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?!