The Spider and The Monster: Two New FL Legal Dramas

 Caught the first episdoes of two new dramas featuring savvy female lawyers as the leads of the show, the Netflix series MONSTER with actress Shuri, and the NTV drama RIKON BENGOSHI SPIDER starring Maryjun Takahashi.

MONSTER tells the story of a young genius woman named Ryoko Kannami (Shuri), who, on a seeming whim, decides she would like to “try” being a lawyer. Having passed the bar years ago while still in high school, she is taken in by the KEIKO UKUSA LAW FIRM, run by Keiko Ukusa (YOU) who seems to have a connection with her.

She is partnered up with Sugiura Yoshihiro (Jesse) who, as usual for these kinds of shows, ends up mostly there to be amazed and exasperated by Kannami’s eccentric ways, though of course he is also surprised when her quirky style produces results and scores them victories.

with Tsubasa Nakagawa as the "hacker" guy

I really like Shuri in the role of Kannami, a character who would be right at home being played by someone like Fuka Koshiba or Mitsuki Takahata, winsome and yet super smart, gentle and yet quietly aggressive!

NEXT UP, Maryjun Takahashi stars in RIKON BENGOSHI SPIDER as Asuka Mikumo, a woman who was once burned by a marital relationship and has since forged a career as a Divorce Attorney for those feeling like they are trapped in a relationship and cannot get out.

Nicknamed the “Spider” for her way of ensnaring her opponents with her meticulous and intricate investigations, she is a formidable foe for the lawyers who go against her, and it’s exciting to watch how she gets them in her clutches!

First episode features Yui Ichikawa as an abused woman desperate to get herself and her child away from a tyrannical husband...

Not to worry as once they are on the case,  there is now actual hope for her and her family...

Nice dynamic- Reminds me somehow of the Yuki Amami drama “Goritekini Arienai” and her team, and in the same way, Mikumo has herself a small group around her to help in the investigation, including Kouhei Iguchi and Nagisa Shibuya.

As far as legal dramas go, MONSTER and SPIDER feel very different, with Monster feeling like a NHK show and Spider feeling like a WOWOW show (of sorts). And MONSTER is a full 45 minute show while SPIDER is one of those 22 Minute affairs. But they all follow basically the same J-drama beats, and they BOTH feature male partners who give silent fist pumps at every victory!

Jesse in Monster:

Iguchi in Spider:

PS: Looking up SHURI to see what other shows she might have done that I had seen- (My first experience with her was, I believe, her role in MOTOKARE MANIA), and reading her bio info, I was STUNNED to find that she is the daughter of actor Yutaka Mizutani (famous for, among others, his long-running AIBO series) and former CANDIES vocalist RAN ITO! Whaaa!

HUH!~ Who woulda thought! Certainly not me- Heck, I'm not sure I even knew that Mizutani and Ito were married! Just like in Hollywood where actresses like Dakota Johnson, Maya Hawke, Margaret Qualley, etc, are taking up the mantle from their parents, I am constantly surprised by how many young J-drama actors and actresses currently out there are related to stars of the past generations!

PPS: Oooh, and I must also mention that the ubiquitous Love Distance Apartment made yet another appearance, this time in the first episode of Monster where they go to question a witness!

The Love Distance Apartment- Where will it turn up next?!

Gals Galore in "Konkatsu Tantei"

A show from 2022 which I put on my "Plan To Watch" listing on MDL, however, it never got subbed, at least not that I saw. Only very recently did I visit a forum that showed Konkatsu Tantei HAD been picked up and fully subbed at some point, and I wasted no time grabbing it!

A fun, lighthearted comedy, Konkatsu Tantei tells the story of a self-professed "hard boiled" detective named Kurosagi  (Osamu Mukai) who goes through his life playing a hard-edged badass, especially in front of his impressionable kohai Yagami (Maeda Oshiro)

However, at night, eating his convenience store bentos alone, Kurosagi feels the void of not having a significant other to share things with. And when a bright billboard advertising a MARRIAGE MATCHING consulting company shines from across the way, he takes it as a sign that it's time to act!

Kurosagi is nervous about being in such a place and many times thinks of leaving. but before he can, he is met by the positive and energetic Madoka Kido (Riko Narumi), a gung-ho matchmaker who truly believes she can help anyone find their fateful marriage partner, and ASSURES him there is someone for HIM as well!!

 And so, despite his reservations, Kurosagi dives in headfirst, into the ups and downs of potential marriage matching with the guidance of his intrepid counselor Kido so he can meet the "one" and settle down!

A fairly basic plot but so much FUN and WOW, the guest stars appearing as Kurosagi's possible partners are ALL stunning beauties in their own right! Actresses like Akane Hotta (here as a shy and mousey type)-

Aimi Satsukawa, genki as ever

Maho Nonami 

Yui Ichikawa

...and even the bubbly Miwako Kakei among others, all of them seeking the man of their dreams!

Each of Kurosagi's attempts gets varied results and he usually ends up striking out for ONE reason or another, but Kido is always there to encourage and support him! In FACT, we soon quickly realize that SHE might be better than ANY of the actual clients she's matching him with!

Kurosagi's personal life outside of the marriage matchmaking game is filled with beauties as well, with women like his former partner's surly daughter Shinna (played by the pretty Natsumi Okamoto) who drops in to bug him.

...or even the bartender Kurano who works at the bar Kurosagi frequents (and who seems to have a fixation on him as well), played by Manami Hashimoto:

Seems like this guy is just SURROUNDED by babes of ALL walks of life! If ONLY he could get lucky and actually end up MARRYING one of them!

Aw, this was one heckuva entertaining little drama and I'm glad I was finally able to see it!