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| Season 2 cast |
Alternative Names: BG: Shinpen Keigonin , BG～身辺警護人～, BG贴身保镖，BG-搏命保鑣
Having abandoned the jdrama world since 2016, I have been very out of touch with current actors and shows. In the year 2021, I have returned with an unrealistic goal of catching up with dramas that were produced during this time gap, both old and new. The one that resurrected my interest in dramas again was BG: Personal Bodyguard. Kimura Takuya has been my long time favorite actor so I really bet all my chips onto him for producing entertainment. I was not disappointed. There were some parts of the story that I didn't like, but overall I really enjoyed watching it. Since this is my first jdrama in a while, I was introduced a lot of new talent and also revisited by familiar faces, mainly Eguchi Yosuke. Today I will cover both season 1 and season 2, along with a bonus music review on the Original Soundtrack. Brace yourselves for a very long post.
Now I need to mention that I watched the Cantonese dub as it's usually my first pick when available. I find that most of the time, it translates well without losing the original meaning and tone. Since different companies pick up the show, unfortunately I don't always get the same voice actor for the same actor or actress. By now I have heard 3 different people voice Kimura Takuya (lol). But I'm glad they used the same person for Eguchi Yosuke.
Season 1
The first episode of season 1 starts off by introducing Shimazaki Akira (Kimura Takuya) as a very capable personal bodyguard for famed soccer player Kono Junya. However due to an incident not yet explained, he leaves his job. Fast forward to a couple years, Shimazaki is working on a construction site as security guard. He's divorced and lives with his cheeky teenage son, Shun. The company that he is employed under, Hinode Security Service, wants to create a new bodyguard division and the manager wants Shimazaki to join. Shimazaki expresses little interest to join while his manager is pushing for it and eventually the new division is formed with 5 members.
A lot of things happened in episode 1. First off we have this untold incident that has clearly left Shimazaki scarred and is hinted that this was the reason why he quit being a personal bodyguard. The scene focuses on a screw that fell from the ceiling while Shimazaki was escorting Kono at an airport. This same scene will play several times in the drama and it somewhat acts as a red herring in the drama. This incident changes Shimazaki to someone who keeps to himself a lot. Second, we are introduced to the new bodyguard division members. Each member is briefly introduced through quick scenes where they used their wits to perform their previous jobs such as locating a shoplifter and detecting listening bugs in someone's home. During a training session, we witness a mock situation where team members have to rescue a client from an armed assailant. Shimazaki though reluctant to act first eventually succeeds in taking down the assailant with ease which surprises the rest of the team members. This is a key scene because he lies about having no experience and deliberately avoids talking about his past. This arouses suspicion for Takanashi (Saitoh Takumi) because he recognizes this as skill of a professional, not some 2-bit security guard as Shimazaki claims to be.
After the first two episodes you get a feel how each character is. Chief Murata Goro (Kamikawa Takaya) is the team leader and I would argue the most amicable of all members as he promotes harmony while working. Everyone respects his decision even when they take jobs they don't like. We learn that he's an ex-cop and it seems that he's the only person that kinda understands Shimazaki's situation without prying too much. Takanashi Masaya is bitter towards Shimazaki. He says he doesn't want to work with someone who won't come clean about themselves and by the end of first episode, he left the team. My first impression was that he's being so hostile for no reason and almost a bit childish for throwing such a tantrum. But we find out very quickly his antagonism comes from his adept sleuthing. Takanashi has already whiffed out Shimazaki's past with the incident at the airport. Suganuma Mayu (Nanao) is the only female member on the team and Sawaguchi Seitaro (Mamiya Shotaro) is the spirited newbie. Suganuma and Sawaguchi don't have much scenes compared to other characters, but they get episodes dedicated to them in season 2. A lot of season 1's focus gets put on Shimazaki, Ochiai Yoshiaki (Eguchi Yosuke), an SP member responsible for protecting politicians, and Tachihara Aiko (Ishida Yuriko) an ambitious female politician with plans to work her way up the political ladder. I think it's most likely these 3 are the big shot actors chosen for this drama hence more screen time for them.
One of the strong points of BG: Personal Bodyguard is the character relationships and I really like how they were written. Along with that, the character building is very effective. For instance, Ishida Yuriko's character, Tachihara Aiko, had me guessing throughout all of season 1. Is she a friend or a foe? At times she's a shrewd politician and other times she has secrets she's forced to keep hidden. The triangle between her, Ochiai, and Shimazaki is super fun to watch. I love the romantic undertones despite no romance actually happening at all. It's a like a struggle to keep equilibrium. We also see antagonism between Ochiai and Shimazaki a lot. They protect different clients, but always end up seeing each other in the same environment.
