Galileo ガリレオ [series] [movie] [series]

The infamous Galileo - just as cheesy as it's spoofs...

super pout award.

Cast list

Fukuyama Masaharu - Yukawa Manabu

Shibasaki Kou - Utsumi Kaoru
Kitamura Kazuki - Kusanagi Shunpei
Shinagawa Hiroshi - Yuge Shiro
Watanabe Ikkei - Kuribayashi Hiromi
Maya Miki - Jonouchi Sakurako
Hayashi Tsuyoshi - Murase Kensuke
Aoi - Taniguchi Saeko
Fukui Hiroaki - Kobuchizawa Takashi
Takayama Miyako - Watanabe Miyuki
Ito Takahiro - Mori Eita

Writing this as I'm getting the screen shots from the film, which I might add is quite savage to begin with - I was a little shocked. 

But for the time being I'll just concentrate on one bit at a time. First off, series one. 

I've seen this show's adverts and spoofs for years now, caught bits of episodes, seen tv spots related to it and finally got around to watching it fully this week. It was funnier and less grown up than I was expecting but enjoyable due to that reason. 

I have loved Shibasaki Kou since first watching Battle Royale all those years ago, and when I saw the adverts for Galileo2 coming last season and a new spin off this season I decided it was time to dig it out. 

Broken hard drive still, so I'm streaming. Un-f*cking-happy.

But I still managed to get some half decent screen shots at least. Its not easy when you don't have the files. I really don't like using streaming sites to capture my screen shots from. But these will do ok.  

Galileo is everything you would expect from a crime thriller twisty turny mystery drama; 

the science and baffling dialogue (I could barely understand), 

the argumentative friendship between the main characters, 

and all the problem solving myth busters style - 

complete with stupid over the top re-enactments, experiments, and ridiculous conclusions drawn from the smallest of sparks of inspiration - always connected to something random that Galileo just happens to already be thinking about at the beginning of the episode! 

It's ok to suspend logic and reasoning for tv but it feels weird to do that for a scientist who continually belittles the lack of logic and reasoning. 

Its pretty fun and lighthearted considering these are murder cases being solved. I can't really say the same for the movie. Its quite sad, violent and makes my sympathise with the perpetrators. 

So on to the plot of series one.

University scientist and general logical genius Yukawa sensei is contacted by rookie detective Utsumi with requests of assistance on complicated, seemingly impossible, murders. 

It causes a disturbance in the lab on many occasion and it appears to me that they never got any work done - just like the students in school dramas never actually go to class.

There are the flashes of mad inspiration then the frantic writing of equations on any surface with any thing - many times using things I'm pretty sure wouldn't make a clear chalk like mark on a random surface, like a blunt stone on bit of plastic or something, but whatever.

It reminded me of Godhand Teru and I realised how many things must have taken inspiration from the Galileo manga. That Galileo moment of enthused scribbling of equations in a mind whirring chaos of thoughts, questions and discoveries is the life and soul of a mystery drama. 

I like all the little moments where Utsumi sees Galileo doing something cool and goes a bit weak at the knees - I can't blame her I guess, but the cutest moments are her frustrated pouts and complaints as he does what he pleases in spite of her protestations. There is a great chemistry between them.



With guest stars of the likes of Katori Shingo (kasukana kanojo), Yumiko Shaku (sky high) Fukada kyouko (Tenshi) and Muga Tsukaji (The Handsome Suit) it is a good class of actors and typical prime time drama.

I think it is an easy watch considering it is essentially a thriller crime drama. 

Galileo: yougisha x no kenshin 容疑者Xの献身 [movie]

With the movie it took me half an hour to get into it - basically the moment I realised Galileo sensei was pitted against a mathematician it became truly interesting. 

I really felt bad for the people they were trying to catch though. 

Yes, they shouldv'e reported what happened straight away - it could have been self defense, but I can't help sympathise with them.

As far as situations go, if   your violent ex husband shows up and starts kicking the living sh*t out of you and your daughter then yeah, I'd say strangle him with a power cord too. But to cover it all up is the worst plan. Especially in a world where Galileo exists to foil your every move. 

It looks like a proper movie, but of course without a need to explain any back story with regards to the main characters, so it kinda jumps right in there. 

It has a much more dark and serious feel, hardly any lighter moments at all. 

It centers mainly around Galileo rather than Utsumi so it really doesn't let up much. Relenting and much more unfriendly. 

Not so easy to watch, but after the opening incident it isn't exactly the darkest thing I've seen by a long shot.

Definitely interesting enough to hold your attention, (jitsu ni omoshiroi as it were) with enough twists and turns to throw your solid opinions up into the air and make you start all over again. Exactly what happens to Galileo i guess. It is a pretty sad story with a somber ending. Bittersweet and tragic from start to finish. But beautiful in its own way.

Galileo 2 ガリレオ２

series 2 sees us back to usual form with antics much more comfortable to the general viewing public. This time with the little miss Tokyo Dogs cute face memory loss girl Yoshitaka Yuriko being generally infuriated with Galileo and his disregard for anything else other than the details he is interested in.

And she is super cute still.


Takao Osawa (A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth, Ichi, All about Lily Chou Chou, Sky High, Halfway) is our first guest star crazy person as we are thrown straight in to awesome super villainy ingenious tricks this time set in a kind of commune and some dubious mind control.

Yep, truly back to form. Much more lighthearted and stupid. Personally I prefer it this way. Its just a shame that Utsumi goes overseas and we don't see her much. 





Kirishitani is pretty pushy and rude, gaining less than appealing nicknames for herself but finds herself falling down the same road as Utsumi did when she was first getting to know hen-jin Galileo and becoming more and more involved with strange cases which require his assistance.





