From Sakamoto Yuki the writer of Mother, Taiyo to Umi and Last Christmas comes Chase, a dorama about tax evasion/minimisation or whatever you want to call it. Despite my complaints about the last two episodes of Mother, Sakamoto Yuki definitely has writing skills. I've seen jdoramas about talking deers and Japanese cowboys but this is the first time I've ever seen a jdorama about tax.
Everytime I question why I continue to watch jdoramas with all the horrible acting and storylines, its shows like this that make it all worthwhile. Its no surprise that the subber is Chuks, who has always gone after quality doramas. Without people like Chuks, the more mature doramas would never be subbed.
Eguchi Yosuke is Haruma, tax investigator with lovely wife and daughter and of course, he is very dedicated to his work blah blah blah. The main antagonist is Murakumo, played by Arata who is known as the Magician of the Caribbean because he is an expert at hiding people's money and reducing taxes. Murakumo is an interesting 'villain' not because he has an evil haircut and prosthetic left hand (when will the subbing of Tobousha be finished?) but because he is a well rounded character. He is not evil but rather is good at his job and he has history with the wife of a friend that he helps out in the first episode played by Aso Kumiko.
Arata has infused Murakumo with a mixture of coolness with a hint of humanity that almost makes him an anti-hero. His relationship with Aso Kumiko is going to be interesting to watch and their history as well as how he lost his left hand is going to be interesting. More importantly, Murakumo makes a perfect opponent for Haruma because a hero is only as good as the villain. Actually Haruma because a tragic hero at the end of episode 1 and I'm pretty sure Murakumo's story will be tragic as well.
Chase is just awesome, the ratings be damned. Its an education about how people and corporations hide their profits from the tax office and how much work is needed from tax investigators just to follow the paper trail. Definitely a must watch.
Chase is fantastic (so far, for the first episode) if you compared it to other commercial broadcasted dramas. But I can't help to compare it with other NHK Saturday Dramas that were subbed- Hagetaka and Gaiji Keisatsu, and the later two have a better first episode than Chase.
ReplyDeleteIn the first episode, it's more interesting to see both the tax-inspector and tax-evader at works, rather than dwelling in their personal lives, which drag the drama so far. But after the first episode, the stage is set for a big showdown in the next five episodes or so. I will definitely follow this one till the end.
You articles about jdramas are interesting. :)
ReplyDeleteSubbing Chase is as interesting as subbing Fumo Chitai, since I learn a lot from this drama.
I was surprised to see how much Eguchi Yosuke has grown as an actor.
I was flattered to read your nice comments about me. :)
Hopefully the cat and mouse game between the two will be very good.
ReplyDeleteChuks, if you're want to see good acting by Eguchi Yosuke, watch Children of the Dark.