Strawberry Night [ep 4-5]

Wow, I can’t even begin with how frustrating I was in the entire 3^rd case. Can’t they even think of anything much better than this strong sense of value/justice case gone wrong? It was so draggy and in the end, I didn’t even recall getting anything much from it. All I got was “Murder can’t be replaced by another death” etc.

The point is, the case was so boring and yet, they had to drag it out for two episodes. A waste of time. I’m beginning to think the show’s going downhill after a spectacular Special, and first case. Not to mention, as much I like Reiko, sometimes her intuition can get a bit annoying at times. Call me evil or whatever, I just don’t think it was really worth probing into and her undying determination to save the son from being killed by his own father was a bit desperate. In the end, they didn’t even reveal the evidence of how the ex-cop killed the other three ex-convicts. The reason for the son killing the girlfriend was kinda dumb too. I get the fact that he was raised strictly by a father who believes that once you’ve done a mistake, it’s all over and all that shit, still…she’s your friggin girlfriend. It’s not like killing her just coz you have a strong sense of belief and her pleading to die, would make everything much better. What a messed up way of thinking to begin with. The writers are pushing the limits with us viewers. I just can’t accept what they’re trying to shove down to us.

Here’s hoping the next case will be better. This season, as you probably have noticed, I don’t watch much shows. Just a couple, including Seinatsu and Dirty Mama! (which I haven’t come around to post anything yet). So I just watch those that I’m really into and find worth following.

Rating: 5/10 – the justification just wasn’t strong enough and makes the writers sound really lazy. It’s as if they’re trying to just put a filler case and hoping the audience to enjoy it, but even Reiko or Kikuta can’t save the two episodes.

What a waste of a strong cast for the case. tsk tsk

Strawberry Night [ep 2-3]

The second case went on for two episodes. Initially, I thought the case should’ve been solved rather quickly without much delay, judging by the fact that the culprit is pretty easy to guess. However, that aside, upon watching the final interrogation and how everything unfolds, I don’t mind the length in the end.

As Reiko’s team reaches a dead end, interrogating the wrong person and causes everybody back to square one, Gantetsu uses the opportunity to take the praise by snooping around the yakuzas, trying to lure out the culprit. In the process, one of his men got killed, which I really sympathize. Although the death is unnecessary and a bit rushed, it did manage to make Gantetsu look real bad and ugly for he is out there catching the culprit, instead of attending the guy’s funeral. Sometimes, I really do despise him for his actions and how I wish someone could’ve slapped him. But I knew the writers would justify his actions – he did give the guy’s wife the funeral $ and even bought a small toy for the kid.

Gantetsu using various techniques to get his way and how does he even get away with violence?!

Another must-watch scene is the interrogation Reiko gives to the high school girl. Now that is intense and it’s only time before she explodes. And the title of the episode makes sense too xD But seriously, who wouldn’t when the girl acts like the deaths of four human beings are no different from the deaths of ants? But sometimes, I find myself still getting used to Reiko’s voice whenever she raised them. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me lol. And Kikuta! I like the way he’s so focused on Reiko, the way he looks or rather, stares at her, watching her every move, with expressionless face lol. And especially when Reiko needs him, just a yell of his name, and he’s there, without fail. A great partner he is. And looks like Hayama’s making a progress for himself despite being a newbie in the team. But I’m still curious of the flashbacks he’s been having. What exactly happened in the past?

So far, I’m really enjoying the show. In fact, I like this better than Zettai Reido 2, if I were to choose. 

Rating: 8/10

Strawberry Night [Special]

Just watched the Special last night and I do know that I should watch the special first before embarking on the drama itself. Actually, there's nothing much on the special except that is how you found out these few things:

1) Where Strawberry Night comes from and how it becomes the prominent title of the show

2) Reiko's dark and traumatic past, and why she acts like being haunted by something at times

3) Reiko's arch enemies in the detective world

Spoilers alert!

First and foremost, Reiko (Yuko Takeuchi), works as a female detective and the leader of the Team 10 of First Division MPD. Like I mentioned in the previous post for 1st episode of Strawberry Night, females are being looked down upon in the working condition (not sure if this is generally true in Japan at a modern era like now) but her bosses have been giving her hard time every now and then, even the forensic guy teases her! Anyways, that doesn't mean she's not competent. 

