Police in a Pod (2022)

[ハコヅメ〜交番女子の逆襲〜]

Director: Yuzo Sato
Studio: Madhouse
Starring: Shion Wakayama, Yui Ishikawa, Ryota Suzuki
Episodes: 13

Synopsis:
A rookie police officer on the verge of quitting the force decides to stay on when she is assigned to be the partner of a demoted female detective.

Impressions:
I almost passed on this series, but I'm glad I decided to check it out because it ended up being one of the better series of the season. Imagine a more grounded version of You're Under Arrest written by a former police officer for a greater measure of authenticity. There is a good balance of comedy and drama that plays off the mundane day-to-day grind against the harsh reality of the really serious cases. It really makes you appreciate what the police go through in a way that few other examples in fiction have done for me. (And this is in a country with a very low crime rate. I can scarcely imagined what an unvarnished look at police life in some other places would look like.) For people who have particularly strong opinions about the police one way or another, this show neither lionizes nor demonizes them. They're just people with a largely thankless job and some do it better than others. As for the characters themselves, Kawai makes for a good everywoman not all that well suited for her work who still tries to stick with it while Fujii makes for a good contrast as the ace whose dedication helps about as much as it hurts. If you have any interest at all in policing in general or policing in Japan in particular, I highly recommend it for a slot in your collection.

Rating:
Own It