‘The Days’ (2023) Dramatic Series on Netflix about the Fukushima Disaster

The Days is a new Japanese series directed by Hideo Nakata and Masaki Nishiura. starring Kôji Yakusho and Yutaka Takenouchi.

The Days is a recreation of what happened at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant that tries to be as objective as possible and, without looking for culprits, offers us a dramatization of the events in 8 episodes.

At the production level it’s not much of a big accomplishment, but it pretends (and manages) to be apparently reliable regarding the facts and the people who tried to stop all this.

Would it have been better in documentary format? It is a very sentimental series that places special emphasis on the emotional repercussions and on how these days were lived, which has its strength in the variety of points of view and in approaching the subject from different angles.

About the Series

Very interesting because of the story, of course, much less interesting if what you want to see is an exciting Hollywood-style blockbuster. It tries to distance itself at all times from a spectacular treatment and seeks to put us in the shoes of those people who first tried to avoid and then alleviate the catastrophe.

Very interesting at the narrative level where the series manages to take us to its terrain, build its own rhythm and create its ecosystem.

Good technical work from a series that knows that its impact is in what it tells us, not in making a show of what was a tragedy.

If we let ourselves be carried away by its choices and accomplishments (always cinematographic), a good series that deserves our attention.

Sure, as long as you feel like watching the re-enactment of a disaster.

Storyline

Blamed by some, hailed as heroes by others, those involved with Fukushima Daiichi face a deadly, invisible threat — an unprecedented nuclear disaster.

Release date

June 1

Where to watch The Days

Netflix

The Cast

Kōji Yakusho

Fumiyo Kohinata

Yutaka Takenouchi

Kaoru Kobayashi