Viewers to vote for preferred ending to "Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri"

Viewers will be allowed to vote for the preferred ending to spring drama "Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri" which airs its last episode on 23 June. Both endings have been filmed and it is now up to viewers to choose which they would like to see.

From the 9th episode on 9 June, Katayama Yoshitaro (Aiba Masaki) is on his own when investigating cases. As such, one of the endings will be "Okaeri Holmes" which marks the reunion of Yoshitaro and Holmes while the other will be "Sayonara Holmes" which means that Yoshitaro and Holmes will go their separate ways for good. Voting will commence from 3pm on the date of the last OA via data broadcasting, the Internet, mobile phones etc.
Source: Sports Hochi

Romaji lyrics of Your Eyes by Arashi (Theme song of Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri)

Title: Your Eyes
Artiste: Arashi
Theme song of Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri

kimi no yasashisa ga kikoete kuru yo
sono hitomi shinjite itsumade mo...

kono hoshi no ue jibun hitori ga
dare yori mo kodoku datte
samayou kimi ni eien wo kanjiterunda
dakara boku wa kimi no soba ni

ano hi no kizu ga ima mo iezu
kimi wa tachi tomatta mama Oh
nani mo dekizu sora wo miageta
nijinda keshiki ga koboreteku

kimi no yasashisa ga kikoete kuru yo

sono hitomi wo shinjiteiru kara
namida hitotsubu sono tenohira ni ochite
arai nagashite yuku atarashii yoake

moshimo ano toki kangaete mitatte
ima ga kawaru wake janakute
kimi no shojiki na kimochi wo koko made
todoke yo boku wa koko ni iru

kurayami no naka demo nakute
kimi wa toho ni kureteta Oh
nigirishimeta nukumori sae mo
kaze ga doko ka e tsure satteku

wasurenai hitomi de kawashita kotoba
sou itami mo todoite iru kara
nani mo motazu ni umarete kita hazusa
asahi ga furi sosogu hajimari no Light

itsu no mani ka ushinai kaketa
shinjiru tsuyosa wo omoi dashite
komi ageru koudou ga ima
kimi no fukai tokoro ni hibiite iru

dare mo inai daichi no hate de
sekai ga shizuka ni ugoki dasu

wasurenai hitomi de kawashita kotoba

sou itami mo todoite iru kara
kimi no yasashisa ga kikoete kuru yo

sono hitomi wo shinjiteiru kara
namida hitotsubu sono tenohira ni ochite
arai nagashite yuku atarashii yoake

hajimari no Light

Review of Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri Ep 2

I'm not sure how I should describe my feelings after watching the 2nd episode. In my last review, there were some things which I liked about the drama but this episode seemed to be headed in a different direction from what I was expecting so I'm starting to wonder if how long I can persist in watching this.

Harumi brings Yoshitaro to a romance seminar in order to help him get over his phobia over women. As the lecturer goes through tips to get closer to the opposite sex and build a romantic relationship, Yoshitaro dismisses the advice as highly ineffective and can't be bothered to pay much attention to the session. What would have been an uneventful day goes the opposite way when the audience finds the lecturer murdered after the screening of a DVD. The baffling thing is, the audience had been hearing the lecturer's voice until the lights came on in the room again so it would have been near impossible for anyone to have killed the lecturer. What's more surprising is that someone had gone to the session and signed her name as that of a woman who committed suicide! As usual, Yoshitaro faints at the sight of blood on the victim and is lectured by his colleague Nemoto.

Now this is where I have my first complaint. This case is highly similar to what I've seen in a HK drama years ago. There are some subtle differences between the two but at first glance, it was easy to see that these cases were the same. I don't know if it's just a plain coincidence or who actually thought of this idea first. It doesn't really bother me here whether there is an issue of copying one another's ideas but this signifies that I already know the trick behind this seemingly difficult case. Even before we get to the resolution of the case, I already know who was the killer and how it was done. The mystery being too simple to guess is a big taboo in a suspense thriller story. As a result, I was more or less "switched off" as the story progressed. I didn't feel interested enough to follow what was going and it felt like a long journey to get to the end. There was a lot of time spent on Yoshitaro's strong belief that Ryoko (Takimoto Miori) was not the murderer but frankly speaking, it didn't matter to me at all.

In my last review, I mentioned that it was quite interesting to see Aiba's scenes with the cat. That being the first episode, it was no wonder that the drama had to spend a lot of time describing Yoshitaro's meeting with Holmes and how they came to get together. However, this episode didn't really show much of an interaction between the two and I simply don't find the scenes when Holmes turns into a human funny at all. There is a strong lack of chemistry between human and human compared to when Yoshitaro was facing the cat-form of Holmes. I really wonder if this drama has the intention to show how Holmes' "intervention" or so-called hints is of use to Yoshitaro because I somehow get the feeling that his own siblings play a more active role in the case solving compared to Holmes.

