Still can't believe Takeuchi Yuko is gone. I didn't know what to do so I decided to finish the one Takeuchi Yuko series I never got around to finishing: Strawberry Night.
Strawberry Night Night started out as a dorama special back in 2010 and it continued into a series in 2012. Looking back at my reviews, I liked the SP but had my misgivings about the dorama series, especially the boss played by Watanabe Ikkei who keeps shouting at Himekawa (Takeuchi Yuko) and saying this woman this and this woman that without showing any leadership qualities.
Many years later. I'm not as annoyed by his character as I have come to accept that this is part of Japanese working culture where there are people who care more about hierarchy and thing must be done a certain way instead of what is right or wrong.
That said, I breezed through Strawberry Night and I regret not pushing on with the series back in 2012. It certainly starts off weaker but I found the stories got better in the second half. Each story was also told in 2 or 3 episodes so it was more like watching a series of movies.
I have come to enjoy the competition between the various hans or groups in the division to capture glory in the investigation. One sticking point is Himekawa owing Kinpachi Sensei aka Gantetsu a favour and him not collecting. Maybe it will come up in the movie?
Love Endo Kenichi in Strawberry Night. He looks like a hardass yakuza but is a cop who is too concerned with getting enough evidence before drawing conclusions. I want to see him in something where he just kicks everyone's asses.
In the end, I was watching for Takeuchi Yuko. Not her best work which was Dandarin but she has command of the screen and the ability to play a believable cop unlike certain people *cough* Ueto Aya *cough*.
Definitely better than the Ishi no Mayu series but below the Gaiji Keisatsu/Rinjo level. Watchable and on to the movie next!
I rather enjoyed Strawberry Night and liked the pairing between Takeuchi Yuko and Nishijima Hidetoshi. Could have done without the constant harping on hierarchy but it was a decent drama overall. I vaguely remember the movie was okay too.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested, the first two stories by Honda Tetsuya are translated into English, and the third was adapted into the movie.