Title: リーガル・ハイスペシャル Rīgaru Hai Supesharu (Legal High Special)
English Title: Legal High
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2013
Episode: 01
Cast:
- 堺雅人 Sakai Masato
- 新垣結衣 Aragaki Yui
- 生瀬勝久 Namase Katsuhisa
- 小池栄子 Koike Eiko
- 里見浩太朗 Satomi Kotaro
- 田口淳之介 Taguchi Junnosuke
- 矢野聖人 Yano Masato
- 榮倉奈々 Eikura Nana
- 広末涼子 Hirosue Ryoko
- 北大路欣也 Kitaoji Kinya
- 堀内敬子 Horiuchi Keiko
- 末岡拓人 Sueoka Takuto
SYNOPSIS
Lawyer Komikado Kensuke is stubborn, sarcastic, and moody. A genius at negotiation and building strategy, he has never lost a case in his life. Winning is everything to Kensuke.
Mayuzumi Machiko is a young lawyer who passed the bar exam by studying hard. She has a strong sense of justice and she is determined to save the innocent. Machiko intends to practice law without compromising her convictions.
Their law firm takes on a case of bullying. A middle school student fell from the rooftop of a school building and the school dismisses it as a freak accident, but the mother of the injured student sues the school and the city for its negligence and for tolerating bullying.
REVIEW
Legal High is about lawyers and the law; its positive aspects as well as its negative aspects, and its strengths as well as its weaknesses. It's a very interesting drama to watch but if you're an optimistic and hopeful person, it may be possible that you'll become pessimistic and resigned. At the very least, you may become jaded about people and you may lose hope in humanity a little bit.
Nothing has really changed in this drama special really; lawyer Komikado Kensuke is still detestable but brilliant, lawyer Mayuzumi Machiko is still idealistic and has hideous style, and their law firm is still handling difficult cases.
The drama is about bullying this time around. It presents just how complicated bullying is because the blame cannot be put solely on the bullies and some responsibility is on the shoulders of all people who have witnessed what has happened but has chosen to ignore it.
Mayuzumi Machiko: Human beings are ugly creatures. They are cruel creatures who enjoy beating up those others they don't like. That's why they unconsciously behave themselves so they won't be hated and acquire every means they can to survive in a group. That's important too, isn't it? But there's something you shouldn't forget... Human beings also strive to become beautiful creatures!
Komikado Kensuke: The true nature of bullying is far more terrible. Bullying isn't just in the classroom but in the staff room of teachers, in companies, in families; it exists everywhere in this country. It forces us to always study the mood of those around us and to go along with the flow. The majority is always right and those who disagree are rejected. The true nature of bullying is in the very air itself. Particularly in this country where everyone moves from left to right or right to left all at once, the demonic power to call that air is truly powerful.
I am somewhat unsatisfied with how easily the case was resolved considering the gravity of the situation. But I commend Kensuke's creative approach to using the very air that facilitates bullying so that he can win the case.
Related:
リーガル・ハイ Legal High (2012)
リーガル・ハイ2 Legal High 2
リーガル・ハイ Legal High (2014)
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リーガル・ハイ Legal High
