Thoughts about "Keishichou Outsider" Ep 1 - Winter 2023

Usually for first episodes, it lays the groundwork as to what the viewers can expect and introduces the key characters and relationships. However, in the case of this drama, I found myself wondering about the answers to these questions because there were too many things happening at the same time and it also didn't help that quite a number of unexpected developments typically not seen in first episodes were included.

To begin with, what is the exact definition of "outsider" for the three leads? In Kagawa Eiji's case (Nishijima Hidetoshi), is it because he got transferred out of the "prestigious" organised crime unit in the MPD to the criminal case unit in a "local" police station? Or in Mizuki Nao's case (Kamishiraishi Moka), is it because she cannot fit in with others as people would treat her differently if they know that her father is a high-ranking police officer? These do seem like very "typical" reasons though but thankfully, Kagawa's background does look pretty interesting to explore. I just hope that there is a logical explanation as to why he fears blood that much and yet can deal with gangsters who typically keep getting into fights and end up in a bloodied mess. Or could it be that he cannot stand the sight of blood on a corpse?

What I am most intrigued about at this point is Hasumi Kousuke (Hamada Gaku) because his "outsider" reason seems to be the most atypical and very serious as he's supposedly not who he claims to be! And to think that Kagawa suspected Hasumi's identity so early in the story and even confronted the latter about it...at gunpoint. I wonder how things will go from there since the next episode's trailer shows them working together as per normal. I am expecting that they reach some sort of compromise or deal for Kagawa not to expose Hasumi just yet. Personally, I thought this was the most interesting development within this episode which I found a bit slow at times. And Hamada sure impresses again with his portrayal of Hasumi who may seem like a nice and cool guy on the surface but deep emotions run deep under that facade.

As for the other characters, you will get fleeting glances of them from time to time - feels more like teasers as to who they might be and who is related to who. For now, the concern points are the following:

* the so-called up-and-rising squeaky clean politician Osanai played by Saito Takumi looks like he will have some skeletons in his closet to be uncovered later. I am anticipating him to become the last boss or biggest baddie towards the end.

* the relationships that Kagawa have with Fujiwara (Yanagiba Toshiro), his former superior and Nishina (Yuka), the forensics investigator, look quite interesting for now and may shed light on who Kagawa really is.

* Mizuki's father Udo (Kataoka Ainosuke) and Osanai may look like comrades on the same path to eradicate organised crime for now but I have a hunch that they may fall out later if one of them turns rogue or their interests are no longer aligned.

Much of the attention in this episode was spent on investigating the murder case of the scheming and evil housekeeper that I'm surprised to see that Mizuki hasn't even officially joined Kagawa and Hasumi to work on a case. I guess that means the trio's collaboration will only begin for real next week. 

One thing that baffles me though, getting Muroi Shigeru to play this housekeeper who got killed so early in the story - is this an indication of her being involved in other things to be revealed? Otherwise, it's rare to get a big name to play such a small role.

Rather than the cases to be investigated going forward, I am more interested in the underlying main plot about the 3 outsiders. I just hope that the cases won't be that simple or boring in the meantime. I have a feeling that there may be some major case to be investigated in the second half of the drama so that could mean that we will see a couple of episodes with filler cases until then.