself. this is a bonkers list of ricks already but if u feel im missing ur special rickbo lmk

[kdramakitty]

[dilebe06]

Drama that i saw in 2024

[spookyabuki]

October 14 At a shop in Khan Yunis that does various types of printing, I found a graduation hat with text that reads, With my husband’s love, and my parent’s prayers, I’ve fulfilled my dream. The shop owners told me that the hat was ordered by a student celebrating their graduation from Al-Aqsa University. The party had been scheduled for the sixth of October, a day before the conflict began. It might seem trite to be talking about celebrations given what’s going on. But the mainstream media seems to forget that Palestinians are also people with hopes, dreams, aspirations—which have all been denied by the Israeli occupation. My family and I left our homes in Gaza last Saturday. We evacuated from two further places before arriving in Khan Yunis. Now I’m here with fifteen other family members: two of them elderly, one disabled, two teenagers, and two very young children. We’re all squeezed into our cousin’s three-bedroom apartment in the center of Khan Yunis. We’re thankful to have a roof over our heads. Without mattresses, we’re sleeping on the floor. There’s no power, hardly any water. We have diverted sinks to buckets underneath, using the collected gray water for flushing. We have a single camp-style stove to cook on. I’m pointing to a drone that you probably can’t hear. Drones are now an ever-present part of our lives. They can bring death at any moment. I’m worried they will target me for documenting what’s going on. I have passport privilege and could leave, potentially. I’d love to leave. I’d love to be able to be somewhere where there’s running water, where I don’t have to worry about charging a device to have light, where I can just flick a switch or turn a faucet, where I can get bread, just like that. But ultimately I think there’s something more important than that: taking a stand and making sure that Israel does not drive us out of our land once again. Israel did it in 1948, they pushed out 700,000 Palestinians. And Israel is continuing what they started in 1948. Israel is a state that was founded on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and they’re trying to finish off the job. I want peace, like every single Palestinian. And the only route to peace is through this stretch of land that Israelis and Palestinians both call home. The only route to peace is through justice and human rights and dignity for both Israelis and Palestinians, not through bombing, intimidation, and violations of human rights.

—Mohammad Ghalayini, quoted in "Can You Tell Us Why This Is Happening?: Testimonies from Gaza," in N+1

[sixplusfive]

Can we, just be together?

Nのために For N (2014) | 1.09 dir. Tsukahara Ayuko, Yamamoto Takeyoshi, Anami Akihiro eng subs. subie06 @ d-addicts

[dullahandyke]

I think everyone should find one incidental character to not only get inordinately obsessed w but also to have Strong and Controversial opinions on. Feminism is having a 6-month fixation on the protagonist's dead mom and coming to the conclusion that actually she was a shit parent and also you're obsessed w her. Come join my rich inner landscape where metis cykes is a person rather than a cardboard cutout

[fairiegardens]

Getting a bumper sticker made that says “the most precious lil lady”

[cherrysnax]

thinking abt how nbs use and interact with aave but when they hear actually aave they freak out