Abe is back in Shinzanmono, where he plays Kaga Kyoichiro, a new detective working at Kodenmacho. Like your typical Abe characters, Kaga is a bit aloof but is an expert at what he does, which is to solve mysteries. Shinzanmono isn't your typical cop show with a different crime each week for our protagonist to solve. Instead, its more about the colourful cast of characters that populate Kodenmacho. A small town dorama full of mysteries about its residents.
The main/background story is a murder mystery which will indoubtedly take all series to solve. During the course of the murder investigation, Kaga cames across various characters that have their own mysteries for him to unravel, usually leading to a heart warming ending. Not really a fan of too much feel good mysteries because its more of the domain of B-grade doramas like Hancho; safe family friendly stories.
However, this show is riddled with so many guest stars and good acting that I don't really mind. Especially Natsukawa Yui in ep 2. We need another dorama with her and Abe as the leads. Good news is Kuroki Meisa is not the love interest. She is Kaga's kouhai from her tea ceremony club though query how she would even know a sempai 24 years her senior. She does have some sort shared history with Kaga.
Hachi-one plays Kaga's partner but he's basically relegated to plot device, not that I care anyway. The strength of this show relies on the writing and ultimately how good it will be depends on the murder mystery that lurks in the background. I fear that all the episodes will be too formulaic in that the suspects will have nothing to do with the murder and it'll be about Kaga unraveling something hidden in the resident's lives.
There's not much humour in this one, only a running joke about something always stopping Kaga from buying a taiyaki. Its way to early to judge the writing but for Abe fans this is must watch. Unless there's a brilliant individual episode or great twist in the main murder mystery, I'll probably only write about Shinzanmono after it is over.
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