Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo Neo or Kindaichi Neo for the short. The first time when it was announced (be it on the producer's Twitter page or in the TV news as well as newspapers), everyone was overjoyed. Everyone. Because like I said before. "4th Gen is sure the best thing happened in Kindaichi saga." And it was proven.
If I had to explain in 10 words about Kindaichi Neo, this is what I will write:
Yamada Ryosuke, Kawaguchi Haruna, Arioka Daiki, star-studded cameos, sophisticated but complicated cases, Narimiya Hiroki, the sub-romance plot, the chemistry between casts, the adult humor, the settings.
Miyuki: seriously Hajime-chan, what is ZRC-chan's blabbering about?
Hajime: saa~ *blur face*
Before I ramble a lot about that episode, I want to do an overall review for this series. Personally I never expect that it will be full with star-studded cameos. To name a few we have Kamiki Ryunosuke and Nakagawa Taishi for episode 1, Chiba Yudai, NEWS's Masuda Takahisa, Mamiya Shotaro and Kiriyama Ren for both episode 3 and 4, Irie Jingi for episode 7 and Fuji Mina for both episode 8 and 9. Also the trio coming back for the series and also the man of the show, Narimiya Hiroki. He will and always be my favourite villain actor. But he has cute sides too. Such as ... calling Yamada Ryosuke a raccoon? XDDDD
Anyways, talking about the fact that all Hey! Say! 7 members will be 21 soon, everyone, and I do mean everyone is anticipated to see whether the said notable 4th Gen Kindaichi Hajime can pull the romance scenes better. I trust both Yamada and Haruna as a pair of capable actors can pull those scenes as we expected to see and they actually did not fail me in romance scenes. The mushy cheesy romance act that sometimes we even go 'ewww~' when we see it in real life were look way mushy cheesy and lovely in the hands of those two. I can say Yamada is ready for a romance-themed drama like now. Screw fangirls, he needs to live lor. But as most teen detective stories did not focus much on romance, Kindaichi Neo is no exception. Hands down, you have a pair of capable actors and great chemistry because they had been together in the saga for two years and no romance closure? Well, at least the producers had put the indirect confession scene in the final episode of Kindaichi Neo. That's a little progress. But I still give both of them kudos.
And I slowly can accept the fact that 'Saki Ryuji' is made for Daiki. No, I seriously cannot imagine if Chinen is the one being Saki Ryuji. Daiki's acting is so-so, I wonder when will he have a drama on his own? He's the only one in JUMP that did not have solo appearance in drama series. I cannot say anything about his acting skills because his appearance here is just so little and close to 'you are even okay if you're not in here', something like that. Not saying that he is a bad actor, but IDK, I cannot comment on his acting like, yet. What I know, the team had made right decision to have him as Saki Ryuji, despite his age that is even older than Yamada. Hell, Asari Yosuke is 26 and act as 17 year old student in this drama? How mind blowing.
Overall, as a fresh watcher (I say 'fresh' because I do not refer the manga before watching this. I NEVER watched anime version, nor the past generations of Kindaichi dramas, drama specials and movies, with an exception of 3rd gen), Kindaichi Neo is okay. I give 4 out of 5 for ratings. But call me biased, the 4th gen is sure the best thing happened in Kindaichi saga. 9 years is worth the wait.
YamaHaru: *sleeps* zzzzz~
OKAY SORRY. THIS REVIEW HAS SO MANY
All GIFs credit to the owner. I own nothing aside the captions and the post itself.
