![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Review: Galileo (ガリレオ) (2007)
An average procedural crime drama. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with the Detective Galileo novels and that disappointed me greatly. These characters are all committing identity fraud. The writers should have just written them as original characters instead of using the names of the characters from the novels. The vibes and styles of the stories were also very different from the novels. Watch this as a procedural crime drama with very common tropes in comedy/crime dramas. I was going to watch season 2 to get it over with but now that I think about it, there’s no reason to put myself through it…
Spoilers.
Story
Each episode was pretty formulaic. Detective Utsumi Kaoru would come to Professor Yukawa Manabu for help on a case. He would not want to be bothered, but Utsumi would mention a detail about the case that would appear supernatural pique Yukawa’s interest. Yukawa was an eccentric person who could be impolite and abrupt and Kaoru would have to babysit. Eventually, Yukawa would have a eureka moment and he would go immediately get to work on calculations to solve the scientific puzzle. Much of the human aspects of the case would be handwaved, solved off-screen. Utsumi would recount those details to Yukawa but he would appear uninterested.
There was an overarching plot related to Yukawa but it wasn’t set into motion until the last few episodes. Yukawa’s nemesis was his former professor at the university who was now conducting evil. This culminated in the professor kidnapping Utsumi and strapping her to a bomb that Yukawa had to disarm.
There are two reasons that I don’t think this was the most engaging story.
One, of course, is the fact that this drama had an entirely different vibe and style to the novel. At this time, 2007, only the Devotion of Suspect X would have been released. Even then, the vibe of this drama did not match up well with that of the Devotion of Suspect X. In the Detective Galileo series, Kusanagi was a capable detective in his own right, and Utsumi was a bright rookie. Kusanagi would seek Yukawa for help on unusual points in the case, and Yukawa would spend his time on that problem itself. So essentially the novels would have at least three detectives working simultaneously. The issue with this drama was that it pushed all of the sleuthing onto Yukawa. However, as mentioned, Yukawa was focused on the scientific aspect of the cases. As a result, the human aspects were completely disregarded. I also have a bone to pick with regards to the way the characters were completely twisted out of recognition. I will discuss those below in the character sections.
My other issue with this drama was that it felt very generic. All of the characters were not only so different from their novel versions, but they were so archetypical. Yukawa was the hot and smart douchebag. Kusanagi was also hot. Utsumi was the spunky and enthusiastic woman who’s implied to have fallen for Yukawa many times during this drama. Yuge is a guy who believes in women too easily. Everyone is just a character we’ve seen a hundred times. Even the final confrontation between Yukawa and Kijima was really dull. Perhaps I’m only saying this because I’m watching it from 2024. But that comes back to the idea that you can’t just transplant this formula onto a set of mystery characters who definitely don’t fit that archetype.
Production
The production was fine. As mentioned, the drama was fairly formulaic so there was repetition in every sense, whether it was editing, costumes, music, etc. The acting was also fine. The actors played their archetypes to the fullest. That just made me even more annoyed though.
Characters
Yukawa Manabu
What a character assassination. Yukawa was portrayed as a professor who only cared about science. He hated anything unrelated to his science. He hated kids. He hated listening to other people. He was rude and impolite. But everybody excused him because he was hot and smart.
That is not who Yukawa Manabu is. Yukawa only focuses on certain parts of the case because that’s what Kusanagi asks of him. He is not a douchebag. He may be eccentric, but he has never been portrayed as an asshole in the novels. Him hating kids was such bullshit, especially since the last Higashino Keigo novel I read was A Midsummer’s Equation, where he is extremely caring of the wellbeing of the child, to a point that surprised me.
Yukawa being hot also had no place being in this drama. That’s not why we love him! That’s not why I think he’s a cool character! But to give him an entire fanclub felt so tasteless and annoying and added nothing to the drama. I didn’t even ship him and Kaoru at all. The drama really wanted us to believe that through his friendship with Utsumi, she would melt his heart a bit and he’d be less of a logical douche. But I found it so soulless. Because the truth is the drama doesn’t even attempt to make Yukawa a person. He’s just a set of character tropes but with no soul.
Utsumi Kaoru
Another character assassination. In the novels, Utsumi is a bright rookie who is good at what she does. Yes, she does a lot of her work off screen because Yukawa and Kusanagi tend to have more of a spotlight. But she always comes to the table with some great work.
What Utsumi is NOT is that she is not a Yukawa babysitter. I hate that the drama pared her down to a character whose only purpose was for Yukawa to express his thoughts at. She barely did her own sleuthing and I hate that for her. I hate that she was reduced to essentially a ditzy romance protagonist. She is NOT falling for Yukawa’s annoying ass, not in this drama. Justice for Utsumi.
Kusanagi Shunpei
Speaking of Justice for Utsumi, JUSTICE FOR KUSANAGI. This man had absolutely zero role in this drama and that’s so disappointing. He was a really good detective in the novels. He would only go to Yukawa when he was stuck on certain points. I hate that in the first episode of the drama, he said that all of his success was attributed to Yukawa. That’s not true!
Like Yukawa, Kusanagi was also portrayed as a heartthrob which was also absolutely unnecessary. What did that add to the story for a character who only appeared in like two episodes? Nothing at all.
Yuge Shiro
Yuge was Utsumi’s detective partner. He represented a typical cop in the sense that he looked at the easiest answer. Then Utsumi would challenge that viewpoint, going to Yukawa for backup to solve the sticking point.
Jounouchi Sakurako
Jounouchi was the coroner. She was the mature lady type, something of a mentor to Utsumi, and also someone who could talk science with Yukawa.
Kuribayashi Hiromi
Kuribayashi was Yukawa’s assistant at the lab. He was always trying to keep Utsumi away because police work was taking Yukawa away from research work, which meant that he’d have less time to review Kuribayashi’s own work, as he had ambitions to rise in academia.
Overall
Very generic police drama. They shouldn’t have used the names of the characters from the novel because that just made me more disappointed.
Spoilers.
Story
Each episode was pretty formulaic. Detective Utsumi Kaoru would come to Professor Yukawa Manabu for help on a case. He would not want to be bothered, but Utsumi would mention a detail about the case that would appear supernatural pique Yukawa’s interest. Yukawa was an eccentric person who could be impolite and abrupt and Kaoru would have to babysit. Eventually, Yukawa would have a eureka moment and he would go immediately get to work on calculations to solve the scientific puzzle. Much of the human aspects of the case would be handwaved, solved off-screen. Utsumi would recount those details to Yukawa but he would appear uninterested.
There was an overarching plot related to Yukawa but it wasn’t set into motion until the last few episodes. Yukawa’s nemesis was his former professor at the university who was now conducting evil. This culminated in the professor kidnapping Utsumi and strapping her to a bomb that Yukawa had to disarm.
There are two reasons that I don’t think this was the most engaging story.
One, of course, is the fact that this drama had an entirely different vibe and style to the novel. At this time, 2007, only the Devotion of Suspect X would have been released. Even then, the vibe of this drama did not match up well with that of the Devotion of Suspect X. In the Detective Galileo series, Kusanagi was a capable detective in his own right, and Utsumi was a bright rookie. Kusanagi would seek Yukawa for help on unusual points in the case, and Yukawa would spend his time on that problem itself. So essentially the novels would have at least three detectives working simultaneously. The issue with this drama was that it pushed all of the sleuthing onto Yukawa. However, as mentioned, Yukawa was focused on the scientific aspect of the cases. As a result, the human aspects were completely disregarded. I also have a bone to pick with regards to the way the characters were completely twisted out of recognition. I will discuss those below in the character sections.
My other issue with this drama was that it felt very generic. All of the characters were not only so different from their novel versions, but they were so archetypical. Yukawa was the hot and smart douchebag. Kusanagi was also hot. Utsumi was the spunky and enthusiastic woman who’s implied to have fallen for Yukawa many times during this drama. Yuge is a guy who believes in women too easily. Everyone is just a character we’ve seen a hundred times. Even the final confrontation between Yukawa and Kijima was really dull. Perhaps I’m only saying this because I’m watching it from 2024. But that comes back to the idea that you can’t just transplant this formula onto a set of mystery characters who definitely don’t fit that archetype.
Production
The production was fine. As mentioned, the drama was fairly formulaic so there was repetition in every sense, whether it was editing, costumes, music, etc. The acting was also fine. The actors played their archetypes to the fullest. That just made me even more annoyed though.
Characters
Yukawa Manabu
What a character assassination. Yukawa was portrayed as a professor who only cared about science. He hated anything unrelated to his science. He hated kids. He hated listening to other people. He was rude and impolite. But everybody excused him because he was hot and smart.
That is not who Yukawa Manabu is. Yukawa only focuses on certain parts of the case because that’s what Kusanagi asks of him. He is not a douchebag. He may be eccentric, but he has never been portrayed as an asshole in the novels. Him hating kids was such bullshit, especially since the last Higashino Keigo novel I read was A Midsummer’s Equation, where he is extremely caring of the wellbeing of the child, to a point that surprised me.
Yukawa being hot also had no place being in this drama. That’s not why we love him! That’s not why I think he’s a cool character! But to give him an entire fanclub felt so tasteless and annoying and added nothing to the drama. I didn’t even ship him and Kaoru at all. The drama really wanted us to believe that through his friendship with Utsumi, she would melt his heart a bit and he’d be less of a logical douche. But I found it so soulless. Because the truth is the drama doesn’t even attempt to make Yukawa a person. He’s just a set of character tropes but with no soul.
Utsumi Kaoru
Another character assassination. In the novels, Utsumi is a bright rookie who is good at what she does. Yes, she does a lot of her work off screen because Yukawa and Kusanagi tend to have more of a spotlight. But she always comes to the table with some great work.
What Utsumi is NOT is that she is not a Yukawa babysitter. I hate that the drama pared her down to a character whose only purpose was for Yukawa to express his thoughts at. She barely did her own sleuthing and I hate that for her. I hate that she was reduced to essentially a ditzy romance protagonist. She is NOT falling for Yukawa’s annoying ass, not in this drama. Justice for Utsumi.
Kusanagi Shunpei
Speaking of Justice for Utsumi, JUSTICE FOR KUSANAGI. This man had absolutely zero role in this drama and that’s so disappointing. He was a really good detective in the novels. He would only go to Yukawa when he was stuck on certain points. I hate that in the first episode of the drama, he said that all of his success was attributed to Yukawa. That’s not true!
Like Yukawa, Kusanagi was also portrayed as a heartthrob which was also absolutely unnecessary. What did that add to the story for a character who only appeared in like two episodes? Nothing at all.
Yuge Shiro
Yuge was Utsumi’s detective partner. He represented a typical cop in the sense that he looked at the easiest answer. Then Utsumi would challenge that viewpoint, going to Yukawa for backup to solve the sticking point.
Jounouchi Sakurako
Jounouchi was the coroner. She was the mature lady type, something of a mentor to Utsumi, and also someone who could talk science with Yukawa.
Kuribayashi Hiromi
Kuribayashi was Yukawa’s assistant at the lab. He was always trying to keep Utsumi away because police work was taking Yukawa away from research work, which meant that he’d have less time to review Kuribayashi’s own work, as he had ambitions to rise in academia.
Overall
Very generic police drama. They shouldn’t have used the names of the characters from the novel because that just made me more disappointed.