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!

Forensic Wars

About halfway through the detective/crime drama “Sign”, the story of a certain Municipal Police Department , the Cases they take, and the two forensic teams who are at odds with each other even as they break down their most important cases.

On one hand we have the cold and precise doctor Akiyoshi Date (Toru Nakamura), a man who heads the Autopsy laboratory the police use in their cases. 

Unfortunately, Date is a man swayed by politicians, power and money, and his autopsy results are sometimes tweaked, changed or covered up in favor of the police and politicians he partners up with.

Enter Takashi Yuzuki (Nao Omori). At first glance a grumpy old man with disheveled clothes and an impatient bark that sends his underlings for cover, it’s only when you see him doing his autopsies that he is a straight arrow who will never lie for anyone and always insists on disclosing the truth, no matter who he butts heads with. It’s this attitude that’s gotten him ostracized from the big businesses.

Newbie rookie Kei Nakazono (Marie Iitoyo) has just started her career in the Hospital but is already impressed with Yuzuki’s passionate quest for the truth, and she begs to be hired as his assistant.

Yuzuki gruffly says he doesn’t need her help, but her determination is strong and he takes her into his fold.

This seems like good news but will make her an enemy of Date and the power players he works with!

And in between these two forensic teams at odds with each other  is Detective Chisato Izumi (Yasuko Matsuyuki), a seemingly apathetic woman who is rumored to care more about promotions within the department than her cases, and her wide-eyed and  overeager underling Kirito Takahashi (Mahiro Takasugi) who knows that under her cold exterior is a capable Detective who wants justice served!

The joke is that she belittles him and often ignores his thorough and dedicated work and instead only uses his as an errand boy and when she needs someone to massage her shoulders!

But you know that when it comes down to it, she actually appreciates and respects him. And as for Takahashi, you know that there is no way in hell he’s inconvenienced when she asks him to rub her shoulders….GOOD GRAVY, if I was in that position, Matsuyuki would have to FIGHT me to get my hands OFF her!

Pretty good show so far- well, the crimes themselves are fairly pedestrian but the characters are interesting to watch. Plus, at only 9 episodes long, you can’t go wrong!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Who's That Girl?

Who is this Lovely Lass???

Been quite enjoying the drama “Kekkon Aite wa Chusen De”, the drama of a future where, because of the declining birthrate, all available men and women between the ages 25 and 39 must submit to a government controlled program where they will be matched up with potential marriage partners.

So far it’s been an engaging show with likable characters, with Shuhei Nomura as a self professed Otaku with a cleanliness fetish,

Aimi Satsukawa as a meek girl trying to make it in the big city,

Ryohei Otani as an affluent son of an influential family,

...and it was really nice to see Rin Takanashi flex her sexy and savvy skills as haughty socialite Nana- (my GOSH she was so gorgeous here),

BUT one question kept running through my head every time they showed Nana working at her radio station job: who the HECK was the babealicious girl sitting BEHIND Rin Takanashi??

 Had No IDEA who she was, but she was so stylish, chatty and girlish that she immediately caught my attention!

Basically this girl was there to react to everything Rin Takanashi's character said, making for some WONDERFULLY adorable muggings!

It became a high point in each episode to wait for Nana to go to work so I could see this cutie in all her fun and goofy glory! I think she was supposed to be a cute, young contrast to Nana's older and jaded demeanor, and you can clearly see the age gap in theses caps!

At first i thought it was Yua Shinkawa as she reminded me so much of her character Ryuko Ishino in “Nou ni Sumaho ga Umerare”, but as I looked closer, it was some girl I am almost positive I’ve never seen before! (although I could be wrong, I’ve overlooked girls before)

The Dramawiki and Asianwiki pages don’t give me any clue but I’m going to leave this here for now and hopefully will be back with an edit when I find out just who this girl IS!

EDIT!!!!

After much digging and struggling with Japanese wikipedia articles (and a hefty use of Google Translate to help me navigate the sites), I was FINALLY able to find out who this girl was: Her name is Kasumi Yamaya, a bright and sparkly actress who has been in quite a few dramas over the years in bit-part roles over the years,( including her debut which was in the 2008 Kimura Takuya drama Change) as well as a singer under Avex! So the girl I thought was a newbie actually's been around quite awhile!

Digging even further, I found Kasumi played Rumi Komaki in Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Wizard & Fourze: Movie War Ultimatum…because OF COURSE she was a Kamen Rider girl! As a rule, ALL new up and coming actresses I love seem to have graduated from Masked Rider High School!!! 

And if that wasn't enough of a surprise, I found that Kasumi’s currently in a drama I'm watching RIGHT NOW, playing Yuko Araki’s little sister in the Ryo Nishikido drama TRUTH! Huh! I Had NO IDEA the girl I was seeing playing Kanna was my mystery girl- I just did not recognize her! Well, whaddaya know!

I'll be sure to recognize her from now on!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com