嘘を突く 謎を解く (Attack the lies, solve the riddles)

Galileo was the first J-Drama that I actually watched on my own accord, rather than because I was with friends who wanted to watch something, so I might be somewhat biased. Just pointing that out now. But I might start reviewing J-Dramas for a little while since I’m taking a break from anime, so hope you’ll enjoy this substitute.

Anywho, Galileo features Fukuyama Masaharu as Yukawa Manabu (nicknamed Henjin Garireo [weirdo Galileo]), an eccentric, sporty, genius physicist and university associate professor with a knack for solving mysteries. While usually level-headed and purely logical, two things will set him off; claiming that something is impossible and beautiful women (my kind of guy XD). During the course of the series, he is dragged away from his duties as a university professor and talked into helping hot-blooded rookie cop, Utsumi Kaoru, portrayed by Shibasaki Kou, solve ‘impossible’ murder mysteries.

General info

Relations chart, translated by jade_frost

•Galileo is 10 episodes long and was broadcast on Fuji TV from 15-Oct-2007 to 12-Dec-2007. It was fan-subbed by the group SARS.
•All 10 episodes are based on the first two novels in the Galileo mystery series, “Tantei Garireo” (Detective Galileo) and “Yochimu” (Foresight Dream). The novels were written by Higashino Keigo.
•The series spawned a special called Galileo Φ: Episode Zero which takes place three years before the main series and revolves around the case that is sometimes referenced in the main series.
•A movie called Yougisha X no Kenshin (Suspect X’s Devotion) and is a continuation of the series. It is based on the third novel in the Galileo series of the same title.

Theme Song

The theme song is entitled KISS shite (kissing) and was written by Fukuyama Masaharu (who also plays the guitar and sings backup in the music video) and is performed by KOH+, which is Shibasaki Kou’s stage name. The song in itself is decent, though I admittedly liked the intro music better (the one that also plays when Galileo gets his ‘epiphanies’). I thought it was pretty cool that the two main characters of the show are also the writer and performer of the theme song though.

Opinion

I myself, with my somewhat limited knowledge of physics, found the series to be extremely good for the same reason that I loved watching Columbo as a kid (and still do, actually). You don’t watch the show to figure out who the killer is, since that usually becomes blatantly obvious within the first 10 minutes. You watch the show see how Galileo figures out what truly happened; how the murders were committed.

The only ‘bad’ thing I can say about the series is that because of the scarcity of revealed information and the high amount of specialized knowledge required, it essentially becomes impossible for the viewer to guess along. On the plus side though, this makes things that much cooler when Galileo puts all the pieces together and it allows you to get fully absorbed in the things he does.

Another thing I found cool where the references to physics and events; being the kind of person I am, I would usually watch one or two episodes and the use the next hour or two refreshing my physics knowledge (since I used to be quite good at physics, but have shamefully forgotten almost everything I learned).

On a more personal note, for some reason, it bugged the crap out of me that whenever he had an ‘epiphany’ Galileo always wrote the denominator first… However, I would love to see a mathematician go over the equations Galileo always writes to see if they actually make sense or if they are just random.

First Episode

As something a bit different from my anime reviews, I’ll be posting the first episode of the series so you can decide whether or not you want to watch it yourself.

Main cast of ROOKIES

Futakotamagawa high school was one victory away from being able to go to Koshien when an unintentional beanball enrages the player at bat who then severely injures the pitcher when he came over to apologize. This sparks off a huge brawl between the two teams and as a result Futakotamagawa is suspended from any tournaments for six months. All the 3rd and 2nd year students quit the team and the baseball clubhouse now becomes the hangout for the delinquent team members who caused the fight.

Enter Kawato Kouichi, a newly hatched teacher of Modern Japanese with a positive outlook at life and a firm belief that any dream can be achieved if one simply puts in the effort. As such, he choose to become a teacher in order to help young people find and achieve their dreams. He is hired by the principle of Futakotamagawa high school (who has a hidden agenda of his own) after an incident at a former institution made it impossible for Kawato to get a job anywhere as a teacher. He is put in charge of the class the delinquents are in and later also becomes the advisor for the baseball team, which causes major friction. Nevertheless, Kawato is intent on helping the baseball team re-discover their dream of going to Koshien and achieving it.

General info

Correlation chart

•ROOKIES is 11 episodes long and was broadcast on TBS from 19-Apr-2008 to 26-Jul-2008. It was fan-subbed by the groups Skewed Studios and TimelesSubs.
•The drama is based on the manga of the same name by Morita Masanori. I saw the drama before reading the manga, but while I found the drama more emotional, the manga was a lot funnier.
•The series spawned a special and I’m 90% sure the final episode of the series also said something about a movie.

Theme Song

The theme song is entitled Kiseki (Miracle) and was written and performed by GReeeeN, which is an awesome group in my opinion. After hearing the song for the first time, it became an instant favourite and to this day, I still listen to it quite often. The lyrics a quite beautiful and the music and singing is amazing. Hard to believe that the members of GReeeeN are dentists in everyday life, no? XP While the song *does* have an original MV, I chose not to use it because the intro is a bit long-winded :/ However, if you wish to see it though (with karaoke and translated lyrics), just click here.

