[Drama Review] Nazotoki Wa Dinner No Ato De

A somewhat star studded cast, but a poorly written script destroyed it. In short it was funny for the wrong reasons.

I have come across worse mystery dramas, but this series is just mediocre. I thought if they cast Kitagawa Keiko as the main lead, it should be a great series, but instead her acting felt flat. It was highly reliant on exaggerated expressions and cartoon-like humor. The same goes for the other roles. She did such a great job in Akumu-chan and to see her do this kind of work in Nazotoki, I was greatly disappointed.

My main criticism is my lack of interest in each of the cases they provided. Sadly, I am able to predict what happens next in the because it is too obvious. Rather than applauding Kageyama for cracking each case, I am bored in most of the episode. It's like I don't care why the victim was murdered and how it happened. Most of this comes from the repetitive formula they designed for the show. It's clear that Kageyama the butler will always provide the correct deductions while the police always screw up. Kazamatsuri will always be comic relief and Reiko will never be able to solve the case on her own.

Reiko proves to be a very flat character and most of her background is unbelievable. Being the main character, she is the heiress to the Hosho Group, but for reasons not explained she chooses to become a police detective. Not only that, her idiot boss, Kazamatsuri, has the same ridiculous background. It's absurd that Kazamatsuri is never able to recognize that Reiko is an heiress. The humor is forced and makes the acting look even worse.They chose a comic-book style of effects for the show. While it was nice to see flat and 3D, it was a very gimmicky move. It doesn't help with the story. To make it worse, the way they staged the murders was very fake.

I said some terrible things right here. Here's some saving grace. They made it very clear that Reiko is very wealthy so they made sure that her outfits are always spot on and expensive looking. They deliberately went for the Western aristocratic style of life with mansion and frills. Sakurai Sho assumed the role of Kageyama pretty well. Not stoic and a little fun. The same goes for Kazamatsuri. Even though it was exaggerated, some of his jokes were funny. Do I recommend this drama? Not really. I think you're fine of you want to skip it on your to-watch list.