velogirl08 Yuji Oda (Aoshima), star of Odoru Daisosasen plays the "nail that will be beaten down" per the old saying about those who stand out being encouraged to conform. His good looks, slackerish behavior and tattered raincoat (think "Columbo"- a favorite of the Japanese) are his hallmarks. He also has a nasty habit of placing himself between a blade and a colleague, which makes him a pretty noble fellow all around. Although occasionally overly dramatic, I found the movie effective for the character-driven plot lines, hysterical red herrings and the lack of gratuitous sex and violence. Oda's character Aoshima hits on Eri Fukatsu's Onda, a no-nonsense policewoman and there's a lot of verbal sparring, which I found more intriguing than an actual hook-up. If you can find a copy of this, give it a shot. It's villain is an interesting portrait of the depredations the Japanese fear they are capable of- very different from the evil that lurks on American screens.

mindless_junk Odoru Daisosasen (Bayside Shakedown) is a detective movie on the surface. It centers around the case of the kidnapping of a police commissioner of the Bayside precinct. However, digging deeping, it is really a movie about friendship, dark humor, social satire, with comic relief.This movie can stand on its own without the TV series, as I have not seen the TV series yet before watching the movie. Don't let that be a let-down.The movie perfectly combines humor with seriousness. One just can't stop laughing at the ludicrosy inside the local precinct and the seriousness of the HQ. At the same time, the plot is fluid and coherent - with a nice surprise at the end to relieve the tenseness.Go see this movie if you feel watching a coherent detective story with some laughable moments.

edward_tan What is this show trying to say? Action, Horror, Romance, Culture Clashes, Loyalty, the old and the new etc. I know it's wrong to pigeonhole something but really, this show suffers from a lack of focus. Done properly, it would have carried some merit. But what I saw was just slipshod film-making. The ending was so over sentimentalised that it was barf-inducing. Terrible.

crisbene This movie is weird. This is the kind only japanese can make. But hopefully this is not (I hope so!) the kind only japanese people can love. It can't be glued to any genre and for example (as it's a huge success) Hollywood won't be able to make it again. Extraordinary action sequences, ultra-suspense and ZAZ-comic-like is a light sum-up of what can be found in this weird but very exciting movie.