As I said before, I am not keen on episodic stories so it takes a lot of effort and enough pull power to make me stay throughout the whole season. I like Aiba and can see that he's trying hard to make things work. However, if the drama is going to give me really "juvenile" suspense/investigative stories throughout its run, I don't think my interest in him is strong enough to keep me invested in the show. I know that this Saturday timeslot is supposed to be a family-friendly one where kids can enjoy the drama as well but if the drama doesn't find its footing soon enough and decides whether it wants to focus more on its case-solving side or the family-friendly developments, it runs the risk of ending up as a drama which cannot make an impression on its viewers. And another bugbear I find with this drama is, Yoshitaro keeps getting scolded in the harshest way possible (just like Himekawa in Strawberry Night which I stopped watching after Ep 7...not that keen to continue for now) and I really don't think it will make him improve in any way. It just irks me to see people screaming at the top of their voices for no apparent purposes. Anyway, I'll try to give this drama another chance and hope that the next episode can convince me to stay on.

Review of Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri Ep 1

Katayama Yoshitaro (Aiba Masaki), the 2nd son of the Katayama family, feels deep down that he's not suited to be a police detective but has to do so because of his late father's wish that there must be at least one police officer in the Katayama household. His elder brother Hiroshi isn't keen on becoming one (despite being rather smart) and would rather stay at home to write novels with the dream of winning the Edogawa Ranpo award one day while living on the rental income from an apartment he inherited from the ancestors. On the other hand, the youngest sister in the family Harumi does part-time jobs and would joins forces with Hiroshi to make Yoshitaro stay in his job despite his strong reluctance.

Yoshitaro attempts to submit his resignation but somehow, his boss Kurihara doesn't seem to be taking this very seriously and has misplaced his resignation letter thrice. His colleague Nemoto regards Yoshitaro as an eyesore and hindrance to their work since the latter has a fear of heights, blood, ghosts and women. Yoshitaro's junior Ishizu likes to belittle Yoshitaro at times but would also help him out when the need arises. Ishizu loves to hang around with the Katayama siblings and would openly show his affection towards Harumi who rejects him point blank.

The first episode features a murder case at Keishin Female University where a professor was killed. At the orders of Kurihara, Yoshitaro is sent to investigate another case at the same university along with Ishizu. On the night when he's supposed to keep a lookout at the female hostel on campus from a cafe, Yoshitaro leaves his post halfway because of a fire alarm and goes home after helping to put out the fire. The next day, Yoshitaro gets a shock when he is informed that a murder took place at the place where he was supposed to be keeping a lookout from!

As the name of the drama suggests, the actual detective work isn't done by Yoshitaro himself. It doesn't mean that the cat Holmes tells him the answers directly but rather gives hints for him to arrive at the truth behind the case. It's quite interesting to see the interaction between Yoshitaro and Holmes (be it in the cat or human form) especially when Yoshitaro has a hard time trying to figure out what Holmes is trying to convey at times. It looks like Yoshitaro is the only one who can see Holmes in the human form so it could be that Holmes is deliberately showing its human form to him.

First impressions on this drama:

1) If not for Holmes, this would be an ordinary suspense/investigative drama about a guy who's not really suitable to be a police detective. It's good that Aiba is the one playing Yoshitaro because I really like his interaction with the cat and he's had this reputation for knowing about and being in contact with many types of animals through his animal-themed variety show. It does feel like he's enjoying the time spent with Holmes so as a viewer, I think this feeling makes the drama more appealing that it should have been.

2) After watching the first episode, you would get the impression that Yoshitaro really depends on others in order to solve the case. At least for Holmes, it was dropping hints to him and this made him think. However, in the earlier part of this episode, his brother played by Fujiki Naohito was practically solving a major part of the mystery for him based on his "expertise" gained from reading suspense novels. Yoshitaro might get more time in future episodes to try solving the cases but I have a hunch that the people around him are going to appear more like they are the detectives and will be feeding Yoshitaro with the answers rather than letting him do it. Hmm...hopefully, we will see a change in his attitude towards police work and that means taking more initiative to solve the case rather than wait for people to do it for you. Granted this is just the first episode, I guess it can't be helped since we needed to see how much Yoshitaro wanted to quit and was so reluctant in getting involved in the investigations which would be contrasted with how he evolves over time.

3) Episodic stories don't really work for me. I think the drama is emphasizing the fact that it's supposed to be an entertaining piece of work rather than a suspense-filled detective story. And I happen to like those tense storylines with lots of twists. However, if the storyline is going to be so easy to see through for the rest of the season, I don't think I would enjoy this drama very much since it just doesn't feel very gratifying at the end when I could guess much of it before they revealed the answers.

It looks likely that I'll stick around for a couple more episodes but I'm really not certain about seeing this to the end. Maybe I'll have a clearer idea by episode 3 or so.

