99.9 2 Review

Title: 99.9 season 2

AKA: Criminal Lawyers season 2

Genre: Legal, Drama

Episodes: 9

Broadcast period: 2018-Jan to 2018-Mar

Theme song: Find the Answer by Arashi

Cast: Matsumoto Jun, Kagawa Teruyuki and Kimura Fumino

“The Japanese criminal justice system has a conviction rate of 99.9%. Once indicted, a guilty verdict is a near certainty. This drama series tells the story of the lawyers who take on these difficult cases, so that they may find the facts hidden within the remaining 0.1%.” (Intro of each episode)

Returning to where we left off, Miyama Hiroto (Matsumoto Jun) still works “losing” cases for Madarame Law Firm. Joining him this time is a former judge, Ozaki Maiko (Kimura Fumino), who firmly and blindly, believes in the judicial system of Japan - which is completely opposite from Miyama.

Not being able to unite in the beginning, the two learn to adapt to each other’s workstyle, and soon enough, together with top defense lawyer Sada Atsuhiro (Kagawa Teruyuki), they seek justice for cases with a 0,01 % success rate…

So, 2 years back, I watched the first season, and didn’t not fancy it. I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t that into it. The second season is a bit better. I like that there is an exact opposite of Miyama, making it two sides, instead of just the one. Also, Ozaki is really cool. I like her character being herself, even if she is caught in a disadvantage, which the previous lead didn’t have. All characters are pretty much the same, and the acting was pretty much at point - though the humor and speed of conversations, is hard to follow, which it was in season one as well. The stories are good, and the flow of the back plot is great, so it made it a bit more enjoyable.

All in all, a better season, and interesting storytelling.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥♥ / 4 out of 5 hearts

Kaiji 2 Movie Review

Title: Kaiji 2: Jinsei gyakuten gêmu.
AKA: Kaiji: The Ultimate Gamblr
Genre: Suspense
Origin: Japan
Release date: 2011-Nov-05
Cast: Fujiwara Tatsuya, Yoshitaka Yuriko, Namase Katsuhisa and Kagawa Teruyki.

Even though he managed to pay all his debt, Ito Kaiji (Fujiwara Tatsuya) ends back underground after falling into debt again. With the help of fellow underground workers, he earns enough money to get back over ground for 14 days, where he plans to earn 200 million to get his and the rest 25 workers freedom back.

Here he meets and old ‘friend’, who cheats him off money, but leaves an invitation to a casino. The casino has crazy minimum bets, and the machines are x100 pr. Bet. But the one that catches Kaijis eye is the biggest of them all: the x1000 machine “Swamp”, meaning every ball is worth x1000 than usual. Unfortunately he realizes that they are rigged, but decides to join up with Ishidas daughter Yumi (Yoshitaka Yuriko), a fired employee of Teai, Sakazaki Kotaro (Katsuhisa Namase) and his old ‘friend’ Tonegawa Yukio (Kagawa Teruyuki), to take on the monster machine Swamp…

Honestly, it’s pretty good. Didn’t really expect enjoying it as much as I did; I was nervous and excited some of the time. I remember watching the first one and liking it, but it wasn’t really that thrilling, okay yeah the bridge scene is insanely tense, but else, not really. I honestly felt on edge most of the time, though it wasn’t all that ‘tricky’, it had moments of brilliance. And I think what I loved most about it was Kaijis character: most humanlike ever! Kind a cool how Fujiwara can change from crazy to sad and then pathetic, then all happy, and lastly crazy once again.. Endless circle!

It’s very Japanese with the moral talk and the ‘gambarre’ moments, but well, not too much…

Pretty enjoyable :)

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Jenji's verdict
I think I might like the first one better than this one. Even though the first one was more complicated I think, it still had more action, more going on. And it was more exciting for me. Here it was a bit too much of him taking on a whole lot of dept as if it didnt even matter anymore. I was getting annoyed instead of him lol, feeling for him, taking all that responsibility for other people and risking it all and then losing time after time. I felt almost worse than he looked. More than getting angry I was getting annoyed. But again seeing him in all these different roles it really shows what a good actor he is. And if you have watched the first then this one is really recommended to watch too anyway. 

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts