it's a lawyer series, looks rather interesting and its got some pretty established actors/actresses in it - i'm not a huge fan of lawyer shows but based on the description, it sounds promising. looks like it'll only be a rather short 6 episode series.
Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 577 Location: Singapore Country:
Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 2:10 pm Post subject:
Yep it's a six-parter, and Makiko Esumi's return to the tv screen after a two year break.
She plays Ryoko Amachi, a former prosecuter turned small-time, neighbourhood lawyer (machi bengoshi hence the title Machiben) taking on cases involving truth, justice and average people. With so few episodes, Machiben will probably be a tightly written drama, and some are saying that it's the best out of the three law dramas that are airing this season. The others being Shichinin no Onna Bengoshi and Bengoshi no Kuzu.
Joined: 01 Jan 2004 Posts: 169 Location: under the same roof
Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 1:50 am Post subject:
Minna, I'm really looking forward to this dorama. Since I really like "court room/law" stories, I download the 1st episode. Unfortunately I cannot understand the case, so can somebody please put some short review/synopsis of this dorama?
Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 577 Location: Singapore Country:
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 2:19 pm Post subject:
Courtesy of Yomiuri. *Do not read if you do not wish to know the story.
Episode 1 synopsis:
The story opens with Amachi standing before the judge in a grim courtroom. She is being charged with murder, but her defense attorney declares her innocence. To begin to explain how she got into this predicament, the scene flashes back to the winter of the previous year and a strange but deadly case of arson.
The cast includes a face that is seldom seen on the small screen nowadays--the 1970s singing star Kenji Sawada. He plays an attorney who once ran his own prestigious law firm but now hangs around the "machiben" office in a run-down building that used to be a pharmacy. The place still serves the suffering, such as their client Miyuki, whose teenage daughter was killed in the arson attack.
The arsonist is the son of a rich doctor. Unable to pass any medical school entrance exams, he alleviates his stress by spray-painting graffiti. He claims he did not see the girl who was killed by the fumes from his ignited spray-paint can. His rich family retains Kambara, a young lawyer from a big international firm, played by Koji Yamamoto.
Since the arsonist is a minor and this is Japan, Kambara easily gets him off the hook. No jail, no juvenile detention, and since he is a minor the case can't be retried and the victim's mother cannot see him or learn the details of the case. The frustrated Miyuki asks Amachi to file a civil suit so she can learn the truth. On the day of the first hearing, Miyuki tries to bring a framed photo of her daughter to court, but the legal system does not allow this. When the arsonist takes the stand, Miyuki attacks him with a ballpoint pen and ends up in a cell herself.
Amachi realizes Miyuki filed the suit just so she could confront him and seek revenge. Still, Amachi puts in a good word for her with the prosecutor, who just happens to be her former fiance, and with a little detective work on Amachi's part they are back in court again and able to force the arsonist to confess. He purposely set the fire after the girl caught him painting graffiti and threatened to call the police.
Meanwhile, Kambara, a third-generation lawyer and grandson of a Supreme Court justice, who is also enamored of truth and justice, quits the big firm. Amachi offers him a post at the machiben office. He declines but, obviously, he eventually changes his mind because it is Kambara shown defending Amachi in court in the opening scene.
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 3125 Location: S.F. Bay Area Country:
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 3:45 pm Post subject:
Jade,
Thank you for the synopsis. It filled in a lot of blanks.
I downloaded and watched the first episode (I'm a big Esumi fan) but my Japanese just isn't good enough for this kind of show. I get the big picture, but miss the subtleties. ie., until I read your synopsis, I had no idea why Makiko was in the dock at the beginning of the show.
Sadly, I think I'm gonna have to give it a pass until someone subs it.
Annoying because it does look like a show that I'd really enjoy. _________________
Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 577 Location: Singapore Country:
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject:
Geezer wrote:
Jade,
Thank you for the synopsis. It filled in a lot of blanks.
I downloaded and watched the first episode (I'm a big Esumi fan) but my Japanese just isn't good enough for this kind of show. I get the big picture, but miss the subtleties. ie., until I read your synopsis, I had no idea why Makiko was in the dock at the beginning of the show.
Sadly, I think I'm gonna have to give it a pass until someone subs it.
Annoying because it does look like a show that I'd really enjoy.
No problem! I wish we could have weekly English episode synopsis to accompany it because I'm a big Makiko Esumi fan too! It's difficult to get by just understanding the gist of the story but it seems no one is gonna sub it soon so I'll probably just try to make do with the raws.
Joined: 26 Oct 2003 Posts: 577 Location: Singapore Country:
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:59 pm Post subject:
Just dug this up from Japan Times:
Episode 2 synopsis:
Makiko Esumi and Koji Yamamoto star in Machiben as Ryoko and Keigo, two lawyers who work together, but often find themselves at odds.
In Episode Two, which airs April 15, the pair is representing a high-school teacher named Suzuki who has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.
He has no alibi, but Ryoko gets the feeling that Suzuki is hiding important information.
Later, she discovers that on the day the child in question went missing, Suzuki was in a store where one of his students had been caught shoplifting.
That day the teacher had tried to arbitrate on behalf of his student so that the shopkeeper wouldn't press charges. Later, he promised his student that he would never tell anybody about the incident.
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Now I'll be able to understand it much better. 