She rubs everyone up the wrong way for a while before settling into her role just as Utsumi did, and takes her time understanding Galileo while being led around by him in the ways he does so gracefully. 

She has more arrogance than Utsumi, maybe not so likable at first, but it brings a slightly different dynamic in to the show which is probably a good thing as it would be a mistake to just carbon copy Utsumi into the second season. 

I prefer Utsumi, but I guess its the starry eyed view of a first love striking again as it does with all my beloved drama characters.

That's about it. Only I wish they wouldn't drink so much coffee and make it seem so delicious. It makes me drink too much.

I will be watching episode zero and all the other bits before the new spin off with Shibasaki Kou in the summer.

Looking forward to having Utsumi back again for a while.

~

*update*

*possible akumu-chan spoilers if you can read into this crazy sh*t i babble.*

convo on FB with Mikey as i try to panic learn kanji for my exam in 4 days:


Kanji is like that annoying person you get lumped with that you hate and have the most loud argumentative friendship with built on mutual distaste for each other, you know the one that in dramas they bicker constantly and moan about being in each other's presence until they finally get together.

can we skip to the bit where we get married please????

And are doing the living in Japan part

let's not let it be like Galileo. He winds her up so much but has little flashes of awe when she sees him do cool stuff. You think there might be something there but SHE STILL FUCKS OFF TO AMERICA.

when im living in japan i need to be at least at the stage where me and Kanji dont argue ALL the time.

i dont want to give up and be replaced by memory loss girl.

If you are still arguing with it I'll come give you two counselling

Which in turn will probably counsel me too as I hate it also, the little liney bastards

Utsumi got her own spin off show.... does that mean i will start learning Korean properly? ive taken this analogy too far.

Just don't develop a brain tumor, I don't really want to find out if Kanji will be there for you or not

really intelligent. compare your learning to one of the most confusing shows on earth. yeah, probably better than using 1 litre. good job i didnt use the last one i saw, akumu chan. arrhghghgggg the ending! if it is that one,,,,,my kanji boyfriend is the father! but only from the chin downwards.

what the fuck am i saying...

I'm just lost in the endless sea of analogies now

im posting this convo under my galileo review. ^^

FAMOUS. Snap

Tokyo Dogs 東京DOGS [series]

after watching arakawa... this was weird

i say after arakawa - which is truly very strange, but i dont mean that this show was weird exactly. it is just that Oguri Shun plays such a normal character here that it is quite a leap from Soncho.

im currently watching rich man poor woman so i thought it might be a good time to review tokyo dogs. 

Oguri Shun has recently got married and is still getting great roles, i always enjoy watching him, ever since Binbo Danshi. (when he met his wife, squeeeee!)

now, im going to get confused as to which series im reviewing here. im not doing arakawa, im going to wait until after the movie (yatta!) and im not doing rich man poor woman, just yet.time to focus on tokyo dogs. if i can remember anything about it. 

ah yes, Mizushima Hiro and Yoshitaka Yuriko feature along side Oguri Shun in this drama. Mizushima and Oguri are unlikely partners in the police force (paired together despite their complete dislike for each other) and Yoshitaka plays yuki, who is not only the love interest but the most important piece of their puzzling police case.

Marou (Mizushima) is a bit bizarre. he was kind of a yankii in his younger days and now he is a detective who doesnt really know how to do much but fight and shout a bit too much, he is obsessed with pretty girls (until he meets yuki) and offers the majority of the comedy to the show, the character allows Mizushima to let out his quirky weird tendencies at every given moment.

Takakura (Oguri) saw his dad get shot when he was just a little kid, he trained in the US and became an elite New York City cop determined to catch his father's killer. He is stern and hard, with only that purpose in mind. 

The two policemen get paired up to finally try and bring this killer to justice and in comes Yuki, all memory-buggered and watery eyed, not knowing what the hell is going on or how she is involved, but tangled in it all the same.

They all look f*cking fabulous in this drama, as you can tell from the screen shots. gorgeous, the lot of them. all the characters are good, their banter is hilario, that was meant to be hilarious but spell checker suggested hilario so im keeping it as that. :) 

i thought it would be a bit boring, like a grown up version of shibatora without the premonitions, but it turned out to be really really good. i raced through the whole series in two days and totally enjoyed it - i think even without any sort of premise i could just watch those two idiots bickering with each other for hours.

there is a long question of who did what and bla bla bla - as you get in this sort of story, youre not sure whose side some people are on, there is danger and death on every corner, and lots of Takakura being a total dick to Yuki and making her cry - which is great because Yoshitaka is beautiful when she has tears in her eyes. and she basically looks that way the entire show.

I love how Oguri Shun can be so funny when he is playing such a straight character. it was an inspired choice to cast these two together. It was a bit like hana yori dango pairing him and trout mouth Jun together - but with a better story to show chemistry between good actors. 

It is worth mentioning some other side characters, or rather, their actors; Katsuji Ryou from shouni kyumei, atsu-hime, sore wa totsuzen arashi no you ni, etc etc. i like him a lot, i think his role was adequately stupid and odd. this drama also had wonky jaw woman Tomosaka Rie from samurai pastry chef movie chonmage purin. Mikami Kensei from deka wanko, beck, hanawake, bloody monday, and yamapi is an undertaker - i mean - saikou no jinsei no owarikata. and playing detective Majima, the wonderful Otsuka Nene from tumbling, saigo no yakusoku, iryu, tokyo tower, kurosagi, hero, and a million other things. Majima was a great character with a nice little story arc of her own. 

Yeah this wasnt really the most interesting review ive ever done but blogspot keeps deleting big chunks of stuff i write for no reason so im simplifying my life by cracking this out in a few minutes. 

the series is better than i make it sound. i fail at my job. but im too busy enjoying Oguri Shun's new drama to give a sh*t. 

~