Legal High Special takes place after the Legal High drama series and before the second series. I watched it once in 2013 and a second time recently (I forgot I watched it already).
Synopsis : ( From AsianWiki)
Kazuhiko Kogure, who is a 2nd grade student in middle school, falls off from one of the school's rooftop. There were other male students on the roof when Kazuhiko Kogure fell off. According to the other students there, Kazuhiko Kogure tried to jump to another school building, but missed.Fortunately, Kazuhiko Kogure only fractured his leg and ribs. According to Kazuhiko Kogure's mother Hidemi, the school insists it was students playing around and did not involve bullying. Hidemi though, doesn't believe it, because Kazuhiko Kogure has a fear of heights. Hidemi goes to see attorney Machiko Mayuzumi (Yui Aragaki) and Machiko decides to take her case, but she asks for fellow attorney Kensuke Komikado's (Masato Sakai) help.
Meanwhile, the school hires attorney Teshigahara Isao (Kinya Kitaoji).
Cast:
- Sakai Masato as Komikado Kensuke
- Aragaki Yui as Mayuzumi Machiko
- Satomi Kotaro as Hattori
- Namase Katsuhisa as Miki Choichiro
- Koike Eiko as Sawachi Kimie
- Taguchi Junnosuke as Kaga Ranmaru
- Yano Masato as Ide Takao
- Eikura Nana as Fujii Minami
- Hirosue Ryoko as Beppu Toshiko
- Kitaoji Kinya as Teshigawara Isao
- Sueoka Takuto as Kogure Kazuhiko
- Horiuchi Keiko as Kogure Hidemi
Review
Story
I don't recommend watching the special before the drama series. There is not really any spoilers or anything dramatic, but they don't introduce the characters as well as in the drama so it could be confusing if you watch the Special first.
Legal High is a lawyer type drama. It is actually the only one I have watched as they usually bore me. Or maybe it is just that I have not seen an interesting one before, because I totally loved Legal High. I was pretty exited about this Special, and wow, there is a second season and a second special too!
The Special is basically a very long episode following the same pattern as before. Our two lawyers ( Sakai Masato and Aragaki Yui) participate in a case, we get an introduction on the case situation and then they have to fight their claim against their all time rivals lawyers (Namase Katsuhisa). This episodes case has an interesting claim, suing a school for bullying. It's an important issue in society, so I think they made a good choice for the special.
Legal High has a quirky type of humour and while you can get used to it in the first season, the Special goes full speed with the humour, for pretty much the entire episode. This humour is not for everyone. It is hard to say if you will enjoy. It is very japanese like (talking very fast, loud and emotionally exaggerated). But if you are a japanese drama fans, chances are you know what I am talking about and that you'll like it. The comedy is the highlight and strength of this show. But it is very exaggerated, I am just warning you.
Other than that, this episode is pretty solid for Legal High. There are some unrealistic aspects, but nothing affecting my enjoyment. When you watch Legal High you can't expect a realistic court case. I am pretty sure they don't scream like Sakai Masato's character in real life. :)
Acting
The whole cast is back in the Special, the main characters being played by Sakai Masato and Aragaki Yui. Sakai Masato is great as always, I had never seen him before watching Legal High, I wonder why! He got a lot of main roles since, and he will even be the main in the 2016 taiga drama. To me it feels like his good acting skills in Legal High was able to flourish his career.His acting is top quality, however it is over the top and exaggerated. To me that actually was a positive thing and contributed to my enjoyment, really, Legal High is as good as it is because of this actor. If you don't like him , you won't enjoy this show.
Next is Aragaki Yui playing, again, a perfectly good girl role. In this case it contrast very nicely with Sakai's chaotic character. She is good at that type of role but it is nothing surprising from her. It was what we can expect from her after season 1.
Eikura Nana played this episode's guest role. I don't really like her, but I don't let it affect me that much. She was just okay in here, she is kinda good when her characters are not good nor bad.
Music
It was pretty much the same music from the first season. I like the upbeat music. It made the court scenes really exiting, which is an amazing feat. I really liked the title song by PES (rip slime) Megami no Kiss, you can listen to it here.
Recommendation
Legal High is one of those rare episodic type of drama (1 story per episode) that doesn't get boring and actually does very well with special episodes and even a second season. It is mainly because there is almost no main story and that the episodic legal court case are well done. It makes you feel like you need more of it. I will definitely be watching the second season soon.I don't have any recommendation since it is the only legal type drama I have watched. However if you really like the type of humour, I do recommend you to watch basically anything directed by Kudo Kankuro. His drama all have that quirky type of humour in it. The ones I have watched and I enjoyed them all equally are :
11nin mo iru
Ryuusei no Kizuna
Tiger & Dragon
Unubore Deka
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