Another thing I liked about this drama was the portrayal of the job. While the cases are episodic, the writers kept it so that each client Hinode Security Service takes on is distinct enough. Escape routes don't always happen as planned and there's a lot of times they have to wing it on the spot. Bodyguards are not allowed to carry weapons and there are a couple times the team had to go up against armed assailants. This gives the audience a sense of danger each time a confrontation occurs and adds to the riskiness of the job. Not only that, they also show that Shimazaki gets hurt a lot, reminding us that his character isn't exactly young anymore and you have to go through pain before you get paid. The clients aren't always the most cooperative and sometimes they are equally as troublesome as the assailant.
Now here are a few things I didn't like for both season 1 and 2; the action scenes. I've been spoiled by fight choreography directed by Yuen Woo-ping, Sammo Hung, and Jackie Chan in martial arts films. So to compare that with a jdrama would be very unfair as none of the actors are professional stunt actors to begin with. I personally really like martial arts films and I really appreciate the work that goes in choreographing action. With BG, it's hard to set up an interesting action scene as action is not the main focus of the drama. Certain locations are hard to film and they weren't able to design an engaging enough action sequence. For this reason, I tend to not pay attention during this part of the drama. It's my least favorite. I do give props to Kimura Takuya dangling off a bridge though.
This is somewhat spoilerish, but there's an important character death. It is essential to the story because it allowed other characters to grow, but I wasn't a fan of how it was handled. I'm not too sure if perhaps the version I watched may have been cut accidentally, but I'm pretty sure you do not die from minor gun shot to the leg. I think most likely it was a gun shot wound that struck a major artery, but was not treated in time and for some reason this piece of information did not appear in the version I watched. Instead I got something like a non-fatal wound caused by a gun. Because of this, even if this character death was pre-planned, it felt forced.
Season 2
Moving on to Season 2, we have some new characters and also some new conflict. Typically sequels perform weaker than their predecessor, but I feel that this sequel was directed very well. Some episodes had very nice cinematography playing with different angles and such. It was also because of season 2 that I became a fan of Saitoh Takumi. His character had much more presence in season 2 and I really got to see Takumi's acting blossom before my eyes. I didn't know anything about him prior to starting BG only to find out that he's the most sought after actor in Japan. Now that I've discovered he's so talented, I became a fan just like everyone else. It's no wonder people love him so much. Takumi looks unbelievably tall next Kimura Takuya which in turn makes Kimura look a whole lot smaller. Plus Takumi's looser fit wardobe on the show makes him look way more formidable than Kimura.
The bromance between Shimazaki and Takanashi is strong and a lot of episodes are dedicated to their time together. Since Ochiai and Tachihara are no longer in season 1, a lot of attention has been put on the Shimazaki and Takanashi duo instead. They don't always agree with each other and their way of handling things wasn't always the best. However, they do work well with each other despite their differences.
The establishment of a new antagonist, Kicks Corp., proved to be very effective as Shimazaki is rendered helpless in his situations and he's also being threatened throughout the drama by a mysterious stalker. Hinode Security Service has merged with Kicks Corp., but the team we knew before is now split. Shimazaki left HSS because he uncovered a secret dealing between Ryu Komei (Nakamura Toru), the CEO of Kicks Corp, and the world of politics. In order to protect other members, Shimazaki decides to leave, but also threatens to reveal the secret to the world. He solos and forms his own security company. In each episode, it's always Kicks Corp. vs Shimazaki. This mirrors season 1 when it was SP vs. HSS.
My biggest complaint about season 2 was reverting to the traditional jdrama format of ending each episode with a lesson. For some viewers it's a treat, but for me having seen this way of story telling multiple times, I get bored with it. In season 2, they have a gimmick where clients would end the episode by thanking Shimazaki and Takanashi for protecting the client and the client's most treasured possession. By possession, it's not always tangible, for example they would say "Thank you for protecting my livelihood, my dream, my pride etc." It feels too cliche and I rather they had characters show gratitude differently.
