Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de (2011)

Being an avid fan of suspenseful detective dramas filled with mystery and suspense, (ok I just used the same word twice) this drama is not exactly my cup of tea. This drama treats the detective genre like a comedy, and while Sakurai Sho is delivering his part well, Keiko Kitagawa was rather... blah. Sure, she's pretty and looks great as an heiress, but maybe she should just stick to rom-coms. Although this drama leaves out the important parts such as the interrogations, the individual cases in each episode were well thought out and planned by the writer, especially for the final case. I loved the OP though, being a fan of Arashi XD. Well, I don't have a fantastic impression of this drama, so I would label it in my long list of dramas as a time-killer. But this is a rather fresh way of presenting a detective drama, so.. to each his own! Try it if you want to :)

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My favorite genre for dramas is detective/mystery. And although this was a detective drama, it just wasnt the same. There was so much missing from actual investigations. And they figured out who the criminal was from very vague evidence. So as a detective drama, i wouldn't recommend it.

However, i did enjoy it for other reasons. The casting i thought was great. Sakurai Sho as a Butler and Kitagawa Keiko as an Heiress just goes so well. And the relationship the two have is really nice.

I also enjoyed the comedy elements to the drama. I guess that was watch kept me watching.

Overall, i did enjoy this drama and may consider rewatching it again in a few months :D

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From the summary I was worried that the plot might be romantic more than anything (which I dont like) but I was surprised at how subtle the relationship portrayed was- it was sweet without going into the romance territory- it was more friendship than anything...however, there is enough chemistry for the romantics!

The storylines were very well thought out and kept you guessing to who the culprit would be. Sakurai Sho played his role very well- a witty yet handsome butler- who doesn't shy away from bantering with his boss, who was played by the wonderful Kitagawa Keiko- a magical combination to watch!

A must see!

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I liked this drama better the second time I watched it! I first watched this show because I liked Shiina Kippei in the movie Quill, and to be honest, at first, I don't really think I noticed that Kageyama was Sakurai Sho... unfortunately. But... I am glad I watched this drama again! It's a light hearted show that kept me laughing and very intrigued to see what the cases would be about. I couldn't really guess the culprit's actions in a few episodes... the suspense isn't really big, but the twists and turns are pretty good at keeping the audience guessing, I thought. Definitely a good show to watch if you like Sakurai Sho and Shiina Kippei!

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Milady, are you daft?

This was so good until...it was not any more!

The story about a ditzy heiress/police detective and her butler was original and fun at the beginning. But then the story stayed put: no character development, no change, immobile. And that ruined it for me. I enjoyed the first half, slept through the second.

The world building is rather fun and colourful. She is kind and living in her bubble since she has no idea how ordinary (i.e. not obscenely rich!) people live. Her reactions are funny. The butler is stoic, cold-blooded and direct. Their relationship is fun.
Her boss is another rich man, completely self-centred and incompetent as a detective. So the butler solves the cases for the heiress and her boss takes the credit.

The drama is based on a manga and maybe this static characters work there but in a drama I need to see the results of the interactions between these characters. Nothing! Everyone remains in their place and while the initial cases hid this lack of development, once I was used to the format, I completely lost interest.

The heiress puts her glasses on and goes to the crime scene in a limo. Her butler follows her hidden from sight while she investigates (nobody knows that she's a heiress!) with her incompetent boss. In the evening, she tells her butler what she learned during the investigation. He insults her politely because she did not figure out who the culprit is even though it was crystal clear to him. So, over desert (hence the title of the drama!), he explains everything to her. They confront the culprit who is then arrested by her ignorant boss.

The characters are fun in small doses: you cannot binge this, it becomes quickly unwatchable! The subs made it also fun to watch because the subber made an extra effort to translate everything that was shown on the screen (there were a lot of manga like graphics!). Except for the last two episodes (one story in two parts!) which lacked those extras in english and suddenly the drama was much worse for it!

Key word here is: FUN!

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..LET US SAVE THE REVEAL..

..whew, this series, for me, since I do love mystery/detective drama - it's a mix of different series like Mop Girl (which Keiko is the main role), Nemesis (Sho as on his main role too), and Fugou Keiji (Kyoko Fukada)..
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..also, I do love the comedic scene from time to time which always fit from these two casts, plus the idiotic (sorry for the term) act of Kazamatsuri..
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..but on the solving part, well yeah, some of the details as what the story goes, there are some infos that I can still follow, but some were not, maybe just the opinion of the butler and the milady that made me get lost on the flow..
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..still I love the story after all, love the tandem, perfect genre for me..

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