TOKYO DOGS

FALL 2009

Tokyo DOGS stars Oguri Shun (Takakura So) and Mizushima Hiro (Kudo Maruo) as police detectives who are forced to partner up to solve a mystery involving a young girl named Matsunaga Yuki played by Yoshitaka Yuriko. Takakura is an accomplished level headed detective who was working in New York City until he was held responsible for a botched drug case and was sent back to Japan. His father was murdered by a Yakuza boss named Jinno and he vows to catch him one day. Kudo Maruo is a hot headed brash detective whose personality is totally opposite of Takakura's. Their relationship gets off on the wrong foot from the beginning, but through dangerous experiences they learn to work together to resolve an important case.

Overall I enjoyed this drama, but at times I got tired by some cliche scenarios. The acting wasn't particularly good, but I did enjoy Kudo Maruo as he provided comic relief and added some excitement to the series. Takakura So's conversations with his mother were funny too. Some of the minor characters jokes and punchlines were flat. I didn't think the series went deep enough to develop the characters especially Kudo Maruo's since we don't find out anything about his past or his goals etc. Matsunaga Yuki lost her memory and I felt that I was supposed to feel bad for this character, but I had a difficult time doing so maybe because I was looking for a spark to ignite her relationship with Takakura and there weren't enough situations which made me feel like Takakura and Matsunaga were close. Sometimes I think that these types of dramas are going to continue into another season which is why the characters may be underdeveloped.

Recommendation: If you like the main actors for this drama I think you would be disappointed because Oguri Shun and Mizushima Hiro do a decent job to push the series forward. Although I felt some dialogue between minor characters fell short of funny, there were memorable scenes in the series. I was glad to see the ending because the last couple episodes were quite interesting.

STORY: 1
ACTING: 0.5
DIRECTING: 0.5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 0.5
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 0.5

3.0 OUT OF 5 CROWNS