Furuhata Ninzaburo

Furuhata Ninzaburo

1994
★★★★★ 9.0/10
📺 4 Seasons
🎬 36 Episodes
📅 Ended
🌐 JA
⏱️ 60 min/episode
DramaCrime
Furuhata Ninzaburō is a Japanese television series that ran periodically on Fuji Television from 1994 until its final episodes in 2006. It was written by Japanese playwright Kōki Mitani and is often referred to as the Japanese version of Columbo. The series is a police detective drama starring actor Masakazu Tamura as Furuhata Ninzaburo and Masahiko Nishimura as his stereotypically bumbling sidekick, Shintaro Imaizumi. The program aired weekly and featured a guest villain each time, usually a famous talent in Japan. Pop-stars like SMAP, television hosts like Sanma Akashiya and even sports figures like Ichiro Suzuki have been featured on this program. It was one of the most popular television dramas in the history of Japanese television, having spawned several seasons and TV specials.

Seasons

Season 1
1994 • 12 Episodes
On a dark and stormy night, Chinami kills her business partner in her remote manor house in the hills. Then the doorbell rings. As luck would have it, it's none other than Inspector Furuhata seeking refuge from the rain.
Season 2
1996 • 10 Episodes
A successful lawyer kills his mistress and frames Shintaro Imaizumi for the murder. When the lawyer convinces Shintaro to plead guilty, Furuhata becomes suspicious.
Season 3
1999 • 11 Episodes
A rakugo comedian kills a fellow student and makes it look like a suicide by faking two alibis. Both take each other's places at different points of the day, leaving a complicated mystery for Furuhata to solve.
Season 4
2006 • 3 Episodes
Furuhata investigates a series of bizarre, seemingly random accidental deaths. He zeroes in on the suspected murderer, but loses faith in his instincts when the suspect is himself killed. However, in the end, he ends up solving three murders and catching the real suspect.

Crew

Writer
Koki Mitani

Network

Fuji TV

Production

Fuji Television Network

Keywords

detectivecuriousmysterycomfortingjapanese detective