Almael

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friends for life

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who’s watching who?

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the evil army of the government

[hidden]WARNING! may not be suitable for viewing
Inspector Kurosaki

[BBvideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReF82UDY9k4[/BBvideo][/hidden]

Type: Business drama

Genre: thriller, suspense

Year: 2013

Intro:

This show is based on a series of novels of the same name by Ikeido Jun. There are 4 novels. This show covers the first two. The show’s last episode has the highest episode rating in over a decade. And it has started intense debate in Japan. It’s eagerly awaited to receive a continuation.

Synopsis:

Due to a past event, Hanzawa Naoki joined the Sangyo Chuo Bank in 1992 which merged with the Tokyo Daiichi Bank in 2002. Now, he’s the head of the Loans Division of the Osaka Nishi branch of the Tokyo Chuo Bank. One day the Branch manager, Asano, forces him to award an unsecured loan of 500 million yen to Nishi Osaka Steel.

As a result, the loan is lost when Nishi Osaka Steel went bankrupt. Asano makes Hanzawa the scapegoat. Naoki is forced to recover the loss or be shipped out. However, the Nishi Osaka Steel owner has disappeared. Naoki starts a rigorous manhunt by himself. To make matters worse, the Regional Taxation Bureau shows up for an unspecified inspection. Naoki has to recover the loss before the Tax agents confiscate the money.

Having survived the crisis Naoki has become the Deputy Manager of Operations Department 2 at headquarters. When the bank is about to face the scrutiny of the Financial Services Agency, Naoki is assigned to deal with the troubled Iseshima Hotel, as it would endanger the bank.

What was supposed to be a simple matter turns out to be an internal intrigue of the highest level while putting the bank (and Hotel) on the brink of imminent death. Naoki is willing to do anything to save both including doing a dogeza if forced to but he will pay it back double.

Critique:

I will ignore the real internal workings of a bank or accounting and point to other obvious problems. The depiction of bank business and accounting is very basic anyway, and just serve to feed the story. It would be unfair to fiction to kill it off right then and there.

For more information on Japan’s mega bank system you want to watch the show “Karei-naru Ichizoku”. Or watch geopolitical, economic documentaries. I recommend the ones done by France. Imho they are the best there is. It’s just data and scholar opinion, though. However, without deeper understanding than the best history text books around the world can offer, you will never understand the true political motives.

The show, actually, has a lot of short comings. It’s simple and one-sided imho. The enemies usually has it all planned, and just sits around waiting for the time to make his next planned move. The enemies hardly do anything in addition to what’s already plan. And the rivaling government’s army of agents are just slower or one step behind the hero. In real life, industrial espionage is not to be underestimated. With such big enemies you would expect at least internal cell phone & computer log records and tracking; not to mention detectives.

No such thing can be found in the show. I dunno whether they are in the novel or not or if they where cut due to time constraints of the show. My guess is they aren’t there to begin with.

Even if the enemy does interfere Naoki magically cast it away or has it done somehow. For example when he was given tons of statistical work that would take all the time to do. Yet, he still goes off to take care of his main problem and we never see the given work being done or resolved.

Naoki works together with a reporter to get information and public “support.” However, the media in Japan is close to the government and industry and has appropriate censorship in place. Just look at the media coverage history of the nuclear industry. Until Fukoshima, there has virtually been no kind critiques. That aside there’s a law in Japan forbidding publicizing false facts. Therefore, making a scoop without revealing facts or having their confirmation is impossible. For the same reason Japan has really good documentaries. Btw. in light of Fukushima, in 2014, another major censorship law was passed in Japan further restricting publications. But for these reasons Japanese documentaries are highly reliable. Comparatively, Discovery channel is up to date and great on new things but has too many misinformation or sensational/manipulative information.

Aside from the first newspaper publication we never get to see the other 2nd publication. Perhaps this was in the novel, though.

Most of the suspension come from the timely pressure Naoki is under, which are, frankly, solved faster than any spy show or movie. In a mega city like Tokyo or Osaka, despite the great subway or bus network you can’t make a round trip anywhere in less than 1.5 or 2 hours. It’s all ridiculously unrealistic. Well, lets ignore the rest of technical scrutiny.

One good thing in the show is the friendship between Naoki and his close peers. Here, Kondo Naosuke is depicted as the weak opposite of Naoki. It’s too bad Tomari Shinobu is never shown doing anything but providing support.

But worse of all, Naoki’s wife, Hanzawa Hana, appears to be a poor shadow of her novel counterpart. Ueto Aya’s acting talents are wasted on her. In the novel she’s supposed to be a lot more crafty and “evil” (perhaps no good for Japanese TV). Here she’s just the “uninformed” goody goody homely wife…nearly serving as decoration only. This degradation is really sad but at least the results of her coincidental or not spy activities weren’t cut. She’s at least the ideal Japanese wife who supports her husband.

The show does depict the wife and family of Asano in more detail but all the other villain wives are all evil or at least one is impartial.

The evil government and it’s representative Kurosaki (=death…) are just stereotypes who serve to put more pressure on Naoki. Kurosaki is quite some weird guy with amazing calculative skillz and scary way of dealing reprimands for his men, literally. Here, governmental employees are untouchable, waiting for a reason to bring down the hammer of judgement. Frankly, in Japan, they are being kicked around the same in real life, too

Even though, antisocial forces (Yakuza) are mentioned once, they never get to play any part. It’s unimaginable they aren’t involved in some of the small businesses or with Higashida Mitsuru.

There are a few shocking revelations. Well, they are kind of predictable so they are rather confirmations than surprises. Evil is everywhere it’s a wonder no major tragedies happened.

Disappointingly, the later half of the show (2nd novel) got resolved too quickly in the end. Overall, the show is an extremely enjoyable thriller if you ignore its short comings.

Verdict: 8.3

Cast: 8

Cast performance: 8

Script/Directing: 9