Himura Hideo no Suiri Review

Title: Himura Hideo no Suiri
AKA: Rinshou Hanzai Gakusha, Criminologist Himura and Mystery Writer Arisugawa
Genre: Mystery
Episodes: 10
Broadcast Period: Jan-2016 to Mar-2016
Cast: Saito Takumi, Kubota Masataka, Yuka, Yamamoto Mizuki, Makita Sports, Hasegawa Kyoko, Namase Katsuhisa

Criminologist Himura Hideo (Saito Takumi) gets so much pleasure out of being in crime scenes that he's even confessed to having wanted to kill someone. Constantly seeking out the ultimate crime, he is indeed a man with quite a few issues. Mystery writer Arisugawa Arisu (Kubota Masataka), on the other hand, keeps a close eye on Himura's investigations and writes about them, but at times completely misses the point. Not at all the type of guy you'd call dependable, Arisugawa nonetheless professes to be the protector of the clumsy Himura. Although these two men appear like they have no business being in crime scenes, they mitigate each other's shortcomings and use their compelling logic to unravel the elaborately woven tricks left behind by the criminals. It's almost as if Himura and Arisugawa use incredible magical powers to tease out unimaginable truths!

Yes, a quite interesting plot, that made me hooked to the drama from the beginning. Every week I looked forward to an episode with a new mysterious case to solve. As a mystery/thriller fan myself, I wouldn’t say that this drama is the ultimate drama of that genre, sometimes I wondered if it was on purpose they drifted from the genre, or they just failed to get it right. In any case, I liked that there was a bit slice of life in it, and especially the bromance (I’m a sucker for bromance in any way). They're great actors in my opinion. The reason why I continued watching was because of the acting. The interaction between the two leads are really enjoyable. This was a good drama, but what made this so watchable was the acting.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥ / 3 out of 5 hearts

Bunjis verdict
It’s been a while since I watched a real Japanese crime drama, so I was excited to watch this. I didn’t really know of the story before watching this, which makes it even more thrilling to watch, but unfortunately I recognized the story it is based on very quickly: Sherlock Holmes. To be fair they did change a lot and didn’t add the modern version stories of the 19 century classics which is kind of fresh, and they didn’t try to hide the fact that they were basing it off the classic, but still they should have stayed like that, instead of ending it like the original. Then again, this might only bug me since I am a fan of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle book series. The actors playing Hideo and Alice are the perfect actors for the roles, and I do understand why they were cast for these roles to play – even if the ‘hair-in-the-eyes’-look made me annoyed/confused and attracted at the same time. I am a fan of Kubota Masataka and this portrayal was point on~! All in all, a good drama with great acting, but just too much of the Sherlock Holmes ‘imitation’.

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Ace Attorney Movie Review

Title: Ace Attorney

AKA: Turnabout Trial

Genre: Law, Comedy, Drama

Origin: Japan

Release date: 11 Febrary 2012

Cast: Narimiya Hiroki, Kiritani Mirei and Saito Takumi.

In a future version of Japan where technology is very much progressed, Attorney Ayasato Chiriho () has hired a new attorney in her office: Naruhodo Ryuichi (Narimiya Hiroki). Naruhodo is rookie that panics under pressure, and has hard time finding evidence or explaining evidence. Different is his childhood friend Mitsurugi Reiji (Saito Takumi) who has become a prosecutor and has not lost any cases before.

One day Chihiro calls Naruhodo and tells him she has had a breakthrough in a case she had been working on finding evidence for a long time, so she tells him to meet her at the office - only to find her dead. The prime suspect happens to be her younger sister Ayasato Mayoi (Kiritani Mirei) who has all evidence pointing at her.

After proving her innocence, Naruhodo tries to figure out the truth about the death of his mentor, but is interrupted by Mayoi telling him to watch TV, where the news is all about Mitsurugi being arrested for murder, and found with the murder weapon. This makes Naruhodo decide to take the case and prove his friends innocence…

I watched this out of two reasons: one Narimiya Hiroki and second is because tumblr kept showing me pictures of this movie.  Though I did finish it, I am not sure if this is a children’s movie or just one of those black humor movies, which I decided in the end I would asses as a children’s movie.

It is fun and pretty interesting, and I did find myself compelled by the storyline, even though I kind of knew who the real criminal was and all. The pace made it really entertaining and I kind of started to loose myself for 2 hours LOL. Narimiya is amazing as always, and I love him. If you want to see him in a comedy role this should be your pick honestly.

So is it recommendable? Yeah, but kind of childish..

☆☆☆½ / 3½ out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

Kamen Teacher Review

Title: Kamen Teacher

Genre: School

Episodes: 12

Broadcast period: 2013-Jul to 2013-Aug

Theme song: Luv Sick by Kis-My-Ft2

Cast: Fujigaya Taisuke, Omasa Aya, Saito Takumi, Kyomoto Taiga, Lewis Jesse, Kikuchi Fuma and Kishi Yuta.

“In the year 20xx, corporal punishment and guidance by teachers was banned. Since then, teachers lost power. Schools became lawless. In order to correct this situation, the government put an educational reform program into effect. In order to correct the delinquents, to control everything with fear through power, special teachers were dispatched throughout the whole nation. They are called: Kamen Teacher.” (Intro of drama)

Araki Gouta (Fujigaya Taisuke) is a teacher with a high spirit. At his first day at work, he is met by teachers who refuse to get involved with their students and a class full of delinquents that beat him up, but that doesn’t bring him down, since he firmly believes that his students are good deep down. He is told that in the very class they are a group called M4: ‘Money Man’ aka Bon (Kyomoto Taiga) a rich brat who uses money for popularity, ‘Mad Man’ aka Kotaro (Maeda Goki) who threatens and blows up all the time, ‘Ice Man’ aka Ryota (Yanagi Shuntaro) an expressionless guy who everyone fears and ‘Shadow Man’ aka Shishimaru (Kishi Yuta) who works behind the scenes. Besides those 4, there is the school top, Takehara Kinzo (Kikuchi Fuma).

When the students can’t be faced by teachers, Gouta secretly them on as Kamen Teacher…

Lol, I started this because I was in the mood for high school dramas, and this had delinquents in it, so I went what the hell. But that thing with the ‘Kamen Teacher’ was a bit bizarre. I liked it honestly, and I was looking forward every single week to watch it. It is short, and it is really silly to some extent, but that’s the charm I guess. It is in the same category as Sugarless, like those C rated dramas that doesn’t really have the screen play nor the decent story plot, but manages to make you happy. Or me at least.

So to sum up, I can’t really recommend it, but if you liked the manga this won’t be a waste of time :)

☆☆☆ / 3 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out 5 hearts