Currently watching: Furuhata Ninzaburo

Ah, just typing out the title "Currently watching: Furuhata Ninzaburo" made me happy. It's been about two years after I first saw it, and about eighteen months since I gave up any hope of watching more than a handful of episodes. But I am now able to enjoy a full series of this detective series thanks to some hard-working subbers. A full series!

Furuhata Ninzaburo is a detective who solves murders. Each episode is structurally the same: The viewer sees the murder take place (so the killer is known from the start) and then we see the killer and the policeman interact with each other while the crime is being solved. It's similar to Colombo, except with far fewer locations. It's also half the length of the average Colombo episode, so the crime is usually simpler, but still devious.

It's a lot of fun to watch. Tamura Masakazu is great in the title role. Perhaps too perfect as, according to Wikipedia, he regretted the role believing it lead to him being typecast. It's a shame that he should have reservations about making the show, but for everyone else, we've been left a quality piece of television.