Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo 2014 SP Review

Title: Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Gokumon junku Satsujin Jiken

AKA: Kindaichi Boy’s Accident Files 2014 SP / The Files of Young Kindaichi 2014 SP

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Broadcast date: 2014 January 12

Cast: Yamada Ryosuke, Narimiya Hiroki, Kitamura Kazuki, Kawaguchi Haruna, Daiki Arioka and Wu Chun.

The special continues after the Shanghai story.

Kindaichi Hajime (Yamada Ryosuke) is forced to go to a well-known cramming school in Tokyo called Gokumon, famous for providing results immediately. He is taken by his two friends Nanase Miyuki (Kawaguchi Haruna) and Saki Ryuji (Daiki Arioka) who are afraid that Hajime might not continue till graduation with his grades. Arriving at the school they are met with a scream and find a dead body. When the police arrive they are surprised about how indifferent the fellow students are. Shortly after Lee Byron (Wu Chun) pops up and shows Hajime a letter he had gotten from a man calling himself “Puppet Player from Hell”, and explains him that his sister pointed him and as the mastermind behind the murders that happened in Shanghai.

As he is reading the letter he spots a man doing a magic trick and vanishes. Running after the man, Hajime and his friends are led to a warehouse where a message of a challenge is waiting for him…

Okay, yes I am a bit obsessed with these dramas, by these I mean classic, but they are really good. And this special is also pretty good, considering the scale they go through. This time it is Malaysia, and they really go there, which is nuts, but compared to the Shanghai special, this one is a bit more believable - and I sort of knew some of the trick. I am surprised that the Japanese aren’t tired of the same tricks over and over again.

Besides Wu Chun being a bit weird actor, the rest are really good, and the special appearance from Nickhun made me laugh out loud, but even though he didn’t really say anything (not that I remember anyway) his acting was better than Mr. Chun.  

So… to watch, not to watch? If you have watched the other you should, and even if you didn’t it’s still great :)

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Season 3 Review

Title: Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Season 3

AKA: Kindaichi Boy’s Accident Files / The Files of Young Kindaichi

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Episodes: 9 + Special

Broadcast period: 2001-Jul to 2001-Sep

Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Naito Takashi and Suzuki Anne.

The third season is a new season all around with an entirely new cast, and the story spans as if the two first seasons didn’t happen.

While travelling with friends Nanase Miyuki (Suzuki Anne) greets a familiar face who seems to ignore her.  However once a murder occurs she remembered as Kindaichi Hajime (Matsumoto Jun) when he explains the trick of the mystery murder. The two haven’t met in over 5 years, so Miyuki is quite sure he came for her, but Hajime seems indifferent. They meet a row of accidental cases, and some of them even leave the police questioning how and who did it. This is where Hajime proves to them that he is the grandson of one of Japans most amazing detectives…

Compared to the other two seasons I have to say this one is a bit more interesting and realistic, and actually makes no sense since a lot of the murders are pretty ridiculous. I mean sometimes I just go “what?”, not because of the murders but because of the absurdity of the way of killing. I mean some of them just make you shake your head, and I say this as a fan, but somehow it just makes you shake your head.

I was very annoyed by the new version of Miyuki since I kind of liked her in the previous series.  Her character just was this loud girl that made me scowl every time I saw her. But Matsumoto was okay honestly, I mean I wasn’t really expecting and he didn’t really exceed the expectations, but it was fine like it was.

If you want to watch it, you can even without having watched the classic. If you like Matsujun this should make you happy to watch. He is kind of cute as a 17 year old.

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Season 2 Review

Title: Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Season 2

AKA: Kindaichi Boy’s Accident Files / The Files of Young Kindaichi

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Episodes: 9 + Special

Broadcast period: 1996-Jul to 1997-Dec

Cast: Domoto Tsuyoshi, Tomosaka Rie and Furuoya Masato.

The story continues with Kindaichi Hajime (Domoto Tsuyoshi) and Nanase Miyuki (Tomosaka Rie) and their accidental cases. Always ending up at either deserted situations where murder occurs, witnessing one or being invited to places where a mystery is to be discovered. In order to uphold his grandfather’s reputation, Hajime doesn’t let any case slip unresolved.

In this season the murders get more complicated and Hajime gets suspected more than once for the murders, for trying to figure out the truth…

Again: sorry for the review, but you get the idea. This season is funny and likeable, and also has some more interesting cases compared to season one. The couple is great as well, and makes a really funny combi. Also adding the police officer they make the story really interesting.

If you like “Detective Conan” manga or anime this series is what it reminds you of. A young kid accidently ends up at a place where the murderer is, and he has to solve it as a mystery.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Season 1 Review

Title: Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbo Season 1

AKA: Kindaichi Boy’s Accident Files / The Files of Young Kindaichi

Genre: Mystery, Suspense

Episodes: 8 + 2 Specials

Broadcast period: 1995-Jul to 1995-Sep

Cast: Domoto Tsuyoshi, Tomosaka Rie and Furuoya Masato.

Even though Kindaichi Hajime (Domoto Tsuyoshi) is the grandson of the famous detective Kindaichi Kousuke, who is famous for solving complicated crimes, Hajime is much more relaxed and doesn’t really bother with complicated things. Being a high school student, he prefers to play around in classroom and falls for almost any pretty girl. Despite his attitude he tends to be protective of his best friend Miyuki (Tomosaka Rie), and every time a mystery happens, Hajime changes: he becomes a different person, with the goal to solve it.

I’m sorry the review is a bit short, but this drama does not have one main story. It has a lot of short stories and two main actors in those stories, so yeah.

Being an old drama I was not expectant nor did I judgmental, and honestly that worked in my favour since I really enjoyed this. I like Domoto Tsuyoshi and have for a long time, though I haven’t seen him as a younger character before, so that was pleasant.

I can’t really say much, since it really does have a lot of bad CGs and bad fake bodies, but acting wise was great. That what I thought was bad acting actually was a hint to who the killer was, which I noticed along the way.

So do I recommend? Well, usually people wouldn’t watch this because of the quality and I get it, but this being a classic I had to watch it.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts