HERO

Winter 2001

Hero is a drama about a young public prosecutor named Kohei Kuryu (Takuya Kimura) who is transferred to the Josai branch of the Tokyo district prosecutor's office. Kuryu has his own unique style of prosecuting suspects and dresses in a casual style that is frowned upon. He teams up Maiko Amamiya (Takako Matsu) who is an uptight paralegal that has dreams of one day becoming a prosecutor herself. She despises Kuryu at first, especially when she finds out that he only graduated from middle school, but as Kuryu's meticulous style of pursuing justice emanates throughout the office, her perceptions about him slowly begin to change.

Recommendation: Since the second season of Hero was recently completed, I re-watched the first season that came out 14 years ago. I vaguely remember that Kimura was at the top of his game and starring together again with Takako Matsu must have hyped this drama up. It's funny because I know how popular this drama was and how famous Kimura's orange down jacket became, but after watching it again, I couldn't for the life of me get excited about this drama. It has its funny moments, I like the supporting cast, and Kimura and Matsu are great but the drama as a whole is slow and often boring. Some episodes included cases that just weren't exciting. When I start to see a pattern and know that Kuryu is going to get to the bottom of every case and justice is gonna be served, the suspense is lost. I think when you have a unique character who is too good at what he does, it can make for a dull drama because there is no challenge. Of course he gets into a dilemma in the last episode, but I was hoping for something more exciting with a bit more character development from the supporting cast as well. Still, if you like feel good drama's with strong charismatic characters than this drama is for you.

Story: 0.5
Acting: 1.0
Directing: 0.5
Character Development: 0.5
Emotional Factor: 0.5

3.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns

KABACHITARE

Winter 2001

Re-watching this drama brought back some good memories. One interesting thing about watching older dramas is that I often forget other actors who played supporting roles early in their careers. I couldn't believe how skinny Yamapi was and he still had some baby fat around his cheeks. Yamada Yu, Shinohara Ryoko, Tsumabuki Satoshi are so young and Toyohara Kyosuke who I remember well in Densha Otoko and Innocent Love also played a small role in the series.

Nostalgia aside, I wasn't so impressed by the series itself. The story revolves around Tamura Nozomi (Tokiwa Takako) and Sakaeda Chiharu (Fukatsu Eri). Nozomi is a free spirit, believing in the goodness of people, living positively and being grateful for the little things in life. Chiharu on the other hand works for a small law firm and never believes in people, only the law. As fate has it, both mismatched characters meet and their lives come crashing together. Although their personalities and views on life differ, they are somehow able to complement one another as they help various clients through their legal problems.

I enjoyed the acting of both Tokiwa Takako and Fukatsu Eri and respect what they can do on the set as they had great chemistry, but there were many scenes of bickering and I felt myself getting tired and annoyed by their incessant small talk about love and other problems. Also, I didn't feel like the characters developed very well. Nozomi and Chiharu's relationship deepened as the drama progressed, but they didn't seem to change or grow as much as I wanted them to. I also know that Nozomi is supposed to be a cheerful person, but I felt Tokiwa Takako overplayed her character. Episode 8 and 9 about the abusive husband was quite controversial, and I don't remember exactly which episode it was, but there was a scene of a naked Yamapi for any curious girls who are Yamapi fans.

Recommendation: I do recommend this drama if you're not looking for anything too serious. As I said before, it was a bit nostalgic to see so many good actors in their youth so if that floats your boat by all means check it out. There are some difficult terms and legalize as well for viewers who are into law. Other than that it had its comedic moments of ridiculousness, but it was also a bit drawn out and over the top.

STORY: 0.5
ACTING: 0.5
DIRECTING: 0.5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 0.5
EMOTIONAL FACTOR: 1.0

3.0 Out Of 5.0 Crowns