Another complaint I had was actually the relationship between Takanashi and Suganuma. It is hinted in the beginning of season 2 that they had begun dating and then broke up in the first episode as well. It really threw me off because I didn't remember the both of these characters having much interaction with each other in season 1. So I back tracked into season 1 to see if I missed something. There was an episode where Suganuma admitted to Takanashi that she did like some parts of his personality. I guess this was where the writers decided to put in an off screen relationship. But then to break it off immediately in episode 1? I guess this is to reinforce Takanashi's friction with members. He's not exactly the easiest to work with and can come off as someone with an attitude problem. Naturally Suganuma wouldn't take this quietly.
Shimazaki, on the other hand, has a new love interest in this season, Doctor Ichikawa Mikako (Kasamatsu Takako). It quite obvious that the both care about each other and the affection they have for each other feels natural, not too deliberate. They have both experienced loss, are spouse-less, and can relate well with each other. Shimazaki's cheeky son, Shun, is always there to poke fun at his dad, and even though he doesn't want to admit it, he really worries for his dad.
Season 2 ends on a note that Japan is not safe anymore. This a time that we need bodyguards the most. It almost feels like an advertisement for a security service. The difficulty in cases are now different in season 2. While both seasons portrayed difficult clients to work with, the situation has changed because Shimazaki no longer has a team to fall back on. He's essentially on his own with only Takanashi as his backup. The new company is short staffed and arguable has to take on even less important cases compared to Hinode Security Service in season 1. While Shimazaki is forced to downgrade, it still doesn't extinguish his promise to protect the client no matter the circumstances. To have the drama come full circle, the entire Hinode team reunite in the final episode.
Original Soundtrack
While watching dramas, I also like to pay attention to the music. The original soundtrack is composed by Takami Yu and consists of 27 tracks from both season 1 and 2. During the drama, the music felt very loud and the overuse of the main theme felt bombastic instead meaningful. This isn't to say it was poorly composed because each track is recognizable and distinct on its own. When I listen to the soundtrack on its own, it was actually very enjoyable and for the sake of the review, I listened to it multiple times trying to dissect it. Fortunately it's up on Youtube for viewers who want to dive in and listen. Now I'm not a professional musician, just someone who has fiddles with a few and really likes music overall. The English track name translations are not official names, but based off machine translations and tweaked by yours truly. They may not be 100% correct.
BG 身辺警護人 －Main Title－
This is the main theme that will play in the opening of each episode and typically during the climaxes. It's a very grand theme song where you have an orchestra as the backing and the brass comes in like an announcement, kind of like an indication that something is coming and we are charging forward. The percussion has a marching beat which goes hand in hand with the theme of "charging forward". I see this tie into the idea that Shimazaki and the bodyguards are always ready to charge forward into danger in their jobs. Other than being grand, it's also very positive sounding telling the audience how proud the characters feel about themselves and their profession.
誤差無し！(No error!)
This pop sounding theme usually plays when the team discusses their plan or when the job has already begun. The variations of the guitar riff and the percussion makes it sound upbeat until around 1:10 where it's only strings with very light notes (not sure what the correct term should be) are heard in the background. It kind of has a sleuthing feel to it where one has to be careful and delicate. The lack of percussion makes it seem like the strings has slowed down, but I think the tempo is more or less the same.
BodyGuard
You will hear this track play a lot during confrontations between bodyguards and dangerous people and/or situation. The melody plays on a faster variation on the Main Title, but it's faster in tempo and sounds more defiant.
章のテーマ (Akira's Theme)
I find this theme to reflect on Akira's nature very accurately. He's very reserved to the point he appears timid which is why his theme is not the theme of a hot blooded protagonist. Behind the guitars is a bit of ambience layered on like a very subtle choir.
身辺警備課 (Bodyguard Division)
The more upbeat and ordinary life variation of the Main Title.
SP
The uneasier ambience coupled with the synth notes (correct term?) in the beginning of the track hint at the seediness of the politicians that are protected by the SP. This is unofficially Ochiai's theme since he is technically the face of SP. Starting at 0:49, the tone becomes more serious to the point it becomes forceful. Incidentally, we see that Ochiai and the SP are very demanding when it comes to butting heads with Shimazaki. Ochiai especially holds the entirety of Hinode with contempt. Bits of the strings sound like a darker version of the Main Title which leads me to think that this was composed to establish the different ideals that Hinode and the SP hold.
違和感 (Feelings of Unease)
Like the track name suggests, this is the theme of being uncomfortable. It plays during all the uneasy scenes of lurking discomfort.
章のテーマ －Rock Ver.－ (Akira's Theme -Rock Ver.-)
This track is the rock variation of Akira's Theme. Here it reflects Shimazaki's passion to protect in contrast to the timidness portrayed in the original theme. With the faster paced drums and instrumentals, the track reflects Shimazaki's fearlessness and courage.
