Dias Police: Ihou Keisatsu(ディアスポリス-異邦警察-) Japanese Drama Thoughts

   I took a long time to talk about Dias Police because I didn't want my post to seem one sided. Watching a drama can be an interesting experience especially when you don't have clear feelings of your thoughts on what you've seen. My mind was very conflicted to the point that it shut down so I held off discussing my thoughts. Ive finally got myself together enough to know for certainty the aspects I liked and didn't like about "Dias Police: Ihou Keisatsu".

  The drama was directed by Tominaga Masanori and stars Japanese actor heartthrob Matshuda Shota as a man who runs the underground police force to protect illegal emigrants in the city of Japan. Underground Japan is like a whole new world for people who have come into Japan illegally. A lot of the business such as the banks and hospitals are not government covered so the emigrants can use them without fear of being deported. The screen play is based off of a manga of the same name created by Nagasaki Takashi.

  The main quality of filming I noticed about Dias Police was the gritty methods used to shoot the drama. Let's think films like "Crow's Zero" only the setting isn't a school but the back alleys of downtown cities. I kept thinking that some weird ass person was going to jump out at any moment with most places being dimly lit and foggy streets greeted by walls of graffiti. Dangerous doesn't hide the terror and this underground place can become fair game to destroy anyone if can't protect yourself. I did enjoy the shots from above as actors walk through the streets. Like stated perviously, the shots are done in a lot of dimly lit places but it doesn't take away from that ghetto juvenile vibe that they whole drama has. Inside shots are like when you visit your new friends house for the first time and you pull up to their house only to find out that they live in a trailer. Everything about these shots seem cramped to the point of making the viewer claustrophobic. The rooftop scenes make up for those shot with all its hip hop pimp daddy madness. The opening sequence was produced well as well. I might have liked watching that more than the drama itself.

  The plot seemed cut up terribly. This could be because the drama is based off of a manga thats different from the norm or maybe a director choice. Each episode also only last for about an half and hour so this drama can be a breeze for beige watchers.(That I am not.) However, the cases(?).... (I guess we can call them that) last more than one episode then more than two episodes. Its understandably that the episodes are short but I got tired of dealing with the same conflict for multiply episodes. Get on with the program. Or maybe not because a lot of the people that the main character comes in contact with are beyond weird. So weird that even the patients in the crazy hospitals might be more sane than the characters in this drama. I had no emotions while watching, only that I knew that the episode would end in the next 20 minutes or more. Later episodes became more interesting but the plot didn't interest me in the siltiest because no real progress was made with the character's story I cared about the most.

  Performances for "Dias Police" range from comical to dry as a chicken bone. Shota saved the show with his looks. I mean this literally with all my heart everyone. If Shota wasn't easy on the eyes, I would have canned this drama a LONG time ago. He acted out the character like the back of his hand because the role is a dead give away for him. He seems more like this character in real life than any of his other roles. I follow his Instagram too(Stalker much, right?) and he seems like such a cool diverse type of person. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to cross paths with him one day. Don't worry, I'll be sure to tell him to take better drama roles. Whats even funnier is his manga counterpart looks nothing like a good-looking hunk of a man but hey, let me stop complaining. Shota's character is a person who's nationality is unknown and that peaked my interest. The drama hints at him kinda spilling the beans of his origins but I guess viewers will be left in suspense. Another thing I loved about the casting was the fact that different races are involved in the drama. Everyone seemed to be able speak Japanese fluently which was amazing. Japan needs to see more diversity on television because Japanese families do not always only consist of just Japanese people. If people are more informed on international relationships, halfku, or people of mixed decent( such as half Japanese, half black or half Japanese, half caucasian.) won't be seen as different. They will be seen as Japanese no matter what they look like. I also have to give a shout out to the actors and actresses who played the illegal immigrants. Very powerful and believable acting that had me wishing for the well being of them all. Forget them coming onto the country illegally, People have their reasons and when those reasons are pure, The country in rule should hear them out before throwing them out of the country. Karma is a bitch. You never know when those government officials might be at the other side of the fence trying to get in somewhere. Got to be careful how you treat people in this life.

  "Dias Police" was a big huge piece of time wasted if your not there to look at Shota. Some parts are good toward the end  but the fan girls won't like this drama too much. No romance or any real conclusion, just Shota looking like a grown ass sexy man. I'm guessing this had no real ending because the sequel, "Dias Police: Dirty Yellow Boys" was announced two months ago. I will probably watch it just to spend X amount of hours looking at Shota again. No shame here...... none at all.