Yūsha Yoshihiko to Maō no Shiro 勇者ヨシヒコと魔王の城, Yūsha Yoshihiko to Akuryō no Kagi 勇者ヨシヒコと悪霊の鍵 [series]

Dragon Quest interpreted by Sato Jiro and Fukada Yuichi. Drunk on sake. At 3 AM. 

ユウシャ!よし行こう！ 

This review is of both series of Yūsha Yoshihiko; series one is Maō no Shiro and series two is Akuryō no Kagi. Dont watch the first episode of series two first by mistake like I did. It won't make any sense. Not that it makes much sense anyway.

This show is the adored mentally challenged child of Director / writer / screenwriter Fukuda Yuichi: (Tenma san ga Yuku, Watashi no Kirai na Tantei, Tokyo Dogs, Saru Lock, The One Pound Gospel, 700 Days of Battle: Us vs. the Police), this drama is bonkers from start to finish. 

Sporting Sato Jiro as Hotoke - and after having watched the extras it is easy to see the two of them made up most of the madness as they were going along - plus a cast of well respected actors making fools of themselves in the weird ass roles they were given to play. 

It is based around computer game (specifically dragon quest) style and story line. There are fantastic game play mimicking moments like Yoshihiko smashing up everything in one of the villager's houses. 

There are useless bandits, weird monsters that don't make much sense, and a whole range of spoof-coloured skit-induced cameos from various comedic actors all making monumental arses of themselves. 

I will always remember this comedy series fondly as its pretty much the sealing tape on the absolute win box of my getting together with Mr awesome awesomeness Hanzawa Naoki to my Hana, who I'm sure will feature now and then on here. 

Laughing so much at this series was the icing on the christmas cake that was our first fantastic winter together so yay Yoshihiko.

Yamada Takayuki plays the hero, with a band of idiots around him he may well be the stupidest of them all. 

An utterly useless accidental hero who is a raging pervert and completely gullible - especially when it comes to being mislead by the bad guys. And the girls.

There are bad spells, brainwashing, magic rings, demons, and copious scenes paying homage to other cult dramas such as Crows Zero and other well loved favourites. 

There are some brilliant cameos which I wont name and spoil because I think it would be funnier to discover while watching. 

Only I can't resist talking about Oguri Shun making a brief appearance to duel with his Crows zero buddy Yamada Takoyaki in a clumsy ridiculously pathetic bickering fest that barely results in battle. 

The bandits were great, but the main four's dead pan acting was the best. The only thing that topped that was Sato Jiro being a complete mental for the entire program. He is the king of everything and should continue to be in every drama ever. 

Daito Shunsuke squeal.

These episode aren't very long. Its super low budget high humour, and the story is good enough to have at least some semblance of a point to it.

The actors and the direction, the half scripted dialogue and the babbling banter make this show stand out from anything else. 

Well, it stands away from anything Fukada Yuichi hasn't had a hand in.

His style is unmistakable and I think he and Sato Jiro should DNA fashion some crazy babies and fill the world with glorious madness.

They are a match made in Hotoke heaven. 

Hotoke beeeeeam!

~