Yes, I know I'm posting these in totally the wrong order. I should do Keizoku before SPEC but I haven't completely finished it yet. I was so in love with Toru that I couldn't keep watching Keizoku, which I started along side SPEC, I just ran off with this one and got carried away.
I'm doing the cast list to include the specials as well, I'm not planning on splitting the post up so formally as I did with Galileo to explain it part by part because it is a pretty steady flow from the drama to the specials. I'm not going to do a full list in each post either, there are so many secondary characters I cant be arsed with trying to keep track.
The final special is a prequel but is more tied into the main series than the movies so these three (the series and two specials) really feel like they should all be together like this. Hence the one post sure to be rambling and incoherent.
Cast list:
Toda Erika - Toma Saya
Kase Ryo - Sebumi Takeru
Ryu Raita - Nonomura Kotaro
Kamiki Ryunosuke - Ninomae Juichi
Fukuda Saki - Mirei
Shirota Yu - Chii
Tanaka Tetsushi - Reizei
Shiina Kippei - Tsuda
Arimura Kasumi - Miyabi chan
Ito Takeshi - Shimura
Kitamura Kazuki - Kikkawa
Guests:
Yasuda Ken, Saito Takumi, Kamikawa Takaya, Omori Nao, Nishihara Aki, Kawashima Umika
The specials really bring the show into its own but the movies take it out into the permanent position in my hall of fame for genius dramas I will never forget, they need to have a separate post to cover them.
So for now, I will just start with the absolute genius that is Toda Erika in this stupid brilliant weird epic drama about moral struggles with power and humanity.
The series really found me adoring Toru instantly, then becoming more interested in Ninomae towards the end and jumping for absolute joys every time he made his appearance.
It was the specials which made Sebumi come full swing into the madness.
I was already enjoying his character from the series but by the end of the first special his character was showing all the signs of the greatness to come.
Toru and Sebumi (in different ways) come to work for a special unit investigating unsolved cases. Its the same department as in the first series of Keizoku, working under the same chief - Nonomura.
But this series flings us into the arms of crazy with these two weirdoes - Toru has become completely weird after everything she has been through, and Sebumi is highly strung and butts heads with her at every corner.
This is no normal detective drama. This is sci fi with every odd super power you can think up. A few very strong adversaries show up over the course of the drama and Toru and Sebumi have to work together to fight off pretty much the everyone they encounter.
SPEC holders are humans who have evolved to use more of their brain power than normal humans - in ways that don't follow our laws of physics or lay in our usual scope of comprehension. Toru and Sebumi have to uncover these powerful people, work out which side anyone is on at any given time, and try not to get killed or kill each other in the process.
An underhanded few put a massive spanner in the works, throwing the question of morality into the forefront and even Toru and Sebumi begin to question each other.
Ninomae - who at first appears to be a mastermind behind the disasters happening around them, is not what he seems.
A whole back story between him and Toru unfurls and the lies become untangled by the detectives' sheer will power and emotional strength.
Sebumi becomes super human in his own way - though he is not a SPEC holder - by fighting off the powers that confront him with a strength of spirit no one would ever assume a human could possess. And it becomes hilarious how tough he is in the face of pain and struggles - excessively determined as a morally righteous man, it is comically over the top but still so easy to get emotionally invested in as a viewer.
Toru then begins to show her own powers - at first she looks like some sort of savant in the early episodes of the drama, but as time goes on we realise she has SPEC too...
A very unnerving and potentially terrifying SPEC, which we fully explore in the prequel special Rei.
In the main series as Ninomae and Toru battle it out we find the fly in the ointment - sending the story off on a whirlwind.
The specials follow that side path further so we can get the fantastic combination of Toda Erika and Kamiki Ryunosuke for a bit more - they are so funny together.
The second special is the prequel explaining the back story that led up to the mess Toru and Ninomae found themselves in.
The prequel is great because you understand what has gone on between them before obviously, but it leads so well into the first movie, setting up for my super joys because I really love those two.
I could easily have watched a whole series of just them two d*cking around.
Its very emotional in places, but generally very funny and slapstick, its just the perfect mixture of all those things that make you love dramas.
I was worried when new characters turned up in the Keizoku department in the Shou special, but it became a brilliant addition...
Kikkawa - so funny I cant even explain how much I laughed at his Yakuza speech and his stupid goofy acting. He gets better in the movies too.
I love Fukuda Saki, I think she is lovely to watch any time, so I was really happy that her character continued on into the rest of the specials and movies.
As I've said before, Tanaka Tetsushi is great in everything, and in SPEC he made me really warm to the odd guru Reisei over these episodes and specials.
I love all their awful swearing in English for no reason.
The special effects are not too over the top, and the characters are all unique and weird in their own inventive ways.
Lots of shouting, moral dilemma - saving the world or joining the dark side kind of talk, and lovely little stupid moments between all of them bantering and joking at totally inappropriate times. Well, maybe that was just Ninomae.
I think that the guest starts were perfectly cast, everyone had a great side story and I didn't realise until nearing the end of the first movie Heaven, just how much they had all gone through.
With so many specials and movies it really is a long journey but worth every second. The quirky acting styles, the ingenious characters, moral messages intertwined with banter and bickering that would make a Korean romance drama embarrassed to be heard, all makes this show unique and worthy of so many continuations.
Ninomae has become one of my favourite characters of any drama, I liked the whole progression of all the main characters, and now I have to try to continue this review for the movies.
Some how I have to explain the evolution from this series and its specials, to the unbelievable epicness of Heaven and incarnation and its finale reincarnation. And how to explain these two upside down guys ^
Its hard to see any of it as a stand alone so that's mainly the reason I have not gone to great lengths to separate the specials from the drama, but for the movies they step up a gear, well, about 12 gears, so it needs a bit more of a rant. Plus it will involve spoilers to the series so on to the next post!!
...to be continued...
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