Trick, eps 4-10

[meganbmoore]

For some reason, this one made me want to go "SQUEE!" really long and loud throughout.  At least, when I wasn't going "Huh...did they really just...?"

First of all, individually, Nakama Yukie and Abe Hiroshi are both extremely funny and adorable(and that's not exactly a term that gets ascribed to well built, 6'3"~ men all that often...) but together, they had me giggling nonstop and wanting to squish them together...except then, Nakama Yukie really would get squished.  Oh heck...*pretends she's a manga/anime character and as such can only be killed by a shortage of angst and melodrama, and squishes*  This need was especially evident in the last 3 episodes, with his annoyance/confusion when other men were noticing her legs, and then being WAY too familiar with her apartment, especially what clothes are in which drawer, and then in the last 2 episodes where she was whisked off by the island people and he tried to pretend she WASN'T the reason he went to the island and asked Detective Yabe to reopen the case for her father's death...awww....

Anyway, this is a pretty different/interesting detective show, and I was never able to be more than half-right about what was going on.  I like the approach of their only getting called in to deal with cases where the culprit claims to have supernatural powers, and having to disprove it.  I wish more of the cases had been resolved in single episode, simply because dragging them out required Naoko NOT being right the first few times she "solved the case"which, Ithink, undermines her detecting a bit.  But they don't carry it too far, so I don't mind TOO much.

I like how both Uedo and Naoko are both brilliant in their respective fields(logic and tricks) but rather dim in others, and both are absolutely clueless about...you know...anything resembling social lives.  I mean, seriously, the man calls her into his office for an "important meeting" and it's because he went to a dating service and they gave him three candidates, and she was the only person he couldthink of whose judgement he trusted enough.(yes, their complete obliviousness is a VERY large part of their cuteness and appeal, and it wouldn't work nearly as well if they weren't oblivious)

I also love how, while the "incredibly logical, incredibly emotional/instinctive" pairing is common, the usual "roles" are reversed here.  The emotional one (her) is the serious, detail driven one(she tries to be funny, but just gets weird looks and slinks away to hide behind Ueda because he's, you know, a human wall...), while the logical one(him) is the goofball and joker.  Of course, they're both total and complete dorks.  *squishes them together again*

It's a pretty clever show, though not speaking Japanese caused me to miss a lot.  The subtitler did a really good job explaining the word plays(such as "otori" and "hashi"-among others-being the same word but having different meanings depending on how they're pronounced)  my knowing Japanese well enough to get it the first time would have helped.  Can't be helped, though.  It's also a bit...uhm...raunchier...than I've been led to believe doramas are.  Most of it is jokes and comments about her being smal and his being big and their respective hangups about it.  It was more frank than most US shows, but there was less of that stuff as a whole than a lot of US stuff, if that makes sense

Bonus:  "Why Ueda Jiro is a hopelessly adorable woobie"

1)  Wanders around in a girl's room wearing only his underwear, is clueless about why she won't look at him, and gets so caught up in talking(about the case to the girl who won't look) that when the girl says it's her room and he should leave, he forgets his clothes.

2)  Memorizes the exact layout and contents of every drawer and cabinet in a girl's apartment(which he's never done with anyone before) and is clueless about why this would be wrong OR significant.  Not to mention the same about always breaking into the girl's apartment.

3)  Aasks an equally clueless girl over to his office to help him choose between several possible dating contenders.

4)  Falls for the same tricks every single time, and is convinced every time that he won't be tricked again.

5)  Has no idea why he doesn't like a bunch of men staring at his "platonic" female friend's legs

6)  Follows the girl in all of the above to a remote island, then claims he's not there for her, he's there for the treasure he didn't know about until AFTER his first rescue.

Anyway...

I'd place this one above "Gokusen" and "Nobuta wo Produce," but not above "Musashi"(frankly, I haven't heard of anything likely to supplant that...)  Will definately be getting the other series of Trick