Mr. Brain? A new Japanese TV show...
May. 30th, 2009 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mbarkerJust an odd review of a Japanese TV show...
Mr. Brain -- it's a new television show, Saturday nights, Mainichi TV -- channel 4 in this area. And it's a very odd show.
The season opener last week started with a close-up of a box under a car. And a digital display ticking down. Then it backed up to show us a downtown area. And kaboom! The box exploded, sending a burning wreck flying up to flip and land in an intersection nearby. Where four or five cars proceeded to run into it.
Then as emergency crews and police gathered, someone called a junior detective. And in a strange distorted voice threatened... This was followed by another explosion, in a building at the corner overlooking the burning wreck.
Then, as a police squad raced into the area and hustled someone out, one policeman saw something moving. He splits off, goes into the building alone, and goes out to a sidewalk cafe area where he finds a man bending over another box, with some electronics peeking out of the open top. The policeman pulls his gun and tells the man to raise his hands and turn around slowly.
Among various distractions and confusions, the arrested man sitting in the interrogation room manages to deduce that the policeman who arrested him was the bomber -- and that the box he was looking at was a fake.
This is basically despite the main detective, who is happily certain that the police have arrested the bomber... until the arrested man explains how it all fits together.
This is our introduction to Mr. Brain. He is a specialist in brain study, and we see him moving into the Institute of Police Studies.
The second part of the show was another mystery. This time we had two bloody murders, followed by an explosion, and plenty of gadgetry. Mr. Brain, of course, solves the case while the main detective -- the same one that we had met in the first part -- blunders around jumping to conclusions and arresting the wrong person. Twice, at least, I think. Part of the fun comes from Mr. Brain's use of impressive new gadgetry to trick the real suspect into breaking his own alibi.
At the very end, there was a short segment explaining the iconoclastic genius who acts so strangely. In a short flashback, we find out that he had a brain injury which left him a genius but lacking understanding of human desires. So he studies the brain, trying to figure out why people act the way they do.
It's a weird combination of mystery, techno-geekery, and science popularization. They do drop crumbs of popular brain research here and there. For example, Mr. Brain has a picture with two faces that he asks his assistant to look at and tell him which one is male and which is female. When she identifies them, he explains (and they show) that the pictures are actually both constructed from halves -- so that each is one half male and one half female, but people use only one half to identify gender! Apparently the left side, seen by the right brain, determines gender for us (at least I think that was the explanation).
My rating -- I found it really hard to maintain a proper suspension of disbelief. Mr. Brain -- the character -- is just too quirky for me. The bits and pieces of brain research are kind of fun, but they didn't seem to be particularly relevant to the story, either. I think maybe they're trying too hard? I mean, I think it could be a workable format, but I'd make the mysteries the story, not so much the quirkiness of Mr. Brain and the bits of brain research.
Mr. Brain -- it's a new television show, Saturday nights, Mainichi TV -- channel 4 in this area. And it's a very odd show.
The season opener last week started with a close-up of a box under a car. And a digital display ticking down. Then it backed up to show us a downtown area. And kaboom! The box exploded, sending a burning wreck flying up to flip and land in an intersection nearby. Where four or five cars proceeded to run into it.
Then as emergency crews and police gathered, someone called a junior detective. And in a strange distorted voice threatened... This was followed by another explosion, in a building at the corner overlooking the burning wreck.
Then, as a police squad raced into the area and hustled someone out, one policeman saw something moving. He splits off, goes into the building alone, and goes out to a sidewalk cafe area where he finds a man bending over another box, with some electronics peeking out of the open top. The policeman pulls his gun and tells the man to raise his hands and turn around slowly.
Among various distractions and confusions, the arrested man sitting in the interrogation room manages to deduce that the policeman who arrested him was the bomber -- and that the box he was looking at was a fake.
This is basically despite the main detective, who is happily certain that the police have arrested the bomber... until the arrested man explains how it all fits together.
This is our introduction to Mr. Brain. He is a specialist in brain study, and we see him moving into the Institute of Police Studies.
The second part of the show was another mystery. This time we had two bloody murders, followed by an explosion, and plenty of gadgetry. Mr. Brain, of course, solves the case while the main detective -- the same one that we had met in the first part -- blunders around jumping to conclusions and arresting the wrong person. Twice, at least, I think. Part of the fun comes from Mr. Brain's use of impressive new gadgetry to trick the real suspect into breaking his own alibi.
At the very end, there was a short segment explaining the iconoclastic genius who acts so strangely. In a short flashback, we find out that he had a brain injury which left him a genius but lacking understanding of human desires. So he studies the brain, trying to figure out why people act the way they do.
It's a weird combination of mystery, techno-geekery, and science popularization. They do drop crumbs of popular brain research here and there. For example, Mr. Brain has a picture with two faces that he asks his assistant to look at and tell him which one is male and which is female. When she identifies them, he explains (and they show) that the pictures are actually both constructed from halves -- so that each is one half male and one half female, but people use only one half to identify gender! Apparently the left side, seen by the right brain, determines gender for us (at least I think that was the explanation).
My rating -- I found it really hard to maintain a proper suspension of disbelief. Mr. Brain -- the character -- is just too quirky for me. The bits and pieces of brain research are kind of fun, but they didn't seem to be particularly relevant to the story, either. I think maybe they're trying too hard? I mean, I think it could be a workable format, but I'd make the mysteries the story, not so much the quirkiness of Mr. Brain and the bits of brain research.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-30 07:19 am (UTC)Well, week 2 didn't make it
Date: 2009-05-30 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-08 09:56 am (UTC)ammusing (http://vtvcomedy.com/)