Yesterday I spent much of the day watching Kuitan (喰いタン, 2006), which is a lighthearted detective dorama set in Yokohama. Kuitan is actually the nickname of the main character, played by Go Morita 森田剛 of V6), who isn’t too bright, but has a good heart, Idezumi Kyoko (Ichikawa Mikako 市川実日子), who takes care of the business-side of the Agency and is working to improve her cooking (this helps out in many of the cases), and a young schoolboy named Kindaichi (Suga Kenta 須賀健太), who is sort of adopted into the Agency.
Each episode is basically a separate case, and the relationships grow throughout the series. Nothing is too deep, however, and there isn’t any real romance to speak of. It’s just silly fun and sometimes over-the-top wacky. Kuitan has a pair of metal hashi that he keeps in his jacket pocket, and he uses these both at dinner time, and as weapons to fight crooks. But he’s not some invincible hero, but rather kind of bumbling and clumsy at times. But he’s also wise and smart and everyone likes him.
Of course any good dorama needs its share of good looking women (and men, I guess), and two of Kuitan’s regular characters are really cute. First, the above-mentioned Ichikawa Mikako is sort of the hip, blue-collar worker girl, and she has a really interesting face. I think she kind of reminds me of Drew Barrymore. The other woman is the police inspector Ogata Momo played by Kyono Kotomi 京野ことみ, and she is a more “classic” beauty. And for the girls, both Higashiyama and Morita are from Johnny’s, so I guess they are pretty popular. I actually enjoy Morita’s character in this dorama. The only other time I saw him act was in Lunch Queen, where he was a totally despicable and violent a-hole. It’s nice to see him as a good guy.
Anyways, I finished Kuitan 1 and started on Kuitan 2, which picks up right where the first one left off. It’s good to see all the main characters back in season 2!
