Red Eyes: Kanshi Sousa-han is a thrilling action drama!

 

More Kazuya Kamenashi is always a good thing. In my last post I looked at 2021's action drama, Avalanche, which I enjoyed a great deal more than I thought that I would. For this post, I wanted to take a look at another action drama released in that same year, namely Red Eyes: Kanshi Sousa-han, starring the ever reliable, Kazuya Kamenashi. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised and it seems like 2021 was a good year for drama lovers. 

Red Eyes: Kanshi Sousa-han features the Kanagawa Prefectural Police instigating a brand new special task force labelled the KSBC. The KSBC operates with the Investigation Analysis Support Centre, tackling various criminal investigations via the usage of surveillance, namely the 5 million surveillance cameras throughout Japan. The director in charge of the KSBC, Yuri Shimabara, works alongside information analyst Fumika Nagashino and 3 intelligence analysis officers, Asa Ryoko, Nana Numajiri and Haruki Toyama. It is Shimabara who recruits Kyousuke Fushimi, the former detective of the first division who once beat up a suspect whom he suspected of murdering his fiancé. Fushimi, now working as a special investigator specialising in infidelity cases, agrees to join the team on one condition. That condition being that KSBC also hire the trio whom work with him as special investigators. The issue? All of them have criminal records. Yumiko Minatogawa, a former member of the Self-Defence Forces and a single mother killed her husband after having suffered abuse at his hands. Tatsujiro Yamazaki, an expert criminal profiler and former university criminology professor was convicted of fraud. Finally, there's the young genius hacker who sold people's personal information on the web, Kaname Komaki. As soon as they join the KSBC, the team is almost immediately drawn into a web drawn by a psychopath with evil intentions. 

I'm glad that the drama addressed a major issue with the usage of surveillance cameras to solve crime. That being the fact that there are areas in which there are a grand total of none. This is brought up in the very first episode in which the team must track down a suspect before he commits his crime on a live-stream. Fushimi is forced to rely on his wits to track him down. Using his intellect, he thinks everything through and narrows down the possible locations and eventually gets it right. The privacy issue is also brought up a little bit. 

What stood out as far as production was concerned is the fact that the drama didn't have as large of a budget as Avalanche and it really showed at times. Whilst there is a wide array of camera shots used, including some rather lovely ones, there is a larger usage of shaky cam than I would have liked to see. Having said that, there was some nice colour grading and usage of lighting, particularly usage of blue in indoor scenes that were rather nice.  

The drama starts out rather brutally with a rather unfortunate heinous crime taking place. Fushimi is on the case, arriving close to the scene and whilst standing there, speaking on the phone via videocall, the victim is unfortunately stabbed to death with a knife. I can't help but question why our main character just stood there after stating that he's close to where the victim is. One might think that if he searched the warehouses, maybe banging on the shutter doors, the noise would alert the murderer and have him spooked enough to flee. 

Along the same lines as the first episode and mirroring what Avalanche also had done, the drama starts out with cases that involve the members of the main team in some manner or another. Whether the team members themselves are in danger or their families, the cases actually are interconnected and serve a purpose in the overall plot whilst getting the audience to sympathise with and root for our main characters. It also serves to give insight into each character as the episode showcases each one quite nicely. 

Speaking of the overall plot, it's quite convoluted and pretty much in the vein of certain anime and manga, but it does make sense. The found family of the main characters is rather touching as we see them fight to protect one another amidst the schemes unleashed by the main antagonist. There is a rather large plot twist at the very end which makes no sense and so, I just chose to ignore it. It was very likely just sequel bait anyway. 

As far as the action is concerned, there's some really nice fight scenes. The choreography is rather solid for the most part, even if I felt like the first episode's scenes had an odd moment or two. Things picked up rather swiftly though and there's a cool takedown that makes use of the railing on a rooftop after a showdown with a suspect. Episodes 5 and 6 also see a shift in choreography and slickness with a certain bad guy being much more skilled than the rest that our protagonists had faced up to that point. It made sense as soon as I saw the man playing the part, a skilled martial artist and actor whose movies I have covered on this blog. Episode 7 features an extremely cool pov fight sequence that looks like it was shot in one long take. It was possibly filmed with a hand held or a go pro, I'm not enough of an expert to state which one it was for certain though. Episode 10 gives us plenty more fight sequences, including the longest one with the toughest, most skilled adversary and it's probably the best sequence of them all. 

Kazuya Kamenashi has proven time and again that he's very much a dependable lead. Since the start of his foray into acting, his skills evolved and improved tremendously over time. In Red Eyes, he managed to convey a wide range of emotions, making Fushimi a very likable, sympathetic character that you can't help but to root for. His facial expressions and body language did a lot of heavy lifting and he beyond excelled in the fight scenes. 

Kavka Shishido was a pleasant surprise as Yumiko Minatogawa. Not only did she look super cute with that bob-cut hairstyle, she actually did a really neat job and came across as a single mother doing her best not just for her son, but also for the found family, especially Fushimi. It was heart-warming to see just how far she'd go to protect Fushimi and she was always there when he needed her most. 

Masanobu Takashima delivered a splendid, mature performance in the role of Kazuki Toba. It's quite amusing as I have also seen him as in a villainous role in the Japanese remake of the Korean drama, Two Weeks. I think he is far more impressive in Red Eyes, delivering some truly psychotic dialogue with intensity that makes him believable. 

Overall, I would heartily recommend Red Eyes: Kanshi Sousa-han, no question. It has the right blend of action, drama, mystery and suspense with some twists and turns along the way. The found family aspect of the team also adds a lovely, heart-warming dynamic that sparks much joy! A must watch for Kazuya Kamenashi fans as it's a standout performance of a man who has truly grown into the acting profession.