Looking forward

At the start of the year, I remember feeling a bit apathetic towards the new season of Japanese dramas. That was three months ago and I've sat through what I think was the best season for some time, with four or five dramas being well worth investigating.

Well, the new season is about to start, and I've got that same feeling of apathy again. Hopefully, that's a good omen, right? There's the usual selection of dramas where teams of cops who don't like each other have to solve crimes or, if you prefer, family rivalries. But amongst all that, some things caught my eye, and here they are.

Big thanks to Tokyohive for putting together a page with all of the dramas listed with pics and summaries.

Galileo

It's been a long time coming (since 2007, to be exact), but it's finally here. The second series of this police drama where an eccentric scientist solves eccentric cases is on the top of my list of things to watch. Yoshitaka Yuriko replaces Shibasaki Kou in the role of police officer who gets him involved in all these crimes.

Take Five

Second on my list of things to watch is this crime drama where the heroes are the criminals who specialise in stealing from people even more corrupt than them.

The storyline seems interesting, and offers a lot of potential for clever crimes, but I'm trying my best to keep my expectations low, in case I convince myself that this will be a weekly version of the Korean film The Thieves. The trailer makes it look incredibly cheap.

On the plus side, Inagaki Goro is in it and I admit: I've become a bit of a fan of his impossible-to-predict acting abilities. Will he be great or terrible? Time will tell.

Keiji 110 Kilo

This looks like a warm-hearted, but very silly cop show. The story involves a policeman who... well, I'm not sure. After years of TV shows about cops who are good at science, psychology, profiling, maps, smelling things or whatever, this show seems to run out of ideas and gone for a cop who's really perceptive.

Clearly, the writers thought this didn't make him unique enough, so they've made him fat, too. But it might be good. At least it won't take itself too seriously.


Last Cinderella

Shinohara Ryoko may be my ideal woman, but even I have to admit her last two dramas (Tsuki no Koibito and Ogon no Buta) haven't exactly been classics.

In this series, a 39-year-old woman who hasn't had a boyfriend in years gets all caught up in a romance again.


Otenki Oneesan

You know earlier, I wrote about how writers had exhausted the kind of expert who can solve crimes? Well, I was wrong. This is about a weather forecaster who uses her knowledge of meteorology to solve crimes. I'll be watching this just because I can't even begin to guess how this will work.


Kasuka no Kanojo

In this series a reluctant teacher gets advice from a dead teacher who haunts his apartment. On the plus side, it's got Anne and Maya Miki in it. On the down side, it really does look quite bad.