Freitag, 10. Februar 2017

Jiu

ジウ 警視庁特殊犯捜査係 (jiu: keishichou tokushuhan sousakei; Jiu: Special Investigation Team) is a Japanese drama series that aired from July 29th to September 23rd 2011 on TV Asahi and consists of 9 episodes.

Story: Motoko Izaki and Misaki Kadokura couldn't be anymore different. One is a tough fighter, one of the strongest in her police unit SIT and prefers to take action to protect people. The other is a gentle and calm girl also referred to as "Miss Cannes" and wants to be responsible for negotiations - her job is talking. After an important incident both of them are transferred to different units and work to track down the mastermind behind the plan. All that is known about him in the early stages is the name "Jiu", a good-looking young man with blonde hair usually appearing in white clothes. But is he really behind all those deeds? And why do people follow him if they aren't doing it for money?

Cast: I know what people want to hear but I will just start off with Meisa Kuroki as Motoko Izaki. She is actually a singer if I'm informed correctly but she rocks her role in this drama. As a tough and fit woman Izaki is definitely someone I would look up to. Mikako Tabe as Misaki Kadokura on the other hand is the gentle and kind, naive girl who tries to get along with everyone. I know that this type of character does have a certain difficulty to it so I respect the actress but it is just the type of character that is popular among males for the fact that they are so cute and usually willing to follow.
Yu Shirota as Takashi Amamiya is a character that is just suspicious from the beginning. I don't fully know why but I never trusted his intentions in this drama, just the beginning and the first episode made me doubt everything but he added something to the story that was important. As for the acting, it was very secretive and mysterious and totally worked with the overall atmosphere.
Yukiya Kitamura as Hiroki Azuma did a good job overall trying to protect Kadokura while trying to solve the case of Toshinori and track down Jiu, the mysterious man he sees behind all the happenings. The acting was good but seemed a bit hesitant to me from time to time.
And lastly, yes, I have to mention Kim Myung-soo or L depending on what you want to call him as Jiu. Now first some questioning: Why in the world did they name the drama after a character that rarely appears until episode 7 or 8? And why did they need to use a Korean idol in an all Japanese drama? While I don't really mind it, let me talk about my theory: Attention. They just wanted attention from Korean fans of Infinite by making him the character that also gives the story the title. What they get especially on MDL are bad ratings by disappointed fans and I do believe that many people will just watch his scenes specifically. Anyway, I considered his acting to be good as far as he was shown but then again most of the time I think he had to stand somewhere with no expression on his face.. which can be difficult to but I got a feeling that he's good at standing somewhere with an emotionless face.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack is hardly memorable. The only thing I remember is the ending. Seriously, Lady Gaga? Edge of Glory? Now it is one of the songs I don't hate but I don't get how this is connected to the drama at all. Plus, since it plays while the last minutes of the episode are airing, it was sometimes too loud so it interrupted the dramas flow.


I personally didn't find this drama to be as boring as many other people but then again I didn't have that high expectations. However, sometimes I just wanted to scream because of the side characters. It seemed more like a piece played in theatres. A person finished a sentence, and the next action takes place two or three seconds later - they obviously waited and sometimes too long so it was just obviously faked.
But then again the mystery in the plot and the characters made up for some negative stuff which is the reason for this drama getting a 7/10.
I DON'T recommend to watch this only for L/Myung-soo.




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