Rinjo Review

Rinjo

臨場

Genre: Police Drama

Language: Japanese

Duration: 10 episodes (Season 1), 11 episodes (Season 2)

Telecast: 2009 and 2010

Synopsis:

Kuraishi Yoshio (Uchino Masaaki) is a stubborn, eccentric yet an outstanding coroner who is highly respected by his subordinates. As he tries to solve each case, he is continually haunted by his dark past.

Cheerfulnuts’ Review:

Kuraishi Yoshio reminds me of Black Jack. He is eccentric and appears to be somewhat cold and emotionally unattached, though he is in fact kind and cares deeply for others. This “what you see is NOT what you get” trait makes Kuraishi interesting and unpredictable.

Kuraishi’s subordinate Kosaka Rumi (Matsushita Yuki) is pretty much consistent all throughout the series. She isn’t as interesting as the other team members like Ichinose Kazuyuki (Watanabe Dai) and Nishida Mamoru (Kobayashi Katsuya), but she somehow makes Kuraishi’s character much stronger.

I don’t have enough knowledge in the medicine field, so I can’t tell whether the cases are realistic or not. But as much as people enjoy watching CSI and the like, Rinjo has engaging cases that can captivate the viewers. This drama made me think as each story unfolds. The drama is episodic, but it doesn’t ignore the character development aspect, which I think, makes the series strong.

In Rinjo II, most things are pretty much the same. The cases are much more engaging though (perhaps because the characters grew on me). The main difference in the Season 2 is Kuraishi. His coolness in facing his cases seems to disappear. He becomes more passionate and a bit emotional. You would see him shed tears too easily – something you would rarely see in the first season. Despite that, I still like him. It’s interesting to see this other side of his character which we haven’t seen in Season 1.

Rinjo is a good drama, but it is not for everyone. This may not be appealing to some young people. I’d also like to mention that despite the drama’s theme, Rinjo has been very modest in exhibiting gore and violence. Season 2 is independent. You can watch it without watching Season 1, though I still recommend you to watch the first season to fully appreciate the characters. The second season’s ending is much more satisfying to me.

Cheerfulnuts Verdict:

7 out of 10 stars

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