When I was a child, I used to love movies and books about kid detectives. "Clubhouse Detectives", Enid Blyton's Five, Nancy Drew... You name it, I loved it and had I seen "Junior High School Student Furuhata" at the time, I would have loved it as well. As its clunky title implies, it's a prequel series set during the childhood of Furuhata Ninzaburô, the indefatigable Columbo-like detective played brilliantly by Masakazu Tamura in the self-titled TV show. This prequel was made by the same team as the show including writer and creator Kôki Mitani, director Keita Kôno, and composer Yûsuke Honma which explains how come it continues the high-quality level of its parent series. Even Tamura himself shows up in a brief cameo to introduce the work and the epilogue is provided by another regular whose appearance was a pleasant surprise.
The mysteries young Furuhata solves are not all that serious but there is an intriguing link to the stories of Sherlock Holmes which hint at a greater conspiracy afoot. There's the curious case of the dog in the nighttime, a solitary cyclist staking a young girl, and a buried treasure whose location can only be uncovered through a mysterious ritual. It's kiddy stuff, of course, but Kôki Mitani's clever and lively script kept my attention throughout. There's also a neat twist at the end which I wasn't expecting and which witty plays with the very format of the child detective stories.
The two stars, Ryôsuke Yamada and Soran Tamoto are charming and charismatic leads and their relationship very much reminded me of the stars of "The Young Sherlock Holmes" movie, another childhood favourite of mine. In fact, this young Furuhata Ninzaburô is a lot closer to Sherlock Holmes. His style of deduction is particularly Holmesian and it doesn't resemble Furuhata's in the least. He also exhibits a gift for cold reading which Furuhata never showed in the series. Seeing how Yamada never even tries to imitate Masakazu Tamura's distinctive mannerisms and how there are very few references to the old series, I wonder if "Junior High School Student Furuhata" wouldn't have been even better had it been presented as an original work. I'm not a huge fan of making Mukojima Furuhata's childhood friend seeing how their relationship was portrayed in the original series. Viewing those episodes and Furuhata's dismissive treatment of Mukojima in them with this hindsight makes our favourite detective look like a real jerk.
But overall, I really enjoyed "Junior High School Student Furuhata". It's a very well-made detective story for kids with two likeable leads, a clever mystery, and some interesting and unobtrusive twists on the standard formula. Since prior "Furuhata Ninzaburô" knowledge is not necessary, I'd recommend this one for young children up to the age of 13 or so. The excellent soundtrack, however, will appeal to all ages.
