I finished Tokyo DOGS last night. I had the intention of watching it all in one day but it took me 2. I was actually a little underwhelmed in a way, it’s not to say that the series completely sucked ass, I think I may have just over-excited myself on the Shun+Hiro+Yuriko-chan combo thing. I guess the series just wasn’t what I wanted it to be.
[ All I can see & say is: Oguri Shun in a suit xD ]
There was ALOT more humour than what I had anticipated. I can safely say I will never be able to take Mizushima Hiro seriously ever again (btw, I’m hoping the first thing he did after the series finished filming was shave. His face is too gorgeous to be contaminated by all that wicked fluffy scruff.)
[ This is actually one of the shots where Hiro looks good w/ his facial hair ^^;; ]
Speaking of gorgeousness- no joke- I could not get over how good Oguri Shun looks in a suit. A+ for his clean cut hairstyle too ^_^b (kinda get the “I wanna wriggle my fingers through the hair” feeling xDD) Acting-wise, I loved the dry humour he brought but some dramatic moments were a smidge overdone for me (“Jinno!“) Not particularly his fault, the role just wasn’t really fantastically written. On the whole, he was good, but definitely not my favourite performance from him. Although IMO he has the acting prowess to lead, sometimes I think I prefer watching him in supporting roles as he seems to shine more in those moments (btw totally looking forward to his directorial film debut Surely Someday. July 17th release in Japan is too long away!!)
[ xDDDDDD...]
FYI also, I’ve come to terms w/ the fact that all Japanese actresses are just unfairly pretty. I knew who she was beforehand but this was the first time I’d seen Yoshitaka Yuriko act. And I quite liked her. I think she cries quite naturally & yes, she’s beautiful. But in terms of the character, Yuki didn’t really have a great emotional impact to the story.
[ The gorgeous Yoshitaka Yuriko.]
Anyways, back to the “I wasn’t expecting so much humour” factor. I have to say it did grow on me. Let me clarify. I loved the first episode but then the comedy just continued on & on while I was ready for the series to kick full gear into hardcore action w/a healthy dose of drama from the backstory of Oguri Shun’s character, Takakura Sou. This is what I had prepared myself for prior. But Sou’s okasan wouldn’t stop calling him everytime he was about to be shot & Hiro’s character, Maruo, just wouldn’t stop pulling all his exaggerated faces!! By about episode 7, I finally accepted that the overt humour was here to stay & that was when I enjoyed the series more. I grew to love seeing Sou & Maruo together as their conversations always deviated onto eccentric tangents, often when they would be smack-bang in the middle of a dangerous operation (^U^) For instance, Maruo was saying to Sou he had just let his guard down & the conversation goes something along the lines of this:
S: I never let my guard down.
M: Everyone at some stage has to let their guard down. What about in the shower?
S: I’m always looking over my back.
M: What about when you are concentrating on conditioning your hair, there has to be those 2mins when your guard is temporarily down.
S: I use a 2-in-1 product.
Then they go off to talk about hair treatments. And this is while they were in action trying to capture a criminal whilst avoiding being gunned down. It’s really freaking hilarious, especially seeing Shun saying it all w/ a straight face :D I have to say their chemistry was the main saving grace in the series (that & the awesome ending theme song from Exile.) It’s a shame we couldn’t have seen their relationship as both friends & partners develop further （￣□￣；）.｡oO○
[ ^^ I could've done w/ more of this.]
Random question, is it just me or does Narimiya Hiroki seem to appear randomly in random jdoramas?? Ooohh well, it’s all good xD
[ Naromiya Hiroki in episode 1 ]
One thing I definitely would’ve liked to have seen changed was how quickly the smaller, individual cases were solved. If Jinno was so great, would the men working for him all be taken down within 45mins of screentime (sometimes w/ even more time to spare actually >___>)??? And the whole American thing really irritated me. I think they could’ve left that out of it as it really didn’t do much for the plot. I guess when I think about it, the last cop series I watched was Black & White (which we all know I heart muchly xD) so somewhere in the back of my mind the comparison point was always gonna be subconsciously there (btw, why are partner duos in police dramas always comprised of one delinquent cop wannabe & one inflexible, austere man who takes everything super-seriously?) But looking at Tokyo DOGS independently & neutrally, it is a pretty enjoyable, felicitously fun action-comedy. Just don’t expect to be overly riveted by too much of a creative criminal/detective case narrative.
Anyways. This final scene is where Sou has just thrown down Yuki (Yoshitaka Yuriko), judo-style, after she was chasing after him at the airport not wanting him to leave for New York (he claims that it’s his natural reaction when someone touches him from the back.) Maruo gives Sou a mouthful, Sou gives it right back (meanwhile Yuki is still lying dead-fish on the floor lol) then a thief walks off w/ Sou’s luggage. Sou fires a few (million) shots & they’re off to chase after the guy! Maruo’s face is gold xD For me it pretty much sums up everything the series was :DD
[ Sou +Maruo = <3 ]
