Seen it in so many dramas, think dramas like CRISIS, RED EYE, QUEEN, and even the latter ZETTAI REIDO sequels, and when I took a glance at the new crime series AVALANCHE, I expected it to be more of the same...but somehow this one had a bit MORE!
From the get go, we have the Team Leader Michiyo Yamamori (Yoshino Kimura) in a role that seems at first to be much like Nao Matsushita’s in RED EYE, however, she immediately strikes me as a complex character with a compelling backstory, and I love that fact that she is a government agent who has been demoted to a dungeon desk job but is secretly commanding the AVALANCHE agents THROUGH the seemingly bland office! I think she's so cool!
Atsuro Watabe appears in another one of his traditional oily roles as Cabinet secretary Kengo Oyama who will prove to become Yamamori’s arch foe as she works her way up the corrupt chain of politicians cleaning house. (Yes! What would a J-drama be without corrupt politicians) along with his pretty assistant Fukumoto (Akane Hotta)...
On Yamamori’s AVALANCHE team is the aforementioned “Loose Cannon” (think Ikkei Sawamura in ZETTAI REIDO) psychotic dude Seiichi Habu, played by Go Ayano who seems to be reprising his MIU404 role of Ibuki with his unhinged “Screw Authority” attitude, but somehow a character I dug right off the bat.
In the role of the “Kick Ass Chick” (think Tsubasa Honda in ZETTAI) we have Maryjun Takahashi as Riona Akashi. She seems totally at home in the role, and why not, the very first thing I ever saw Maryjun in was the Hiroshi Abe crime drama “The Sniffer” with her as pretty much the same character!
In the “hacker” role we have Yudai Chiba as Taishi Makihara doing the usual "effortless flippant typing" to easily hack into ANY database they need in seconds…
and as the “Senior Team Member” we have Yoji Tanaka as Tetsuji Uchimoto, checking off all the boxes of the cliched Crime Unit Team!
The team is about to get a new member however, when a newly demoted Police Investigator named Eisuke Saijo (Sota Fukushi) is added to Yamamori’s basement department.
The members are busy contemplating their latest mission when Saijo is found listening in to their plans! Seems he followed Habu in and, finding the door to the room mysteriously unlocked, let himself in!
He has heard of their latest plans to go AROUND the authorities and solve a politician disappearance themselves, and as a Police figure, Saijo is appalled at what he is seeing and the terroristic way they achieve their means! But Saijo is soon to learn the truth: that AVALANCHE only exists because of the corruption of the authorities, and without their actions, the evildoers would get way and continue their criminal activities…
.Indeed, Avalanche may be the only uncorrupt source of intervention, and as they progress with their mission, you see the once wide-eyed man start seeing things in a new light...
So far, I gotta admit I've been totally INVESTED in Avalanche- Both Yamamori and Habu have an associated past together that really creates the backbone of the team and it was this that I think really makes the drama gel and makes the team and the show something I really CARED about!
VERY Excited to see more, Corrupt Politicians and All!!
