I have watched all the Gokusen episodes I have that are subbed, so I started on another drama which stars Nakama Yukie (仲間由紀恵) and Namase Katsuhisa (生瀬勝久) of Gokusen fame. This show is called "Trick", and it is also highly addictive. I was up until 4:30AM *again* on Sunday night watching. This drama has been called "a Japanese X-Files", and there are some similarities, but it is definitely not a copy.



The general storyline is that Naoko Yamada (Nakama), a magician by trade, teams up with a physicist Jiro Ueda (Abe Hiroshi 阿部寛) to expose fake spiritualists and psychic mediums. Yamada knows all about magic tricks and is a true skeptic, while Ueda is science focused, and had some martial arts training. Along the way, they meet up with police detective Kenzo Yabe (Namase), who is hilarious as the silly, toupe-wearing lawman. The stories (I have watched the first two already) span three episodes each, and are kind of serious, but have their funny parts, mostly in the dialogue between the main characters. It's interesting to see how Nakama and Uedo figure out the hoaxes and tricks to solve the mysteries. There is an overarching storyline as well, with a foretelling of Nakama's confrontation with a genuine spiritualist, who killed her skeptic father, and is foretold to also kill her.



I can't wait to watch more of this drama (there are a total of three seasons), and I hear that a movie is being made based on the TV show. That would be awesome!

Trick 1 Website
Trick 2 Website
Trick 3 Website