J-drama Review: Miss King
- Very Average Joe
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
English Title: Miss King
Japanese Title: ミス・キング
Director(s): Yamagishi Santa
Screenwriter(s): Yamagishi Santa
Studio: Soket
Released: 2025
Runtime: 8 episodes, ~30m each. (29m – 46m)
Starring: Non, Fujiki Naohito, Kurashina Kana, Nakamura Shido II, Okunuki Kaoru, Mori Shoot, Narumi Yui, Yamaguchi Sayaka
Yui Narumi (Nakamura Shido), husband to Keiko (Okunuki Kaoru) and father to Asuka, is a top shogi player. Naturally, Asuka also plays the game and has some talent.
Narumi is so focused on shogi that he is ridiculously negligent at being a husband and father. During a losing streak, he just ups and leaves his wife and daughter, claiming not to care about them anymore. No doubt some have done a lot worse, but this setup just comes across as forced.
Accepting that premise, Asuka (Non) grows up wishing to exact revenge on her father. Although she wants to, she realizes that killing him is not going to work. She is noticed by Todo Seigo (Fujiki Naohito), a former shogi player himself who doesn’t like Narumi either, and he coaches her so she can carry out her revenge through shogi.
If it is not based on a shojo or josei manga, then it might as well be. The plot follows Asuka as she re-learns the game and rises through the ranks so she can challenge her father.
The plot has the usual elements. Asuka seems to have talent but she needs to focus on the game as a whole which she has some trouble doing. Narumi had remarried; his wife, Kaori (Yamaguchi Sayaka), is the one-dimensional witch of the series who plays politics, and his adult son, Tatsuya (Mori Shoot), is a bit spoiled but tries not to be. Kaori is the source of the obstacles for Asuka. And, of course, she has the mandatory losing streak to deal with.
These elements, amongst others, are somewhat predictable in the sense that they are common to the genre but are presented well enough. The main problem is that the sense of dread is not particularly strong for what is meant to be a thriller. Just when the viewer might feel that Asuka is really in a deep hole, the issue is resolved too quickly and too easily.
Having said that, at least the narrative does not dwell on the problem too long so, overall, the relative quick pacing of the series masks whatever problems it has.
The other problem is that the characters lack complexity, especially the villains, even if the performances are generally good. By the way, Asuka’s stress and frustration during a game are too exaggerated at times. Given Non’s acting ability, I assume this was done under direction.
Anyway, Asuka and Todo are the main viewpoint characters so Non and Fujiki have the screentime to play with their parts at least a little bit. However, the others are written too simply and the actor or actress has little opportunity to do much with it. For example, as already mentioned, Kaori is the witch. There are reasons for her actions but she is too simple. There is a glimpse of complexity with Tatsuya but his part is too small.
On a related note, Asuka moves in with Todo who lives with Reiko (Kurashina Kana). The latter owns and runs a bar on the ground floor and they live upstairs. Reiko is the token kindhearted savior and the mother figure for Asuka, which is fine in itself, but she is just there for moral support.
Whilst this is consistent with the theme of parental negligence and abandonment, the plot does nothing with her character. Her background and relationship with Todo are not explained, she is just conveniently there to ask questions to trigger some game commentary from Todo.
But then again, the game is generally not explained. This is admittedly a difficult choice: explain it and the show may become cringe, especially to those who know the game, but without it, the narrative comes across as too bare. The balanced approach is to only explain the most fancy and/or difficult situation and moves but it doesn’t even bother with that.
There is the point that shogi is a male-dominated game and there are no female kishi (high-ranking professional players). This point is made throughout. Thankfully, since the series is generally well-made and Asuka is established strongly, her motivation is revenge and she does not even care about being the first woman kishi, the series does not come across as woke.
Visually, it mostly looks good. The palette is nice with good complementary lighting. It is not as saturated as some fantasy K-drama, nor is it meant to be, but it tastefully goes in that direction. There is a moderate use of odd camera angles and these shots are seamlessly edited so they don’t draw too much attention to themselves. There is good use of some longer and more dynamic shots, a few of which are a bit pretentious but nothing outright jarring.
The music is typical but fitting to the genre with the use of piano and strings. It is not too dark or moody; it is noticeable but does not try to be grand which, more often than not, ends up being total cheese. It is mixed well so that it avoids being a problem in that regard as well.
When described in writing, a thriller in which a young woman exacts revenge against her father via shogi can come across as silly, but the series pulls it off. It starts strongly enough before it plateaus a bit whilst still maintaining a sufficient level of intrigue to the end. The characters are a bit too simple and the motivation-and-obstacle cycles are sometimes too fast and crude. But it looks good and the overall tight structure of the series at 8 episodes (most of which are around half an hour) masks these issues.
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