Reinoryokusha Odagiri Kyoko no Usowas never really on my radar because frankly to me, Ishihara Satomi's only good attribute is having the fullest lips in jdoramaland. I thought she was well cast as the clumsy girl in H2 but ever since then, all her shows from N's Aoi and Puzzle to Tobo Bengoshi hasn't shown me that she is more than a pretty face. Then I read this article on Tokyohive about how she was pretty sad about the last day of shooting and they had a lot of fun making the series. Could be your typical fake 'we had a great time and we're all good friends' dorama/movie promotion or it could be true that they had fun making the show and it might possibly to fun to watch as well. It couldn't hurt to try an episode, could it?
Ishihara Satomi plays the title character is a charisma clairvoyant who has her own regular tv show. Odagiri Kyoko doesn't have any powers but she has great detective skills. For some reason, when she is in regular clothes, people cannot recognise her or her lips from tv so she goes around pretending to be the director of the show while looking for clues. Odagiri Kyoko wants out of being a fake clairvoyant but is bound to servitude by her cousin Kaoru who is also her manager.
Tanihara Sousuke is Taniguchi, a member of the two person psychic police department and he is on a mission real psychics to aid the police. He also happens to be able to do magnificent physical feats, usually accompanied by him claiming to be a champion in a certain sport in the past. He also addresses his boss as S and his boss calls him M.
The modus operandi of the series is Odagiri Kyoko gets some mystical request/guest for an upcoming show, she investigates with Taniguchi to uncover the truth and appear with the guest on the show. The guest/villain is usually misguided and not a bad person and so Odagiri Kyoko cannot reveal the truth. She covers it up by pretending to be possessed by a spirit and speaking indirectly for the guest. It'll probably make more sense once you watch an episode.
To me, Odagiri Kyoko is a new variation to the Trick formula. Investigations into the weird and occult by a couple of flawed characters who make a great team. The humour is not as subdued as Trick but it is pretty funny and I like that similar to Trick, its more than with a straight face rather than winking at the camera. Such as how Odagiri Kyoko always makes a surprise entrance near the climax of each and her 'security guards' are always doing stuff like pointing yellow spotlights at her or dropping documents from the sky in order to make her look like she has powers.
Odagiri Kyoko is one fun show. From the S&M conversations of the psychic department to Kaoru putting Kyoko under her thumb, I was pretty much laughing at most of the jokes. The formula is slightly different from other shows because the perpetrator is not a bad person and though I know the truth, I still want to see how Odagiri Kyoko will cover it up.
Lastly, this show is awesome for Ishihara Satomi because she gets to a variety of roles. She plays the enigmatic clairvoyant, the reluctant investigator and not to mention the various roles when she pretends to get possessed. She's not yet an A-list, able to carry mediocre doramas actress but she has certainly shown me that she is not just a hypnotising pair of lips. Tanihara Shosuke does his usual funny stuff and he has pretty good chemistry with Ishihara Satomi. I can't really call Odagiri Kyoko a must watch as it hasn't really blown me away more than exceeded my limited expectations but its been a pretty good five episodes.
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