Killer Cute Meets the Busker’s Blues in “Kurokochi”

Nagase Tomoya and Gouriki Ayame in Kurokochi

 Funny how TOKIO frontman Nagase Tomoya built an entire respectable acting career playing the same kind of "Gruff Yakuza" type in all of his dramas and movies over the years, and here we have yet another with Nagase as Keita Kurokochi in the eponymously titled Kurokochi, the tale of a- yep, you guessed it- gruff yakuza-type police investigator who’ll stop at nothing to catch his suspects, from bribery, blackmail, threats and even eliminating people in his way!

When the show begins, Nagase’s in the middle of trying to bring in a bigwig politician (played by the always dapper Watabe Atsuro) whom he suspects of several crimes including robbery and murder, but Kurokochi's unorthodox ways have made him an outcast in the Police Force as well as enraging his superiors, some of whom he suspects have connections to the very suspect he’s trying to bring in!

Nagase Tomoya as Kurokochi

Enter Mayo Seiki (Gouriki Ayame, in another adorable role), a straight-laced rookie detective with an unusual specialty- she has an almost computer-like memory and can retrieve any computer information from the last 10 years on any case or report, but is rather naïve and lacking in the personality department. She is assigned as Kurokochi’s partner to “Keep an eye on him” and report any suspicious activities she might find to the bosses.

Gouriki Ayame as Mayo Seike

Well, suspicious activities is what she finds, all right- in fact, this Kurokochi seems to operate solely on shady deeds, from fraternizing with suspects, shaking down informants and extorting bribes from past associates, it’s clear to Seike that this guy is definitely on shaky ground when it comes to the what's right. And yet, once she’s within his intricate and sordid web of investigation, she finds that there’s more to the cases they’re pursuing than meets the eye, and the superiors that Seike and Kurokochi are answering to may have to be looked at with a suspicious eye as well!

Besides all of this dastardly double dealings, one of the more light-hearted side-elements of this drama is the hilarious interaction Seike has with the Head of Forensics- like most Japan Police Dramas lately, the lab scientist is a hot, sexy maneater type (like Maya Miki in Galileo or Kichise Michiko in BOSS) or a decidedly “butch” type (like Kitagawa Hiromi in the Zettai Reido series), in Kurokochi, they’ve combined both aspects, with a gorgeouse Yu Kashi playing Sawa Machiko,  a luscious femme-fatale type who spends most of the time making advances (and even dramatically getting an inadvertent smooch) on poor Seike whenever she's there to gather information, so funny!

Yu Kashi as Machiko Sawa

Sawa (Yu Kashi) seducing Seike (Gouriki Ayame)

Yikes!!!!! thinks a stunned Seike

Theme song for this drama is the catchy "Honton Toko" by Nagase himself and the boys of TOKIO, Mmm, woulda been cool to see them perform this song at the Kohaku!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com