A look at first episode ratings for the Spring 2012 dramas so far

Dates in brackets indicate the day when the first OA took place:

1) ATARU - 19.9% (15 April)
2) Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri - 15.9% (14 April)
3) 37-sai de Isha ni Natta Boku - 13.2% (10 April)
4) Toshi Densetsu no Onna - 10.3% (13 April)
5) Hanchou 5 - 10.2% (9 April)
6) Kaeru no Oujosama - 9.0% (12 April)
7) Kazoku no Uta - 6.1% (15 April)

ATARU did so well in its first OA which not only raises the bar for its competition but also for itself. Nakai acts in dramas once in a blue moon (8 years since Suna no Utsuwa) so I think this lack of exposure does help in building up the anticipation factor. Morever, the story itself does seem quite appealing although I have no idea how he's going to fit into the case solving process. My only concern is, if its subsequent episodes don't do as well, this high debut rating will probably mean nothing at the end. I feel bad for Kazoku no Uta not only because it's up against ATARU in the same timeslot but also it's probably not doing well because of the plagiarism claims against it. Too bad for Odagiri Jo who's yet to get another hit since Jikou Keisatsu.

Surprisingly, Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri did quite well for its debut and even beat Kusanagi's drama. Will be checking out both and see how they compare. Tonight, Ohno's drama makes its debut as well so there should be a fair bit of comparison between Aiba's and Ohno's dramas throughout the season in terms of ratings and critical reviews.

Kaeru no Oujosama getting a rating of less than 10% seems to be an early sign of trouble. There's been talk about this drama being a hybrid of J-movie Hula Girls and the US drama Glee so I wonder if this is one of the reasons for its lacklustre debut. There seems to be a fair bit of singing involved in this drama so it will be interesting to see Amami Yuki sing especially for those who've never seen her in her Takarazuka days. Still, it remains to be seen if this can sustain my interest for 3 whole months though.

Nagasawa Masami's drama does seem interesting in terms of story and 10.3% is a decent figure for a midnight slot drama. Wonder if the viewers are in it for the story or her sexy legs (or so her fellow cast members put it)?

All the spring dramas should be finishing their first OA within this week so the ranking is likely to change. Will anyone do better than ATARU? Frankly speaking, first episode ratings aren't exactly the best measurement of a drama's popularity (think Kaseifu no Mita which picked up tremendously in the later part of the season) so it's anyone's guess who will win the first round and if that will be the true winner come June.

Preview of Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri - Spring 2012

Title: Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri
Official website: here
Broadcast by: NTV
O.A. Start Date: 14 April 2012
Timeslot: Saturdays 9pm
Cast: Aiba Masaki, Fujiki Naohito, Ookura Tadayoshi, Oomasa Aya, Matsuko Deluxe, Omi Toshinori, Ishizaka Koji

Trailer of "Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri"

Here's the trailer of Aiba's drama...looks like it's going to be another comical performance from him this time! I hope the story doesn't bore me to the extent that I can't stay with this drama till the end.

Arashi's Ohno Satoshi and Aiba Masaki starring in separate spring dramas

Arashi's Ohno Satoshi and Aiba Masaki will be battling it out as the leads of two separate spring dramas starting in April.

Ohno will be starring in FujiTV Gekku drama "Kagi no Kakatta Heya" as Enomoto Kei, an employee of a security services firm who is a security systems otaku and does research on it in the warehouse of his company. The drama is based on a mystery novel by Kishi Yusuke. Enomoto believes that there is no lock which cannot be unlocked and is more concerned with solving the mystery of locked rooms rather than the truth behind the case. Nonetheless, with his expertise in this field, Enomoto manages to solve many difficult cases.

On the other hand, Aiba is also starring in another suspense drama "Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri" based on the novel by Akagawa Jiro which will be shown at 9pm on Saturdays on NTV. The novel has sold 2.6m copies to date and is one of Akagawa's signature works. Aiba plays a hopeless police detective Katayama Yoshitaro who joined the police force because he admired his late father who was a famous detective. However, Katayama faints at the sight of blood, is scared of heights, women and ghosts and is on the verge of quitting his job. When he happens to meet Holmes, the mikeneko who understands human languages and has a sharp mind, Katayama starts to depend on Holmes to help him solve tough cases.

Source: Nikkansports, Sanspo, Sanspo

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The spring season suddenly seems so appealing to me... ^__^ Lots of interesting dramas (at least on paper) so I'll see how many will make me stay till the end.

Actually, this isn't a direct ratings battle between Ohno and Aiba since their dramas aren't in the same slot. However, given that the genre is similar and they both play characters who are unlike the usual type of police detectives we see in serious suspense dramas, there will definitely be comparisons made between them. Somehow, I think these characters are tailored for them. Ohno usually appears disinterested in most things but perks up when it's about fishing or art. Likewise for Aiba, he always appears a bit clumsy and unreliable on variety shows so it fits the character he's going to play. Hope that all goes well for them!