ZDORAMA, AGAIN: BORDER 終わり

Thursday, January 10, 2019

BORDER 終わり

Oguri Shun and Haru in BORDER

FINALLY got around to finishing the Oguri Shun drama BORDER which I began oh-so-many months ago, and I have to say it ended in a wild and entirely satifactory fashion, even though it DID have that trope that I HATE of having the actual “final episode” be a stand-apart SPECIAL- (still smarting for never being able to watch the ‘last” episode of Arakawa Under the Bridge since it was a movie), but what I want to gush about is the Special “Shoudo~Kenshikan Higa Mika” that followed it.

From the get go, Haru’s character of no-nonsense medical forensic doctor Mika Higa was my stand-out favorite, and now that I’ve seen Shoudo, which is a Mika Higa focused special (her “origin” story as it were), I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Mika is BAR-NONE Haru’s coolest and most intriguing character to date!

I love how unlike other detective dramas out there, Mika doesn’t have that weird “quirk” it seems necesary in most detectives to make her such a whiz at solving crimes- she’s simply a flat-out knowledgeable BAD-ASS with a razor-keen eye for details!

We’ve seen Haru playing such detective characters before, in fact, I’m in the middle of her drama “Mikaiketsu Onna” which is her once again sleuthing, but Mika Higa is probably most closely like Haru’s character in “ON”: same dedication and ultra-sensitive feel for details, but this time, without the baggage of her questionable mental instability!!!

Shoudou follows Mika Higa as she rises to top assitant to minor celebrity forensic Medical Examiner Asakawa (played by Kanji Ishimaru) who is using Mika’s knowledge to elevate his own conceited status in hoped of attaining Special Coroner to the Force.
Below: even as Asakawa's assistant, Mika looks so KAKKOI!!!

But through it all, Mika’s examination and observation skills are KING and in the end she proves to everyone that SHE is the only one who deserves such a lofty title (and we already KNOW that she does, as that is her position at the beginning of Border!)

Below: Teaming up with Police Detective Nakazawa (Asuka Kudo)

PS: As I’m currently in the middle of watching the Yamapi drama Flowers for Algernon, I’m convinced that actor Kanji Ishimaru must be THE go-to guy for oily, backstabbing, curry-favoring power-tripping male chauvinistic characters, as he plays an almost indentically selfish and egotistical professor!!