This is a drama that I'm going to find difficult to review, because whilst I would love to sing praises for Ouroboros because it was an exciting and touching drama that kept me on the edge of my seat and always had my full attention, it did have its flaws. I don't really want to touch upon those flaws, so I could just inflate my score and only talk about what I loved. However, in order to maintain my impartiality and not mislead anyone, I must, as a good citizen of Dramaland, discuss those flaws. Ouroboros' main problems lie within its unoriginal story and how said story is executed. I'm not saying that is a bad thing because plenty of stories are unoriginal, story writing thrives on borrowing elements and themes from one another, but its how these unoriginal stories are tackled that is what makes them original. Do I make sense? (I probably don't because I'm an insomniac, and my brain is muddled due to lack of sleep). I digress - my point was, Ouroboros doesn't do anything different with its story to make it original. Most of the major plot twists can be seen from a mile off and have been seen before. It makes the scriptwriting seem a bit lazy and contrived, because an intelligent viewer has already figured out something major before the characters had. There are also lot of plot holes. They aren't exactly massive, but they're important enough to be detrimental to the score of the drama. After you watch Ouroboros you'll probably be sitting there wondering why so and so's backstory wasn't properly explored before they popped on screen, or what happened to so and so after so and so was killed. The villain of the week type structure that the writers were trying to maintain for the first 4-5 episodes, whilst attempting an overarching storyline, is what contributed to the problems in plot. There's also a massive sense of inevitability from the outset of the drama. However, despite my criticisms of the predictable nature of the drama, I do commend the writers for managing to keep the MAIN major plot twist unpredictable. I did really go WTF when the BIG big reveal was revealed, and when the drama ended. And as I said before, whilst there is a massive sense of inevitability from the beginning of the drama, the ending will genuinely have you sitting in shock for a couple of seconds (maybe more of you're a more sensitive viewer). Whilst the story might not be particularly innovative, the characters sure are. Ryuuzaki and Danno are not your typical one-dimensional revenge drama male leads. Both believed they had gone off the righteous path a long time ago, when they were really still struggling between right and wrong. Ryuuzaki found it difficult to fight between his desire to avenge the only mother-figure he'd ever known or just forget his vengeance and move on with his life with a woman who cared for him. Danno - who just seemed like a ruthless, yet intelligent, yakuza - who didn't want anyone to see the real him and was still holding on to the love he had as a child and was willing to sacrifice himself for another's happiness. Whilst the two did do quite immoral things and sold themselves as dishonest men, the trajectory they went through for redemption - and eventual happiness - was befitting and highlighted their essentially child-like souls. I also think that the two had one of the sweetest and endearing bromances as well. The two characters were also played wonderfully with great nuanced performances by Ikuta Toma and Oguri Shun - who had a great dynamic with each other. Inspector Hibino was also a beautifully sincere and resilient character who learnt that forgiveness can be more important than justice when it comes to the people you hold near to you. Although she went through a lot of pain during Ouroboros' run, her trajectory made her grow as a person and see the world in a wider sense so you just knew that her scars will heal and she'll come back even better. Ueno Juri played her so wonderfully that I forgot she's the same actress who played Nodame - she really became Hibino Mizuki. The supporting characters were also great and there wasn't a single character or performance I disliked. The villain, though, was a bit eh but otherwise the rest of the cast managed to hold their ground and deliver nuanced performances despite the three leads being at such a magnanimous level of talent. At its heart, Ouroboros is essentially a character study which redeems the somewhat lacklustre plot since the characters in Ouroboros are so relateable and are backed up by an excellent cast. Don't watch Ouroboros if you're hoping for something that breaks the mould in the revenge genre, but watch it because you'll be moved by each characters trajectory and the realness of their suffering.