Sunday, August 24, 2008

Gonzo: Densetsu no Keiji eps 1-4

My, Motokariya Yuika has grown since Sekachu. :)

I've always harped about jdoramas can't do proper action. This ties with their inability to do interesting storylines. Most of the detective shows have been downright mediocre (Odorou Daisasousen) or pathetic (SP). Police shows are very similar to mystery shows and there are some pretty good ones like One Million Stars and Trick but they are not really cop shows. I think cop shows either suffer from too family orientated (Kochi Hon Ikegami Sho) or too much about bumbling cops and their jurisdictional conflicts instead of the actual crimes themselves. Jdorama cop shows lack in the essential ingredient of suspence.

If I were a Japanese cop, I'd want to question all the hot Japanese teachers too.

Gonzo is the cop show to change that. Gonzo is the name of the main character played by Uchino Masaaki. Most jdorama viewers would know him as KimuTaku's brother from Love Generation or Ueto Aya's coach in Ace wo Nerae. There seems to be a huge gap in his jdorama acting between both shows. I didn't even recognise him in Ace and he deserves credit for making what could have been a horrible show very watchable.

Gonzo somehow not too excited with Otsuka Nene.

This show really reminds me of Bengoshi no Kuzu in that Kuzu became a career defining series for Toyokawa Etsushi and I certainly see it becoming so for Masaaki. Of course, their characters share similar traits of being very flawed but entertaining. After all, who the hell wants to watch a story about a goody-two-shoes. Its more fun to watch a story about a great detective who has fallen from grace. Masaaki infuses Gonzo with the right amount of humour and empathy to make him the perfect underdog. He doesn't stray into the realm of overacting and basically gives Gonzo the aura of a likeable rogue.

Gonzo with another hot chick. Waitaminit, for a supposed 'loser' he's got it going pretty good!

Joining Masaaki is Tsutui Michitaka, who most people will remember from Asunaro Hakusho (Hmm, another Kimutaku dorama.) who Gonzo once mentored who has ulterior motives in trying to resurrect Gonzo's career. I'm not going to go through all the characters. Suffice to say, basically all the characters are in the show for a storyline purpose and its just fun to watch dialogue and scenes not written to waste time but rather build up the suspense. Unlike Kuzu though, Gonzo so far is pretty good in terms of storyline. Gone are the stupid characters often used for humour but only serve to make cop shows look like a sitcom. Gonzo is that dark; there are still your usual jdorama elements but it has believability of character.

OMG, he gets to play games at work and have Motokariya Yuika watching! My empathy for Gonzo maybe turning into envy!

So far every episode has been very exciting especially towards the end while continuing the main overall story. If there's one huge criticism of the show is how the writers have split every episode so far as one element of the main investigation. This sorta makes the cops look stupid as some important elements should have been dealt with straight away such as the weapon which will be covered in ep 5. But hey, I'm happy to turn a blind eye as its probably a better way to structure the series.

Can't believe Sekachu was only 4 years ago!

Best show of the season so far? Most definitely. Highly recommended.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:36 pm

    omg how can you not mention the adorable pet parrot... "GONZO! GONZO!" I like this show a lot. I just wish it had more of Motokariya. :-[

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  2. No animal acting can match Ken-chan from KDO! Yes, they need to pair Motokariya with Gonzo!

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  3. Anonymous4:11 am

    thanks for the recommendation... sigh these days I cant be bothered to shovel through the manure to find the gems...Im relying on you now hamapsukebe!!

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  4. akiramike,

    you need to watch "Unfair", it's a dark and good cop drama. fairly twisted like One Million Stars and leaving mixed feeling to you surely.

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  5. Anonymous11:03 am

    mangifera...thx for the recommendation!!

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  6. Anonymous8:19 am

    Unfair....

    During the latter half I was thinking wow this is getting really good..it is providing plausible explanations of the seemingly absurd coincidences in the first half which reeked of the jcopdorama curse of excruciatingly painful plot twists (discarding pretences of plausibility and consistency of storyline) to maximize sentimental impact on the audience i.e. RONDO (pass me the sick bag)...I was thinking..DAMN, maybe this series will even manage to parody Rondo and the like whilst being an exceptional story...

    At this point I got hooked...I leave it to you to find out whether or not this dorama succeeds by pulling it altogether, crushing rondo etc and bringing a surprising yet satisfying conclusion!!!

    yoroshiku!

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  7. Anonymous8:24 am

    Either way 'unfair' would be interesting to read a review about...akiramike?

    http://asianfanatics.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=412211

    naked chicks with guns. What are you waiting for?

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  8. Anonymous12:19 pm

    Iam in a flush gush of excitement after seeing ep1 of Gonzo...flawless!

    I especially have to echo akiramike's comment about the action...damn!

    Could it be of 'tiger & dragon', kdo quality?

    of course it helps that the jachicks are hot...

    ps feels like Im talking to myself in the comments section here.. sniff!

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  9. Wow, you really made me regret no watching Unfair. I only saw the 1st episode and thought it was more flair than substance show.

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  10. Thanks for the recommendation, I'd run across this drama but almost didn't make it through the first episode--it seemed as though it was going to be too slapstick. I'm up to episode 5 and really enjoying the pace of the story and the character development. There haven't been too many good thriller jdoramas subtitled recently.

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