Tobo Bengoshi Review

Title: Tobo Bengoshi

AKA: Fugitive Lawyer

Genre: Suspense, Law, Crime

Episodes: 11

Broadcast date: 2010-Jul to 2010-Sep

Cast: Kamiji Yusuke, Ishihara Satomi and Kitamura Kazuki.

“In Japan criminal trials, the probability of being found innocent is less than 1%”

Narita Makoto (Kamiji Yusuke) is lawyer at the Axle Law office, working under his mentor and idol Ninomiya sensei.  One night while going home, he is called up by Ninomiya who is looking for a file which Narita by accident has taken with him. On the way he meets the secretary whom he chats with, and notices that she seems a bit distant. Arriving at the office he notices that Ninomiya is on the floor covered in blood, where after he is hit on the head and loses consciousness. Waking up he is on the ground outside the office which is now in flames. Shortly after he is in the hospital, and interrogated by prosecutor Mafune Joe (Kitamura Kazzuki). He is accused of murdering his boss, even the secretary says that they didn’t meet up. This leaves Narita no other option than running away and finding the real murderer himself. But for some reason everything seems to circle back to the Axle Office… 

This is a hidden gem amongst the idol dramas out there. Yes it is quite cliché with the framed guy looking for the real murderer theme, but somehow it is pretty adorable. I really like the fact that he helps other people while trying to solve his own case, and that he touches people around him whilst he does so. I like that we aren’t sure who the bad guy is, and the fact that they managed to fool me.

Besides that it kind of makes you tired and you kind of just want the main story to get moving, because they are really bad at that. Yeah, it does move, but with a slow pace - so slow that finding a witness takes around 8 episodes… But yeah, I guess 11 episodes is kind of long for a regular Japanese drama.

All in all quite good…

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Drop Movie

Title: Doroppu
AKA: Drop
Genre: Comedy, Friendship
Origin: Japan
Release date: 20. May 2009
Cast: Narimiya Hiroki, Mizushime Hiro, Kamiji Yusuke, Nakagoshi Noriko and Namioka Kazuki.

Shinaogawa Hiroshi (Narimiya Hiroki), being inspired by a Be-Bop High School manga, drops out of private school, and joins a public school to be become a delinquent. What happens is that he meets the “school thug”, Iguchi Tatsuya (Mizushime Hiro) who LOVES to fight and deals with every single problem by fighting. The two get into a fight and become friends, where the “not-so-fond-of-fighting” Hiroshi joins the gang, which includes members: Lupine, a thief who rarely fights but knows how, WanKou, an airhead who likes to fight even bites them during fights, and Moriki (Namioka Kazuki), a fast fighter that thinks before he acts.
The one supporting Hiroshi, and helps him stay grounded, is his sister’s, Shinaogawa Yuka (Nakagoshi Noriko) boyfriend, Kimura Hideo (Kamiji Yusuke), an ex-delinquent who has become a decent person.

Short and simple, I liked it. It’s a real yankee (delinquent) movie, for people who like humour, tough love, friendship and not to mention fighting (scenes). Though I was (to put it nicely) annoyed at Iguchi’s girlfriend, like I have no clue what the hell her character is doing there. I mean, no way in hell Iguchi liked her, or I don’t know, maybe he did, but noticed the fact that Hiroshi liked her, so he wanted to ‘give’ her to him, or whatever, but no less, useless. This movie reminds mostly of CROWS ZERO, but its way more humour based. Last words: I recommend it.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Jenji's Verdict
Exactly my cup of tea! :P I especially liked Hiroshi's comments.. So much fun. And it was weird watching Mizushime Hiro with this kind of role, because he was always speaking with a deep and dark voice. And all he was ever thinking about was the next fight. And they kept fighting and fighting even though they lose almost everytime, and somehow more and more people join their little gang. And what i also liked a lot was how it changed from comedy to a really serious movie at the end. Anyway great movie, been waiting for one of these to watch for a long time and its really just awesome.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars :D

♥♥♥♥4/5 / 4,8 out of 5 hearts