New Season off to a Shaky Start

 Caught two dramas of the new season, and I’m sad to report that neither of them have grabbed me in any real way...First we have “Crime Family” A story of a would-be-criminal (Hongo Kanata) who, upon getting caught trying to con an affluent family, finds out that their OWN criminal tendencies may far eclipse his own, SHOULD have been a fun flick, but somehow seemed so wacky and UNEVEN in its execution that I found the twists more irritating than surprising.

But the real offender here is the new Takuya Kimura crime drama “Kazama Kimichika: Kyojo Zero, a sequel/prequel to the Kyojo specials from past years. Was really looking forward to this one but was completely off-put by it.

I’ve always hated these set-ups where there is an arrogant anti-social and bossy genius senpai who is suddenly saddled with a green newbie. In this set-up, the newbie (Eiji Akaso) is always treated like a clueless moron,  getting NO HELP instruction-wise from ANYONE, and when he inevitably fails, makes mistakes, etc, is harshly scolded that he should have known better.

In the end,  it is HIS fault that he didn’t pick up on the VAGUE clues given him by his boss, who of course already knew the culprit but decided to play mind-games instead of straight-forward direction. Very aggravating to watch.

Coming up next is the Haru comedy drama “Watashi no Oyome-kun”, which I hope will be more fulfilling….crossing fingers.