ATARU is a bizarre drama with odd characters. Okay maybe Nakai Masahiro is the only one who gets the privilege to act as the odd one here. Yup! He's ATARU or Chokozai (a name he gives himself when he was found by felllow policewoman Ebina Maiko). First here are the casts:
Nakai Masahiro - ATARU/Chokozai
Kuriyama Chiaki - Ebina Maiko
Kitamura Kazuki - Sawa Shunichi
I love the cast. Nakai is genius in his role as the weird one. His character is someone who has 'savant syndrome'. This piece of information is retrieved from wikidrama as it has yet to be revealed in the drama itself. Anyways, Ataru speaks very little, doesn't make eye contact with people (something similar to autistic people) but has far more advanced mind than any of us. He picks up things fast especially those that attracts him and somehow this has been advantageous to 'commercial' but determined detective, Ebina. Lucky for her to stumble upon him at the crime scene.
Ebina has been labeled as a 'commercial policewoman' among her comrades because she appears in their commercials and dramas, some sort of a mascot. Though she is considered famous, she's not highly accepted in the men's world. To make things simple, she suffers from 'career sexism' as has been portrayed tonnes of times in Japanese dramas. However, an explosion case deemed as accident tingled her curiosity and nothing can stop her from pursuing the truth. Not even her boss, Sawa is able to do anything. In fact, I find him sweet for backing her up to investigate the case further, even though he is at risk of resigning if she fails.
And because of this case, she meets Ataru/Chokozai. Ataru is seen in the opening scene with probably his handler, but then wanders off when the handler went someplace else. We're still unsure of Ataru's real identity except for bits and pieces of his childhood memories. What kind of organisation took him in and what exactly is Ataru capable of? What is his true illness that makes him capable of storing so much data/information in his mind? For example, he's able to identify the vehicle model just by looking at the tire skid marks!
Although Ebina has lots of trouble trying to communicate with Ataru, they do make a good team. You gotta watch the first episode to know their kind of chemistry. And not to mention, I really like the addition of Kitamura Kazuki too! He was in SPEC Sho and brilliant there with his gangsta character.
There are some comic scenes which are so random they leave you thinking huh? for a while afterwards and sometimes they remind me of SPEC kind of comedy. Not sure if Kuriyama is able to deliver comedy as good as other actresses like you know, Juri (Nodame Cantabile) but I'll give her the benefit of doubt for now. That aside, I am going to continue this xD I really want to find out who exactly is Ataru!
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