Usotoki Rhetoric by Ritsu Miyako is a manga series I fell in love with four years ago when I picked it up in 2020 due to being a big fan of both detective stories, romance and perhaps more importantly Hana to Yume series (this ran in sister magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume).
At the time the series had already concluded in 2018 with ten volumes under its belt and despite being licensed for an English release in 2022, I never expected to see it adapted at all never mind into a live-action TV series. Yet here we are in 2024 with an 11 45-minute episode series having just wrapped up its Japanese broadcast.
Usotoki Rhetoric is 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 Souma in a meeting that can only be considered fate.
After meeting Souma 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 Souma she searches for the boy, one thing leads to another and she ends up telling him about her ability. To her surprise, Souma 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 charms readers of the manga and once again proves to captivate here in a new form.
I’ll admit that when this project was announced I was somewhat skeptical. I only started watching live-action adaptations avidly a couple of years ago and the quality varies significantly from project to project (some of my favourite shows have ended up poorly brought to life). For a historical drama like Usotoki Rhetoric, I was fully prepared for them to cut corners and for it to lack all of the charm of the original. After all, with the manga finished so long ago it didn’t feel like there was a pressing need to do it justice to sell the original (this might just be my cynical anime critic side showing…).
However, what we got was a beautiful work that wasn’t afraid to adjust the original material to better suit the format but also faithfully stuck to Miyako’s characterisations and the emotional exchanges between the cast. The set and costume designs were also excellent, and convincingly portrayed the period with a lot of attention to detail. It helps that they managed to keep it set within a few key areas, mostly set up in a studio rather than constantly location shooting.
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 being through 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 Souma. She grows a lot throughout the story and I think Matsumoto conveyed that well through her acting.
Souma on the other hand is played by Ouji Suzuka, who I am 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 and yes there’s some bias there as I really like that VA, but ultimately Souma 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 (which is why I prefaced this), but because he’s young and a little babyfaced for how I imagined Souma to be. Again not a slight against Suzuka as I am a fan of his.
However, my initial fears were completely unfounded and now I can’t imagine anyone else playing the role as he captured Souma’s quirky nature so well. Suzuka and Matsumoto’s onscreen chemistry is fantastic and perfectly conveys 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 Souma. 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.
Since the drama didn’t get to the end of the manga and even introduced Shiro who becomes a major character later on (when they could have just cut his story out), I’m hoping that means we will see a second season in the future. Even if we don’t, I’m grateful to the whole team for creating these 11 episodes with so much dedication and care. This is easily one of the best manga to live-action projects I have ever watched especially when it comes to a source material I already loved so much.
It’s rare for me to enjoy every single episode of a TV series, but watching Souma and Kanako was never dull. This is a story that’s not always serious, it can be silly (in a good way!), but it’s a work that’s always heartfelt and putting its best foot forward to be engaging and charming. I dearly hope not only for a second season but also for the series to be licensed for an English release by someone, it deserves it. Meanwhile, I may have to go look into the Japanese Blu-rays assuming those will exist…
If you have made it this far then thank you for reading! If you’re interested in learning more about the original manga, then please do check out my reviews for Anime UK News where I’ve been covering the One Peace Books releases.