Galileo 2 (ガリレオ 2) 2013
Rating: 7/10
Recommend: Well, fans of Yukawa-sensei would probably have watched this, so I shall recommend it to those who are looking for light mystery dramas.
Review:
When I first heard of a Galileo sequel, I honestly couldn't believe it. I mean it's been what, 4 years since the first season? Rumours had it that Fuji TV is trying to boost up their recently low-ratings, thus they are bringing Galileo back. For whatever reasons, I was super excited! That was until I learned that Shibasaki Kou would be replaced by Yoshitaka Yuriko, not exactly my favourite actress, fyi. They still use KOH+'s song as the soundtrack, so at least we still get Shibasaki's voice, but that's not the same. I want Shibasaki back! :(
Anyway, Detective Utsumi Kaoru (Shibasaki Kou) is sent to the US and therefore she sends her replacement, Kishitani Misa (Yoshitaka Yuriko) to Yukawa-sensei's office. For those who haven't watched the first season, Yukawa-sensei (Fukuyama Masaharu) is a genius, good-looking physicist whose lecture hall is always filled with female students. For some reasons, Kishitani is always given cult-related cases that she can't explain, therefore making her ask for Yukawa-sensei's help. Being a scientific man, he cannot let a chance of proving that 'For every occurence, there's a reason behind it' is true.
With a sequel, viewers will automatically compare it to the first one. And as always, the second one is usually not as good as its predecessor. Yoshitaka did a decent job as Kishitani. I was a bit annoyed at her high-pitched voice, however. I still much prefer Shibasaki's character, Utsumi. Kishitani is somehow weaker, more annoying, seems to be relying on Yukawa-sensei to solve her cases.
The last point on Kishitani was probably due to the script as well. I find the cases much easier, the motives much sillier, the tricks don't involve as much physics as I hoped, thus making them less exciting. The only case I enjoyed is probably the first one, and that's mainly due to Osawa Takao. They managed to put big-name actors as guests like Aoi Yuu and Amami Yuki, but they didn't have quite the effect. Their particular episodes are the better ones, mainly due to the awesome acting. Some however, like Kiritani Mirei's twin case, was simply stupid.
Chemistry between the two main leads (Yukawa-sensei and Kishitani) was alright. Then again, I was comparing it to Yukawa-sensei and Utsumi, which was super awesome! I also found this second season not as funny and the jokes between Kishitani and Yukawa's assistant came off a bit dry.
Comparing it to the first season, I probably would give this a 5 out of 10. As a stand alone, it's a 7, they really need to come up with much much more interesting cases. For Massha, it's definitely a 10. He's aged from the first Galileo, but still as good-looking as ever.