After a somewhat goofy start with "Dr Kuroiwa's Terror", I'm happy to see season three returning to the tone and format that "Furuhata Ninzaburô" is best known for. "This Man Is Too Busy" is an unremarkable but completely enjoyable example of precisely that. It's a "Furuhata Ninzaburô" episode through and through with all the necessary elements working together to create a fun thriller experience.
This is also the only "regular" episode directed by Masayuki Suzuki and his ambitions seem to have shrunk accordingly. His direction is suitably pacy and certainly slicker than Keita Kôno's but it lacks the cinematic stylishness of the specials he previously directed. Rather than the direction, it is the music that shines this time around. Composed by "Furuhata Ninzaburô's" regular composer Yûsuke Honma it lends the production the bombastic intensity it needs. Seasons one and two used pretty much the same music but beginning with the SMAP special, Honma composed additional musical cues which feature a bigger, orchestral arrangement with some catchy and distinctive brass stings. The new musical cues work very well in the context of this episode which focuses on a very tightly wound and impatient man.
The guest star is Hiroyuki Sanada and he is also very much a classical "Furuhata Ninzaburô" villain. Arrogant and irascible, he is easy prey for the wily inspector Furuhata. Shintaro and Saionji get a little less to do in this episode which very much focuses on the back-and-forth between Furuhata and the killer, but the little gag in the episode's finale which sees them posing as lovers is easily one of the funniest scenes the show has ever had. Masanori Ishii has by now become an integral part of the series and his interactions with Masahiko Nishimura are priceless.
The mystery in "This Man Is Too Busy" is, on the other hand, one of the weaker ones and Furuhata solves it without breaking a sweat. Kôki Mitani has proven he can write a very good puzzle if he puts his mind to it but his work on season three so far has been rather disappointing in this area. The big gotcha moment in "This Man Is Too Busy" could have been great but there is very little build-up to it so that once it's revealed it feels more like a cheat than it should. A shame really since it is such a clever and grandiose way to catch a killer.
This is also the only "regular" episode directed by Masayuki Suzuki and his ambitions seem to have shrunk accordingly. His direction is suitably pacy and certainly slicker than Keita Kôno's but it lacks the cinematic stylishness of the specials he previously directed. Rather than the direction, it is the music that shines this time around. Composed by "Furuhata Ninzaburô's" regular composer Yûsuke Honma it lends the production the bombastic intensity it needs. Seasons one and two used pretty much the same music but beginning with the SMAP special, Honma composed additional musical cues which feature a bigger, orchestral arrangement with some catchy and distinctive brass stings. The new musical cues work very well in the context of this episode which focuses on a very tightly wound and impatient man.
The guest star is Hiroyuki Sanada and he is also very much a classical "Furuhata Ninzaburô" villain. Arrogant and irascible, he is easy prey for the wily inspector Furuhata. Shintaro and Saionji get a little less to do in this episode which very much focuses on the back-and-forth between Furuhata and the killer, but the little gag in the episode's finale which sees them posing as lovers is easily one of the funniest scenes the show has ever had. Masanori Ishii has by now become an integral part of the series and his interactions with Masahiko Nishimura are priceless.
The mystery in "This Man Is Too Busy" is, on the other hand, one of the weaker ones and Furuhata solves it without breaking a sweat. Kôki Mitani has proven he can write a very good puzzle if he puts his mind to it but his work on season three so far has been rather disappointing in this area. The big gotcha moment in "This Man Is Too Busy" could have been great but there is very little build-up to it so that once it's revealed it feels more like a cheat than it should. A shame really since it is such a clever and grandiose way to catch a killer.