Spring 2012
Legal High is about a young idealistic lawyer named Mayuzumi Machiko (Aragaki Yui) who seeks support for a difficult case and is inadvertently steered toward asking Komikado Kensuke (Sakai Masato); a veteran lawyer who has never lost a case. Unfortunately, Komikado is a selfish, greedy, irritable man who uses any means necessary to win. Begrudgingly, the two team up and after winning the case, Mayuzumi decides to work under the tutelage of Komikado. The two work well as a team even though their ideas of justice and winning cases are vastly different. Will Komikado's dirty tactics rattle Mayuzumi's strong moral values or will Mayuzumi's kindness and sense of justice melt Komikado's cold heart? It's a battle of total opposites!
Recommendation: I have to be honest in saying that I've somewhat lost interest in Aragaki Yui as well as Sakai Masato recently. I never really felt strongly about them in leading roles, but it goes to show what a good screenwriter and director can do for actors. There is no doubt that the two leads have talent, but after reading about the screenwriter Furusawa Ryota and Director Ishikawa Junichi winning the Television Drama Academy Awards, I got interested in watching this show. Unless someone has some major cache as a strong actor, I usually will look for dramas with quality writing and directing instead. In this case, I have to say I was quite surprised by Legal High. It is a comedy about lawyers and it is similar to watching an anime or real live manga. Taken in that context, I thought the show was great despite its extreme characters and situations. It was funny, witty, and entertaining. Sakai Masato does a really good job playing an eccentric lawyer and I would go crazy trying to practice talking so fast like he does in this drama. Aragaki Yui does well to support Sakai and the battle of morals and ethics between the two are quite fascinating. I had to give this my best rating because I think this drama is kind of unusual and so it should be seen because it's just weird and out of the ordinary. But that is why it was entertaining and I caught myself smiling after every episode. I watched the special episode as well and I look forward to season 2 coming this fall.
Story: 1.0
Acting: 1.0
Directing: 1.0
Character Development: 1.0
Emotional Factor: 1.0
5.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns
I just finished season 1 and special of this drama.
ReplyDeleteThe concept about not taking law or lawyers seriously is quite interesting. The contrast between the two charactersis great and it works.
This is the first drama i've seen of Sakai Masato..man! he can talk fast.
the Last episode about the hamster thing was really funny and made a lot of sense...
Yes, it's a Sakai Masato boom right now it seems. I'm not a huge fan of his, but I saw some NG clips when he messed up with his lines and they were pretty funny. I can't imagine how hard it is to talk so fast the way he does in this drama!
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