No.of Epis: 9Year/TV Station: 2009/NTV
Cast:
Kanno Miho ~ Haruse Kiina
Hiraoka Yuta ~ Yamazaki Takeru
Sawamura Ikki ~ Miyabi Kazuma
Koike Eiko ~ Endo Sakura
Synopsis: (from Dramawiki)
At first glance Haruse Kiina is a completely normal 29-year-old. However, Kiina is the head of a special investigation unit nicknamed "Beppan" which deals with strange cases. With an unorthodox approach to solving crimes, she draws on her exceptional memory and powers of observation, and gets so absorbed in the pursuit of these cases that she forgets to eat or sleep til she solves the mystery.
Slacker's review:
It's nice to see Kanno back in a new drama! But this time round, "Kiina" seemed to be too similar to her previous drama "Hataraki Man". So what are the similarities? Firstly, Kanno's Haruse was paired up with another rookie in the drama, and that was Hiraoka's Yamazaki. (It's the same in "Hataraki Man" where Kanno was paired up with Hayami.) Secondly, both characters had some super powers-Kiina had a photographic memory, she can just flip the books and rmbed everything. As for her role Matsukata in "HM", she wld be in her "workaholic" mode when she wrote her reports etc. Thirdly, Kiina loved to eat sweet stuffs, while Matsukata loved to eat natto sushi. Fourthly, both Kiina and Matsukata didn't seem to have much luck in romance...haha! Next, both girls had some distinct trademarks when they did their poses..lol! Also, both dramas were based on respective cases in each epi.
Enough of listing the similarities. Even with so many similar stuffs, "Kiina" is still a quite unqiue drama of its own. It's a crime-solving drama, but the cases were related to unexplainable circumstances, supernatural or otherwise. Of course, in the end, the suspects were all humans. Lolz! But it's a nice way to see how they used the unconventional way to commit crimes. What's more? Some of the cases were actually based on real life cases! Even though Kiina might have her way on how to solve the crime, she always went to ask for more scientific explanations from Kudo, who's working as a scientist. (And he's Kiina's ex bf!!)
I enjoyed Kanno's portrayal as Kiina, and she didn't remind me of Matsukata in "HM", which was good. Kiina was a little exaggerating when she's not solving cases, but I liked how she enjoyed her sweet snacks and how she talked to her friends. Once she's following a case, we get to see a different Kiina on a "serious mode". Kiina cld be a little indecisive at times, and she cld be a little "different" when she spoke to Kudo? Ha! Well, I just wished that they cld find some better looking guys to act as her ex la.
Hiraoka's performance was alright, he's more like a complement to Kiina, and their chemistry was not bad la (though no romance b/w them). Yamazaki was quite a funny fella, like how he was so scared of ghost etc. Also, he yearned to join other policemen to solve the normal cases, but Miyabi always put him under "Beppan". So Yamazaki kinda "ren ming" in the end, and slowly, he changed his attitude while working with Kiina.
Other support cast was great, I think two of the cases were linked to the policemen, including Miyabi. Koike was too underused though...
Theme song "Change the World" by Michi.