Opinion

ROOKIES is, to put it simply, a quite amazing series. I laughed, I cried, and I absolute loved Kawato for his awesomeness. In a sense, he reminded me of a more scholard version of Onizuka Ekichi (in Great Teach Onizuka), but with the same kind of love and care for his students. His tendency of quoting famous quotes from time to time was a detail about his character I found a bit funny, yet oddly admirable since it shows that he actually *does* understand his students.

Like I mentioned earlier, I have both watch the drama and read a few volumes of the manga, ROOKIES. Because the manga is in drawn format, the characters can get a bit more extreme with their facial expressions and the stuff they say which makes it all the more funny, but the drama sticks extremely well to the original storyline (with only minor antithetical changes) up until the conclusion of their first practice match after which it skips all parts that aren’t major events or directly related to baseball and reaching Koshien.

The drama does a great job of drawing out the atmosphere, and while it skips some parts of the manga that deal with character exploration and development, it still manages to give you still get a good feel for the characters and why the act the way they do and the baseball club members’ desire to change their delinquent ways. This may in part also be thanks to their great acting, though I admittedly did feel that the guy playing Shinjo overacted a few times.

All in all, it’s a great drama (and manga) that I warmly recommend that people should watch. If you’re a bit of a mushy, sentimental type (like me), then I recommend having a box of tissues ready or something because while the overall tone is light and humorous, it really has its moments.

First Episode

Portrayal

Back to the movie~! Now, despite being an avid mystery lover, I have generally steered clear of Sherlock Holmes movies and series because, quite frankly, I find that they portray him as a humourless pansy. They never seem to explore his friendship with Watson (or Watson himself), his quick wit with comebacks, his fighting and martial arts prowess, and his complete disinterest in people and the social interaction. This movie changed all that by showcasing Holmes as more of the disorganized, brilliant mind that he is and makes better use of all of his (physical) abilities.

There was only one thing missing for it to have been the God honest portrayal of Holmes and the movie teased me about it in a scene! >:3 In one of the scenes, Holmes hadn’t had a case for three months, I think it was, and was going crazy about it. Watson tells the landlady to get Holmes something to calm him down and get his mind off things, and I immediatly thought “FINALLY! A movie where you see Holmes shooting morphine or cocain like he does in the stories“, but alas, she brought him tea… =.=; Watson does however note at one point that Holmes had been ingesting something that is normally used for eye surgery, and that’s probably the closest I’m gonna get for now…

Watson is also more honestly portrayed; rather than a bumbling idiot of a sidekick that he is usually portrayed as in the old pre-WWII movies, he is shown as quite capable at deductive reasoning (like in the books), able to utilize his great medical knowledge, seeing that he is a doctor, and as a man of action mirroring his past as a military man (I’ve read that he was also portraid in this manner in the 1984 TV series, which unfortunately never aired here in Denmark).

Watson’s vices are also portrayed, such as his gambling addiction which I found to be a nice touch. So I rather enjoyed that Watson was given more depth in this movie and was somewhat of a foil to Holmes, rather than being shown as a sort of incompetent follower without a mind of his own. His more natural sense of humour, rather than the exaggerated clowning about from the old movies, was also hearts; Nat and I laughed ourselves silly whenever Holmes and Watson started arguing.

Story

The story is original, i.e. not based on a book by Sir Conan Doyle, and so is the lead villain, Lord Blackwood. I’ve had a little trouble placing the movie in the Holmes canon, but given the events, I’d say it takes place right around the the time of conclusion of the case in the book “The Case of Four“, based on Watson’s relationship with his fiancé. In “our time”, that would make it around 1886-1887.

The story itself was quite well-written and rather exciting leading up to a great conclusion at the very climax of the movie. Some of the riddles were however redundantly simple, such as the secret behind one of the character’s death and resurrection, but overall, the mysteries had me sitting on edge.

The dialogue was absolutely delightful and humorous and I was laughing myself silly at the dry wit of the two main characters and their bickering. The action and effects were amazing and they took good advantage of recent trends seen in shows such as Discovery Channel’s “Time Warp” where everything is in super slow motion.

But like there’s something for “the common man” who doesn’t know much about Sherlock Holmes canon, there are also easter eggs and nods that you simply CANNOT get if you aren’t an avid Holmes fan and know of the mythos and habits of the two characters. For instance, at the end of the movie there is a short (10-15 second) dialogue involving the notes and journals Watson made of the adventures he’s had with Holmes; a nod to how the original stories were always written from Watson’s perspective as he was chronicling them.

Conclusion

An absolutely delightful movie and probably the best one of 2009 (Avatar is probably the most visually beautiful though). It has humour, action, mystery, more action, witty punchlines, awesome effects, and is just overall lovely~. If you haven’t watched it already, I advise you to do so, IMMEDIATLY!! And don’t listen to those BS “professional” critics who are completely biased and have to nitpick at like EEEEEVERYTHING while seemingly having forgotten how to simply sit back and enjoy a movie for what it is.

Oh, and the ending so TOTALLY segweys into introducing a sequel, so I’m totally looking forward to it already! ♥♥♥ ]]> http://m-27.com/reviews/sherlock-holmes-2009/feed/ 6