[2014 Summer] ST Aka to Shirou no Sousa Paire

The second season of Scientific Task Force – ST for short – started this week. The tagline for this season is Aka to Shirou no Sousa Paire | translation: the investigation case files of red and white pair. Hence the title picture.

This season is a continuation of the TV special “ST Keishichou Kagaku Tokusouhan” that aired in 2013. The storyline following the case files of the ST team at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department which consists of eccentric members, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Now ST is like every other dime-a-dozen detective-comedy-police procedural dramas that Japan has season after season. And all I can say is Japanese criminals are tricky and like complicate crimes. What happened to simplicity.

Anyway the reason I love ST is simple and it’s because of three reasons. 1) the storyline. 2) the characters. 3) this cast.

THE ST TEAM

The ST team consists of six individuals, all of whom, with the exception of Yurine Tomohisa (Okada Masaki) are experts in a field of science and have eccentric personalities.

Fujiwara Tatsuya as Akagi Samon. Akagi is the leader of ST team and works as a forensic analyst. He is world renowned in his field. Having a similar personality to Sherlock Holmes, Akagi describes himself as a lone wolf character and was previously a social recluse as he suffers from anthropophobia. Nowadays he only goes outside to investigate. He finds fun in investigating and problem solving, becoming depressed when a case is solved. Once considered an urban legend, Akagi is disliked by the majority of the police force because of his sharp tongue and egotistic personality, as he believes he is above everyone else in terms of intelligence and detective skills often calling the police incompetent and taxpaying parasites. Nonetheless since meeting Yurine has begun to change, now able to communicate without the help of his costume Gaki, and become somewhat human.

Okada Masaki as Yurine Tomohisa. Detective Yurine is the chief of ST team and is the task forces police liaison. Known affectionately as ‘Cap’ he was assigned to ST by the previous director Saegusa Toshiro who formed ST. Yurine is a by-the-book detective, highly organized and works within the police procedural handbook. Yurine is like Watson to Akagi’s Sherlock. The two opposites but still partners. He is also the only person to said he make Akagi more human. Even though Yurine is ranked higher than Akagi, who is merely a consultant, Yurine is overwhelmed by the other personality and often becomes Akagi’s lackey in investigations. He is also impressed by the other ST team members, calling them all exceptional and AAA. And although he initially had difficulties with all the members of ST he respects them and ‘wants to create a place for them to stay’ fighting for the non-closure of the ST task force, even against the advice of his old partner or the new police director.

Shida Mirai as Aoyama Sho. Aoyama is a tom-boy and world-class criminal profiler. Known as a prodigy in her field, Aoyama skipped grades and took a doctorate in grad school in the United States. She nonetheless have a fear of order, meaning she can’t work without mess around her. This extends to everything in her life from her clothes to her disregard from anything authoritative. Aoyama like Akagi has a sharp tongue and no internal filter which means she is disliked, often calling out the other detectives for their lack of work in finding evidence and stupidity. Before “Cap” came to ST she was the one Akagi communicated the most with via phone.

Kubota Masataka as Kurosaki Yuji is a chemical expert. Kurosaki has a an abnormally acute sense of smell, able to determine an objects chemical make-up from scent alone. He also has excellent fighting abilities, often refered to as a monster. However, Kurosaki has one fear which is sharpness, originally only objects – needles, pencil tips, knifes – anything with a pointed edge, but over time he started to feel the “sharpness’ in people’s words and as a result stopped talking. Nowadays he communicates via the ears of Yamabuki-san. Only on special occasions or when empathetic towards others pain will Kurosaki talk.

Miyake Hiroki as Yamabuki Saizo who is also a chemical expert, however specialises in medicinal and toxic substances. It is said that both Kurosaki and Miyake are worthy of Nobel Peace Prizes in chemistry. As well as being a ST member Yamabuki moonlights as a monk because he suffers from insomnia. He has a fear of dying in his sleep and therefore keeps awake by working two jobs.

Ashina Sei as Yuki Midori is physics expert. Her speciality in ballistics analysis and electrical systems. Similar to Kurosaki, Midori has abnormally acute hearing, able to hear from a distance as well as identify voices and tell if someone is lying by their voice. She nonetheless has claustrophobia and needs everything to be open, including her dress style which consists of revealing outfits so she doesn’t suffocate. She is also a self-professed virgin.