Mystery Arena - A Combination of Game Quiz and Whodunit Mystery that Might be too Weird in General

There were not that many options to watch on streaming services during the past few days as they were mostly ongoing series or movie that I was not that interested in. When I found this one on Prime Video which I was not exactly sure when it was released, I thought the premise sound intriguing. Anyway I actually tried to watch on Friday night but somehow was too sleepy and only continued & finished it last night. Without further ado, here's more on the movie.

Brief Story Line

Set in the year 2036, twenty years after pandemic that ruined the lives of people and newborn babies, a quiz was held annually by its host Kabayama (Karasawa Toshiaki - 24 Japan TV series, 20th Century Boys films etc) where contestants were given murder mystery case to be solved live on TV giving the winner a huge money prize. The contestants of this year's quiz were disgraced researcher Edison (Nomaguchi Toru - AARO TV series, Faking Beethoven etc), orphan girl Ichiko (Ashida Mana - The Greatest Teacher TV series, Under the Stars etc), mystery novelist Ano (Asano Yuko -  Kura, The 8-Tomb Village etc) and three men with nicknames of Gambler (Suzuki Nobuyuki - Song of the Samurai TV series, Tokyo Revengers etc), Legend (Tamayama Tetsuji - Jigen Daisuke, Warau Matroshka TV series etc), and Unlucky Guy (Okuno So - Cosmetic Playlover TV series, The Setting Sun etc).

As Kabayama and his assistant Ms. Reika (Reina Triendl - Midnight Snack TV series, Ju-On: Beginning of the End etc) gave the story and clues, each contestant could provide the answer. The first one who could deduce the correct killer in the quiz would immediately win the prize but those who failed would have to help in the research for cure. 

So who would win the contest and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

To be honest the reason why I was sleepy on the first night of watching was because I was having difficulty in understanding the story, plus the setting and characters were not that interesting. However on the second night when I was feeling fresh, I could watch and understand it better which made me felt curious. I thought it was fun the way the story was told and the first contestant gave the deduction. And as the story progressed, it got more interesting for me as I am also a fan of whodunit mystery with theories of my own.

However, up to a certain point, the story suddenly changed its direction. At first I was quite surprised and confused why they had to change it so drastically. But then I thought it had always been the intention in the first place to put the mystery as the background rather than the main part. Think of it like The Running Man plot. In any case, I began to see the movie in a different way and was able to enjoy it while thinking how this would end.  Sadly in the last half hour or so, I was rather disappointed cause the story felt forced to give an extra twist which I felt a bit unnecessary. Even without that final twist, I think it was sufficient to finish the story. But probably that's just me. Fortunately, the ending was pretty conclusive and did not have any ambiguity so I was still pretty satisfied.

The movie had a long duration of 117 minutes including closing credits. I did not read anything and just skipped to the end to see if there was any mid or post end credit scene which it did not. However I read on the internet that the movie was adapted from novel of the same title written by Fukami Reiichiro. I also read that it was released in Japan back in May 2026 but it was made available by Prime Video on 14 August in USA and other regions (I guess including Indonesia). The film itself was directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko (A Conviction of Marriage, Trick TV series etc). 

There was a large ensemble cast in the movie as aside from the above, there were also support cast portraying the characters in the murder mystery case such as Yagyu Miyu (Love Delusion TV series etc) as Sayaka, Saiki Shigeru (Oh My Jump! TV series etc) as Hide, Kawamo Chiaki (Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding TV series etc) as Kyoko and few others. In addition to them, several people also appeared in the movie as important characters including Miura Toko (Heart Attack TV series etc) as the mysterious Sango and Uno Shohei (Twilight Cinema Blues etc) as Oana, the only contestant in the past who had won the quiz.

Overall this movie was actually pretty interesting if you could go beyond the weirdness at first and could see this not just a whodunit mystery genre but more about the quiz itself. However the continuous change to the story and that last twist was too much for me and not something that I truly appreciate. I would have probably be more satisfied if the story finished right around 1.5 hour and just disregard that last half hour (or just show few important stuff). Since I never read the novel, I could not say whether it was loyal to what was written or the ending was dramatically changed by the movie writers. In the end this could have been a more entertaining movie that I believe would be more enjoyable in general. Despite its shortcomings though, I thought it was still OK and not extremely bad. So if you have no problem with the things that might not make sense, you are welcome to give it a try. But if you are having doubts, then might as well skip this. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars