Another dog themed title after Time Between Dog and Wolf. Have fun with my Tokyo Dogs review.

Tokyo Dogs Details

Name: Tokyo Dogs; Tokyo DOGS; The Worst and Best Partners; Saiaku de Saiko no Partner; 東京DOGS
Date: 2009
Country: Japan
Episodes: 10
Time: 45 min.

RATING: 7/10

My Review of this series

After seeing all kinds of South Korean series and films, I was longing for some Japanese entertainment. Like a lot of the Japanese series, Tokyo Dogs doesn’t have as much episodes as most Kdramas. With 10 episodes it gives itself time to develop the story, without getting to slow.

The story starts in New York. We follow two Japanese cops who are collaborating with the Americans to catch the leader (Jinno) of a crime syndicate. The two policemen are about to get shot, when they get saved by another Japanese man (Takakura Sou). He is one of the cops from the American team. Sou checks the wrists of the culprit, only to realise it was not the man he was looking for.

Some time later; back in Japan. Our rescuer from the US joins the Japanese police force (special investigation team), because the Americans were a bit disappointed with his latest mission. We find out that this isn’t much of a problem, because Jinno is also on his way back to Japan. He gets teamed up with Kudo Maruo. Maruo -a former delinquent- does not want to work together with the stuffed up, overly serious and quick-to-action Sou.

 

The two heroes are also in charge of protecting and questioning the woman that stumbled upon them in the Jinno-mission in the US. She suffers from amnesia, but Sou is sure she is connected to the syndicate.

The story is an easy watch. The relationship between Maruo and Sou is fun. They say they don’t care much for each other, but their married-couple-like bickering and care for one another shows us some serious bromance. It gives us cute little scenes with Maruo jumping all over the place and Sou being calm and -sometimes- serious. The actors have a marvellous chemistry.
And of course mama calling Sou every time on crucial moments “Mushi Mushi, Sou-chan Mama desu kedo”… hahahaha.
Sou -as a annoyed but nice son always picking up, whatever the situation- is just hilarious.

It is foremost a comedy I say. The story is okay and develops well, but there is nothing new there. We have some exiting moments, but we know noting truly bad will happen to our heroes. I did however thoroughly enjoy it. I watched all the episodes in two days straight.

The ending isn’t complete in my opinion. Yes, the main plot is finished, but especially in the romance department we don’t get our answer. This series would do great with a second season!