Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?: Slow-Burning Mystery Hits (Almost) All the Right Notes

It’s funny how a story can surprise you. How it can take you through a journey that may seem a bit quiet and dull at first to eventually immerse us in its universe and encourage us to become active participants in its narrative. That’s how we can describe TBS’s latest mystery, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?, which received international distribution through Netflix.

Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? (or クジャクのダンス、誰が見た?, that reads Kujaku no Dance, Dare ga Mita?) is an adaptation of Asami Rito’s manga of the same name penned by Kanazawa Tomoki and aired on TBS from January to March 2025. This is the story of Yamashita Komugi (Hirose Suzu from Netflix’s Asura, remember?), a university student whose father, Yamashita Haruo (Lily Franky), is a retired police officer. One night, Komugi becomes devasted as she arrives home to a building in flames and the news of her father’s death. The culprit is soon arrested. But things change when Komugi receives a letter that her father wrote to her before his murder, in which he declares that the person who has been arrested is innocent of the crime. The letter also instructs Komugi to partner up with Matsukaze Yoshiteru (Matsuyama Kenichi), a lawyer who will help her investigate the case.

Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? is a slow-burning mystery that keeps its answers hidden until its very last hour. Despite the flamboyance of its performances and the sporadic stilted dialogue, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? succeeds in proposing an intriguing enigma, whose many layers slowly unravel throughout its 10 episodes.

This review is spoiler-free but if you don’t have time to read it all, why don’t you pin our summary at the bottom?

Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? & Komugi’s Character Arc

At first, the series places you in a very uncomfortable spot. Komugi, our female protagonist, is a meek young woman surrounded by mostly older men who often tell her what to do and how to feel. She doesn’t put up a fight and wavers before making any sort of decision.

However, Komugi is given an excellent character arc, in which we see her actions influence the plot and vice-versa. She changes bit by bit, becoming ever more independent, determined, and courageous. She might still be young but she develops a stronger sense of identity and self-respect. The story pushes her to constantly rediscover, question, and recreate who she is. This process is highlighted by a very important and symbolic scene in the second half of the series, one that marks the birth of a completely new Komugi — Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? (quite literally) allows Komugi to be “reborn”.

Working with Themes of Identity, Fairness & Responsibility

Actually, identity is a very important theme in Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?. Identity, fairness, and responsibility are all explored as the characters investigate the mystery of Haruo’s death. Komugi needs to understand her father, his principles, and how far he was willing to go to shoulder responsibility for his actions. Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? portrays the police and justice system very realistically: full of men whose motivations often involve money, politics, and power. Female characters may be few, but they are entrusted with powerful, important roles — and they are the ones teaching lessons to older male characters who don’t believe in their skills and intelligence.

And so, the crime itself is a tool through which the script questions the characters’ decisions and their consequences, examining who they want, pretend, and need to be — and who they ultimately are. But these ideas of identity, fairness, and responsibility are intrinsically linked to the theme of parenting — and more markedly, fatherhood — that lies in the very heart of the narrative.

The Importance of Fatherhood to Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?

Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? is, fundamentally, a series about fatherhood: the expectations, the mistakes, the miscommunication. It’s about parents who are all trying to protect their children in their own distorted ways — and about their children, as they learn to see their parents as imperfect human beings who should be offered help, understanding, and redemption. Even though most of the show focuses on this fragile bond between parents and children, often highlighting the disappointment, pain, and struggle that arises from this relationship, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? finds its emotional anchor in the extremely positive connection between Haruo and Komugi.

After the death of his wife, Haruo raised Komugi as a single father. Their bond is full of respect and gratitude, as Haruo is proud of being Komugi’s father as much as Komugi is proud of being his daughter. They depend on, trust, and support each other, which ignites the “inciting incident” of the narrative. That is, Haruo wants to be a father worthy of Komugi’s respect and affection, one who actively shows her the righteous principles he’d like her to stand up for. Indirectly, that’s what eventually leads to his death.

By investigating the mystery behind the fire, Komugi is pushed into exploring their familial rapport, as she tries to connect who her father was as an individual with who he was as a father. In the end, Komugi’s greatest discovery is that the relationship between parents and children isn’t about family registers or surnames but about the care, presence, and love they share. The final 10 minutes of the last episode are particularly moving and give the emotional payoff the story requires.

A Quick (but Significant) Note on Komugi & Matsukaze

Another important dynamic in the show is the one between Komugi and Matsukaze, the lawyer who assists her. As Komugi faces her own personal character arc, their relationship also goes through a sort of arc. Komugi and Matsukaze progressively become closer and more supportive of each other, coming to understand and appreciate each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They can be very similar and yet, completely different — and the quirkiness of their bond gives the show an element of fun but also allows these two characters to learn a lot from one another. Matsukaze is a vital contributor to Komugi’s character arc and one of the very first to recognise and celebrate her growth.

Narrative & Performances: The Strengths & Weaknesses

While the dialogue is sometimes a bit flawed, the premise is great and the narrative may not be perfect but is well-structured. Relying on a tragic mystery, the show introduces the audience to several different elements and clues that slowly come together. Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? is the kind of show that takes its time to find its rhythm but undeniably becomes more and more intriguing with every episode.

The script doesn’t make use of violence or cruelty and, instead, counts on a guessing game. It constantly prompts the audience to question what happened and what is coming next. I, for one, kept trying to understand what was going on — and it was quite thrilling to see that, while some of my guesses were correct, I was proven wrong several times too. With twists and turns, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? manages to make most of its threads connect by the end of the story. Episode 9 deserves a special mention as the most electrifying hour of the entire series, urging the audience to watch the finale. Even though some secondary characters didn’t receive a nice and tidy ending, it does provide answers to all the important questions the series proposes.

Since the show keeps facts and identities hidden until the very end, episode 10 depends on a lot of expository dialogue, which can be a tad exhausting. Something else that might stand out as strange is the performances themselves. Hirose Suzu, Lily Franky, and Matsuyama Kenichi are excellent, with their characters having very particular, engaging personalities. However, the rest of the cast offers very theatrical, exaggerated performances that often make the show feel like a bit of an anime in style. While these elements could’ve been approached differently, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? still delivers what it promises through a convincing sequence of cause-and-effect, granting us a rewarding journey — with a good heart deep down.

Visual Identity in Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?

While the script may not be flawless, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? stands out for its clear visual identity. The show was helmed by Tanaka Kenta, Aoyama Takahiro, Fukuda Ryosuke, and Tanazawa Takayoshi, whose cinematography and directing don’t follow the standard of Japanese television.

Besides compositions and colour palettes that serve the narrative perfectly, the show makes excellent use of blurring to show isolation, internal conflict, and shock. The dialogues at the prison are especially curious, constantly using reflections to establish connections between characters or to literally illustrate that they are opposite ends of the same spectrum. It also counts on “metaphorical” sequences that illustrate and effectively use the allegory that gives name to the series: “Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?” All these elements infuse the series with visual interest and a sense of sophistication that you don’t often see in Japanese broadcasting.

Should You Watch Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle?

All in all, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? is a pleasant surprise. For a show that starts timidly (just like its protagonist), it blossoms into an engrossing mystery as its episodes unravel. Despite its weaknesses, Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? counts on excellent cinematography, an intriguing mystery, and some very significant themes — that might unexpectedly move you to tears by the end of its run. Be sure that your patience and curiosity will be rewarded if you, like Matsukaze with Komugi, believe in the potential of this tale.

You can watch Who Saw the Peacock Dance in the Jungle? on:

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