Galileo was a 10-episode drama on-air in Japan last year in October (2007). The story talks about the encounter of the genius physicist slash university professor Yukawa Manabu / ??? (Starred by the #1 ranked handsome guy in Japan Masaharu Fukuyama / ????) and the junior detective slash police officier Utsumi Kaoru / ??? (Starred by Kou Kabusaki / ????). Yukawa has a really strange personality and talks weirdly even though he is one of the smartest person around the university where he does his research - often being called “Galileo”. Most of the time he tries not to get involved with anything police-related and focuses on his studies and students. However when he met Kaoru, who was a really hot-blooded/eager-to-learn young detective, he was gradually influenced and became more interested in solving these mysterious murder cases that were presented to him by Kaoru.

The storyline is pretty simple, each episode presents a murder case which is left for Yukawa and Kaoru to solve. What makes this story really worthwhile watching is Yukawa’s extremely weird personality (which actually makes things 10x funnier sometimes, like how he uses physics terms to define “love”…etc), and how Kaoru sort of transform him into a character that has more “human” thoughts rather than his otherwise extremely theoretical personality. I really like how Yukawa (Masaharu) dressed it really makes him look pro. Actually I didn’t really think Masaharu could perform that well in dramas since the first time I saw him in a drama was in Hitotsu Yane no Shita / ?????? (a 1997 drama I think) and his performance was just so-so. In this drama he looks really good and the way he acts is perfect for the character. Kaoru (Kou) is really pretty and professional looking. I like how she acts in a really natural way which is rather different from most of the other Japanese actresses. Haven’t seen a lot of her shows, but then I actually learnt that she’s actually a singer that had debuted quite a few years ago. She sings just okay but she’s got a pretty face so who cares.

Another thing I like about the drama are the special guests for each episodes. There were a couple guests that were actors/actresses I really like - Katori Shingo / ???? (funniest guy in SMAP), Kyoko Fukada / ???? (really surprised that she showed up, haven’t seen her performance for soooo long since the 1999 drama Oni no Sumika / ???? ), Maki Horikita / ???? (one of the hottest actresses in Japan, love her performance in Nobuta o Produce). I didn’t really like Ryoko Hirosue though, who appeared in one of the episodes (sorry Ryoko fans). I think she looks really weird…lol.. anyway, love the guests.

Here’s an excerpt from drama Wki:

Kaoru Utsumi, a rookie detective who has just been reassigned to the criminal division, finds her investigation of her first murder case stalled by the seemingly supernatural phenomenons surrounding the event. She seeks help from Shunpei Kusanagi, a senior detective at the police headquarter, who introduces her to his college buddy and an associate professor at Teito University, Manabu Yukawa. Yukawa is a tall, handsome, and brilliant man who is interested in nothing but physical science, while Utsumi is a hot-blooded girl with a strong sense of justice. Together, the odd pair solves many difficult and seemingly impossible crimes with their individual talents.

This is a highly recommended detective drama, coupled with really funny comedy style monologues and performances (plus handsome guys and girls!) It has a really nice ending theme song sung by KOH+ too, which is a group formed by the two main characters Masaharu and Kou. Here’s the music video of the song “Kiss Shite / KISS??”:

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