Galileo Drama Series 2 - review

 Inspector Galileo series 2 is now out...

This series follows the antics of a quirky but brilliant physics professor who helps a young detective to solve less than usual crimes which render the Japanese police helpless.

When you have a successful formula, don't mess with it, and the 10 episode show follows the same style, with music from Koh+ sung by Kou Shibasaki, but is no longer the bright eager young detective, and is replaced by another sweet young thing Yuriko Yoshitaka, but the concept remains the same.

Each 40-45 min episode has an opening scene where a crime, usually a murder happens in a strange way, that baffles the police, who are usually portrayed as bumbling buffoons. They then enlist the physics professor in the form of the ever youthful looking Masaharu Fukuyama, who is mainly in it for the mystery, rather than to find the criminal..

Each time he will utter that "behind every mysterious phenomenon there is a logical explanation" the theme music comes on and he solves the crime after sketching some mathematical formula. It may sound formulaic, yet the lovely chemistry between the two main leads propels the series, and the crimes are rather interesting. The new SYT (Yuriko) is a little more annoying than Kou, and I didn't see a need for Kou to be replaced, but there is still charm and you will find it a nice change in pace to the other crime shows on TV like CSI or Bones.

The series comes in Japanese only, but you get subtitles, and it's a nice series, especially if you are a fan of the Galileo franchise. The new movie length show has also been released.




The theme song for the new series is sweet too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvIltNShRKE

And the new movie length feature has also been released:
http://www.tokyohive.com/article/2012/09/fukuyama-masaharu-to-star-in-new-galileo-movie-manatsu-no-houteishiki/
Now out on DVD..
Manatsu no Houteishiki' (lit. 'Midsummer Formula'): trailer: http://eigapedia.com/trailers/manatsu-no-houteishiki

In the new film, Masaharu Fukuyama reprises his role as the genius physicist and crime-solver, Manabu Yukawa, aka “Galileo”. Yukawa is invited to speak at a panel on a plan to extract valuable minerals from the seabed off an area called the “Pristine Coast”. While staying at a local inn, he meets a boy named Kyohei who’s staying there with his aunt’s family over the summer. The next day, the corpse of an inn guest named Tsukahara is discovered on an embankment near the local harbor. Soon, a mystery slowly unravels involving Kyohei, his environmental activist cousin Narumi (Anne), and a secret kept by her parents.
“Manatsu no Houteishiki” will be released by Toho in Japan on June 29, 2013.

I have no financial interest or other interests in any of the items / events I write about.