Food Detective / Gluttonous Detective DVD (ENG SUB)

$ 27.00
Sales: $ 23.76

$ 27.00 + $ 5.50 (shipping fee)
Sales: $ 23.76 + $ 5.50 (shipping fee)

Japanese

English / Traditional Chinese / Malay / off

3 DVDs Box Set (NTSC - All Region)

Takano Seiya, Noda Ryousuke, Yamamizu Kyouko, Ogata Momo & Igarashi Nobunari

2006 Release
The title of this drama, "kui TAN" is short for "kuishinbou no tantei" or "The Gluttonous Detective". The title pretty much says it all. The main character (played by Higashiyama Noriyuki from the old JOHNNY's group shounentai) is a detective who has an endless appetite, and is constantly eating. He always has food on his mind. Nevertheless, he is a brilliant detective and always solves the case.

The drama begins when he joins a private detective agency generically named "Holmes Agency". There are only two other people who work there. One is a mediocre detective named Ryousuke played by Morita Gou from the JOHNNY's boy group V6. The other is a secretary/assistant named Kyouko (Ichikawa Mikako).

Holmes agency goes poking their noses into police business a lot, and the "kui TAN" solves the cases by finding clues hidden in food. The police chief soon realizes the kui TAN's talent, and allows him to cooperate in police business. But there is also the daughter of an important police official played by Kyouno Kotomi who doesn't care much for the kui TAN or Holmes Agency, and tries to keep them out of police business. She is disliked by most everyone, but people have to listen to her because of who her father is. She also has a bungling sidekick named Igarashi (Sano Shirou) who she is always yelling at. "IGARASHIII!"

One way or another, the cases get solved in the end - and the kui TAN retains his slim physique despite the fact that he is always eating. I wondered for a moment why they didn't get an overweight actor to play the kui TAN, but soon decided that the character works better as a thin guy. He is a very carefree and aloof character, and the fact that he never gains weight helps that part a lot. You'd be pretty carefree too if you could eat all the time and never get any bigger. If he were played by big old Ishizuka Hidehiko, they would probably be nagging him all the time about how he should try to eat less. That would ruin the lighthearted and ridiculous nature of the character.

The drama can be pretty funny. I think the clip available below gives a pretty good example of what this drama is about. The actors all do a pretty good job in their roles, and collectively make an entertaining cast. Kyouno Kotomi is hot in this drama. I was pretty entertained...

...for a couple of episodes. Then the concept got old and I decided I had better things to do than watch this drama. There are just so many detective dramas on Japanese TV that it's really hard to care about them. This one has a fun gimmick to it, but it wore itself out pretty quickly. He's just going to solve another mystery every week, and somehow eating something will help him do it. If that concept retains its deliciousness to you and you like the other little gags peppered throughout this drama, then you might enjoy "kui TAN". I think it might be good to have on as background while eating (if you don't mind seeing people eat better food than you) or doing something else, but it's not the kind of drama that I would make sure to watch religiously every week. Bon apetit.