Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de Episodes 4-6

The quality of the cases on Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de have picked up the last three episodes. Each of them have done something to intrigue my interest and have more depth than the first three episodes. Episode 4 included a case in which Reiko was misunderstood as a suspect for murder. Episode 5 involved a dispute between a manga author and illustraitor. Episode 6 had an intriguing case which was confused for a "curse." However, the comedy is still hit or miss and Kitagawa Keiko's character, Reiko, has yet to do anything noteworthy. There's not much development for any of the characters so far. The butler, Kageyama, is keeping it interesting with his brutal honesty towards Reiko and his impressive deductive skills. The acting is ok. Nothing great but nothing bad either.

Screenshots

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de Episode 3 Screenshots and Review

Episode three's case involved a politican being murdered by one of his lovers. This episode I thought was the weakest of the three episodes so far. For one, it's getting annoyingly repetetive that Keiko's narration at the beginning of each episode talks about her character's wealth and how much more money she makes than her boss, who is also a wealthy detective. The other problem was the case. Once again, it lacked depth, and it was way too predictable. It was way too easy to guess who the culprit was. The episode added nothing to the plot until the last two minutes, where we get a ship tease between Reiko and Kageyama. The interaction between the leads and Kageyama's method of solving the case was still interesting, but there wasn't much else to this episode. With that said, the preview to the fourth episode does look interesting. I'm hoping for something good from next week's episode.

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de Episode 2 Screenshots and Review

Episode two's case involved a murder case that was originally thought to be a suicide, over an inheritance dispute. Overall I thought the episode was ok. It had a couple funny moments like the butler, Kageyama (Sho Sakurai), trimming a bush into the shape of a T-Rex. Again the interaction between Sho's and Keiko's characters were interesting, and I think it is interesting seeing how Kageyama solves the cases. The case in this episode was ok. It was a little bit more interesting than the first episode and had a little bit more depth to it than the previous one. Overall, I think Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de is interesting enough to keep the viewer curious and it's funny at times, but so far I think it's just ok. I'm hoping for a good backstory for the butler, and want to know with his deductive skills, how come he's a butler and not a detective.

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de Episode 1 Screenshots and Short Review

A couple days ago the first episode of Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de aired, and with an impressive 18.1% rating. Overall I thought the episode was descent. I liked the interaction between Keiko Kitagawa's character Reiko and Sho Sakurai's character Kageyama. Keiko had some funny moments throughout. Kippei Shiina's character, Kazamatsuri, was also pretty funny and flamboyant. It's nice to see him in a comedic role, where as the other dramas I've seen him in (Code Blue season 2 and Seito Shokun) he's played much more serious characters. The producers also did a good editing job. There's a lot of comic book-like inserts which gives the drama its lighter feel. It's also great that they don't overplay the wealth of the main character (Reiko), and the episode is more about the interaction of her and her butler, and solving the case. The case itself, however, was not that interesting. There was not much depth to it and it's not a case that arouses your emotions. Still, the episode had plenty of other stuff to make it interesting.

Actresses Best Fit to Play the Role of a Young and Rich Lady?

Recently, goo ranking did a survey on whom the audience thought would be best suited for the "young and rich lady" role. Coming in at #1 was Kyoko Fukada, followed by Keiko Kitagawa at #2. I thought this was really cool, since Kyoko and Keiko are my two favorite Japanese actresses. Kyoko played this role in Fugoh Keiji, a drama I really don't care about. Keiko is playing the role in her newest drama, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de. Also making the list was one of my other favorites, Gakky at #10, whom I actually think would be best suited for such a role. Here's the full list.


1. Fukada Kyoko
2. Kitagawa Keiko
3. Takei Emi
4. Ayase Haruka
5. Horikita Maki
6. Ishihara Satomi
7. Toda Erika
8. Sasaki Nozomi
9. Karina
10. Aragaki Yui

Source: Tokyohive

A Look Ahead to the 2011 Fall Drama Season

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de.



Starring Keiko Kitagawa and Arashi member Sho Sakurai. Kitagawa plays the part of Reiko Hosho, a rich detective whom lacks detective skills. Sakurai plays Kageyama, Reiko's buttler whom helps her solve the cases. The synopsis sounds a bit cheesy but I'll watch it anyways, since I'm a Keiko Kitagawa fan.

Sengyou Shufu Tantei ~ Watashi wa Shadow




Stars Kyoko Fukada and Naohito Fujiki. Fukada plays the part of Serina, a bumbling housewife turned detective who is suppose to grow stronger throughout. Sounds like there might be some interesting character development for Kyoko's character, and may be interesting to at least check it out. Hopefully it will get subbed.

Kaito Royale




This drama will be a late night drama (Fridays at 24:20), which means that episodes will likely be only 30 minutes long. It stars a trio of talented new and young actors: Tori Matsuzaka, Aya Oomasa, and Seiji Fukushi. I've seen in the tokusatsu series Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, in which he played the main character, Takeru. He did a fine job in that series, and I've been looking forward to seeing him in something else since. It's ashame that Gold hasn't been fully subbed yet, because I would like to see Matsuzaka in it. I've also seen Aya Oomasu and Seiji Fukushi in minor roles in other dramas. Oomasu I've seen in Buzzer Beat, playing Yamapi's younger sister. I've seen Fukushi play Keiko Kitagawa's older brother in Hitsudan Hostess. Both were ok in their respective roles, so they should be ok to watch here. As for the plot itself, Matsuzaka plays the character Rei, who's hired to steal an expensive ring called "Alexander's tear." This drama has an attractive cast and I'll probably try to watch it, but it may take me some time to get around to it.

Nankyoku Tairiku




This one is likely to be a ratings getter, with vastly popular actors Takuya Kimura and Haruka Ayase. Just about any Kimutaku drama draw at least an average 15% rating. The drama itself celebrates TBS' 60th anniversary and seems to be based on a true story. It's about a group of 11 people whom were sent to explore Antartica on a national project. It does sound interesting, but this is a drama that I probably won't pick up until after it's finished. I may be hard pressed to watch the first three I have listed.

Sakurai Sho & Kitagawa Keiko to Star in Upcoming Drama “Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de”

I'm a bit late on this piece of news, but I decided to post it anyways. According to Tokyohive, Kitagawa Keiko will be starring in the drama, Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de. In this drama, Keiko plays the part of Honsho Reiko, a wealthy yet rookie detective who usually solves cases with the help of her butler Kageyama, played by Sakurai Sho. The drama will be airing at 9PM on Tuesdays on Fuji TV. I'm a bit mixed about this. On one hand, I'm a big Kitagawa Keiko fan and I look forward to seeing just about anything with her in it. On the other hand, we've seen a rich detective drama before, called Fugoh Keiji. That drama was outright terrible, IMO, full of cheesy ways to solve cases with massive amounts of money. However, as long as we don't have a story-line similar to that, I might be ok with it. This drama is based off of a manga of the same name. The drama premiers in October.

Source:
Tokyohive