護り人 (Guardian)
Despite the name, this is another track of unease. However unlike 違和感 where there's a uncertainty of danger, 護り人 is more defined and it feels like danger is already approaching and you already see it. The track builds up with dramatic flair starting with piano, but ends with strings, bass, and a choir. Sometime at around 2:11, there are some faint violins playing whole notes amidst the orchestra most likely comprised of double bass and cellos. The notes proceed to become louder and eventually transition into quarter notes to build tension.
警護依頼 (Security Request)
This track reminds me of SP due to a couple of similarities. I can't exactly pinpoint what elements it borrows from the SP track, but they feel related in a musical sense.
丸腰だからこそ (Because we are unarmed)
I'm not too sure how to translate the track name on this one. I think it's suppose to refer to the scenes when Shimazaki explains that bodyguards are not allowed to be armed. This track is an acoustic arrangement of the Main Title. It's more relaxing and down to earth.
章の過去 (Akira's Past)
You can clearly hear Akira's Theme in the track. It's nearly the same iteration only more sad. The electric guitars are now replaced with acoustic (gut?) guitars and the orchestra is more pronounced.
犯行の動機 (Motive for Crime)
It shares a similar ambience as 護り人 and 警護依頼 in the beginning which would suggest that this is a track of unease, but around 0:08 we are introduced to a different melody indicating that this is a different song. At 0:40 the piano starts coming in that will become the "leader" in this composition. The ambience in the background never disappears. It seems to go on continuously and reminds me of a glass harmonica. The tone in this track is somber and close to mournful.
秘めた恋心 (Hidden Love)
I don't remember exactly when, but I think this plays in season 1 when Tachihara or Shun appears with Shimazaki and in season 2 with Doctor Ichikawa. The structure follows the Main Title, but omits a lot of notes and instruments and in return holds the more recognizable notes of the Main Title. It's like a more stripped down version of the main theme, but lighthearted.
瞬と章 (Shun and Akira)
I don't think I need to explain the title name. Just dad and son time.
トレーニング (Training)
Electronic synths are more apparent in this track layered over a consistent drum beat.
シミュレーション (Simulation)
The marimba-like sound kind of mimics the rhythm of a clock or pendulum. This track suggests that time is of essence during timed missions.
対決の時 (At the time of confrontation)
This track is in line with the overall tone of other confrontational tracks. Typically placed during dangerous missions. At 1:28, it has some hints of the SP track perhaps hinting involvement during scenes when Ochiai and Tachihara clash with Shimazaki. At 2:12, the tone becomes more dangerous with use of higher pitched strings to add tension.
レクイエム (Requiem)
This plays during an important death scene and all nostalgic scenes associated withe the character. If you pay really close attention, it mimics the structure of 秘めた恋心 except notes of the central melody has changed. Unlike 秘めた恋心 where it's more carefree, in レクイエム it's very mournful, but also very elegant. The strings add much emotion while the piano remind us feelings of solitude. It's one of my favorite tracks.
武器なんか無い方が (Those who don't have weapons)
A piano ballad version of the Main Title.
And
And is credited to 山田航平 instead of Takami Yu. This is the track that provides closure and feels most like a ending credits song. According to the album credits, this is the only song not composed by Takami Yu which would explain why it sounds a lot different than the rest of the album.
BG 身辺警護人 －Main Title－2020
This the Main Title theme for season 2 of BG Personal Bodyguard. The composition is exactly same exact now it layered on top of a more electronic and funky kind of beat. This signals a beginning of a new chapter in the story of BG. I wasn't a big fan of it at first, but it grew on me eventually.
警護対象者 (Person to be guarded)
Kicks Corp.
This track replaces season 1's S. Kicks Corp. is the new antagonist in the story. It's a lot of electronic sounds and this applies to much of season 2's tracks which makes sense since Kicks Corp. is an IT based company.
警告灯 (Warning light)
A season 2 original.
命を護るため (To Save Lives)
It's kind of like And where it has that ending credits feel, but it doesn't exactly close an episode.
BG 身辺警護人 －Piano Ver.－
Now this is the true piano version to the Main Title.
My Personal Rating
★★★★☆
7.8 out of 10
While the action choreography was very lacking, the story telling and character building remained the stronger points of the drama. Characters were very likeable and believable and all actors portrayed their roles very well. In retrospect, I begin to like the drama more after analyzing it than when I first watched it.
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