Yochi Sai's 1995 film "Marks" gets turned into drama series starring Kengo Kora

by Chris MaGee

We all love a good mystery, don't we? Sure we do! What better way to keep people glued to the screen than to leave them guessing, right? That's what veteran filmmaker Yoichi Sai did with his 1995 screen adaptation of Naoki Prize-winning author Kaoru Takamura's novel "Marks no Yama". Sai's film told the overlapping story of a young man named "Marks" Mizusawa who had survived the suicide of his entrire family and consequently suffered abuse in a mental hospital where he was incarcerated, and that of a series of linked murders that are being investigated by hard-bitten detective, Yuichiro Aida.

Now according to Tokyograph Sai's film and Takamura's book will be brought to the small screen as a WOWOW produced drama series. "Snakes and Earrings" and "Fish Story" star Kengo Kora has been cast as Mizusawa while TV actor extraordinaire Takaya Kamikawa will be taking on the role of detective Aida. Japanese TV audiences can expect to catch "Marks no Yama" once it premieres on Japanese TV this coming October.