Well, there must be a reason for Reiko, being a female, getting promoted to be a leader of the team, or in other words, Shunin. She's known to follow her intuitions as a detective by all.

So my guess was correct (referring to the previous post). They used mainly the same flashbacks in the special and 1st episode, so in fact, we won't miss much actually even if we don't watch the Special. But since this is a pretty good investigation drama, I'd recommend it to people who likes the genre. Reiko was indeed a victim of an assault and rape case, thus answering the reasons why she looked restless, especially when she's alone at night, walking along the park. Seems that the past still haunts her every now and then.

Reiko's dark past and the detective who inspired her to become one

Reiko's great partner, Kikuta...too bad he doesn't appear much of a help in the Special drama. He is for some unclear reason, ordered to work at desk, and not frontline. I was looking forward for his scenes, but it's minimal in the Special. However, you can feel or see the chemistry he's having with Reiko.

The title of the show comes from the case they are working on in the Special. And a major turn of event was definitely the one where one of the newbies in Reiko's team, got killed in line of duty. Besides having a dark past scarring her for life, Reiko has another burden of feeling guilty for not taking good care of the newbie.

Overall thoughts:

I like how Yuko portrays Reiko. She's someone who doesn't like to lose, very competitive among the other comrades and I find her despise towards some other Team Leaders kinda hilarious at times. Though sometimes a bit exaggerated, I can totally understand her hatred especially if the other enemy is Iron Guy (below). Takeda Tetsuya is such a delight to watch. His way of handling cases, using backdoors to get rid of his partner (solo investigation is not allowed), giving out money to yakuzaa, etc...for information and not afraid to resort to violence makes the character interesting, but at times, you feel annoyed too.

His constant bickering with Reiko can get pretty serious sometimes. Somehow it makes me wonder if the MPD world is as portrayed. Are the different teams really this competitive when it comes to cracking cases?

Overall, there IS a slight twist in the end. The culprit was never really who I thought it'd be. The show is filled with suspense and detective fans, you might wanna dig this. I don't think it's gonna disappoint much at the moment. I'm loving it at least. xD

Rating: 8/10


Hayashi Kento did make a bit of a breakthrough from his serious role this time

Strawberry Night [ep 1]

I’m still bewildered by the title of this show – Strawberry Night. Why strawberry of all fruits types? Why not Apple, Papaya, Mango or Melon Night? Lol. There must be some significance to it, but since I didn’t watch the Special *yet*, I shall give it the benefit of doubt. Or if anyone knows the hidden meaning of the title, please enlighten me. 

Anyways, back to the show, we have Yuko Takeuchi as lead character, playing a female detective in the MPD. And from the beginning of the show, we know her relationship with her mother isn’t good, must be due to some past problems. We see some flashbacks, concerning Reiko (Yuko), seems to me that she was raped couple of years ago when she was younger, but escaped death. However, the detective in charge of her case was killed on duty, which I think, must have been one of the reasons pushing her to pursue the police career.

The first case is pretty gruesome, if having animals being severed into half is not enough, try imagine human beings being cut into half, vertically. Not horizontally, but vertically. Not gonna go into the case any deeper. I will however, dig into the nature of the show. It seems that they’re portraying some typical sexism in the department, having seen Reiko’s upper boss complained non-stop about her. Reiko’s past case went ugly and I can’t determine whether it was the one where the newbie got killed which caused her and the entire group to not order Tamagoyaki for a long time (the newbie’s favourite probably). The present newbie, Hayama (Koike), is acting distant, speaks only when necessary and he definitely has his own traumatic past, judging from the flashbacks he has been having.

Though I thought the case isn’t that difficult to crack, I still find the characters very intriguing, especially Reiko. She has her own demons to fight, and not to mention, being looked down upon for being one of the only females detectives in the department. I’m really interested to find out if the criminal who raped her has been caught or not, and for a complex character like that, I think we can anticipate much more from her.    

Rating: 7.5/10