Only NHK could have done it… The story behind the birth of Odagiri Joe’s “Oliver’s Dog

Odagiri Joe plays four roles as a writer, director, actor, and editor in the drama “Oliver the Dog, (Gosh!)” (NHK). Kono Yaro” (NHK). Although Season 2 has finished airing, netizens are already calling for Season 3.

This is a suspense drama in which Ippei Aoba (Sousuke Ikematsu), a police officer in the Police Dog Section of the Forensics Division, forms a stray team with his partner, Oliver (Odagiri), a police dog, to take on cases. In this series, which takes place 10 days after the first series aired last year, a beautiful girl, Houjou Kasumi (Tamaki Tina), who disappeared 11 years ago, and Ryumon (Matsushige Yutaka), a young leader of the yakuza organization “Kanto Meishinkai” who was thought to hold the key to the case, are also murdered and the search for the murderer is on.

In the final episode, Ippei, who is suspected to be a member of the Shinzamaru (Isao Hashizume), sneaks into the Tonton Ranch to save Oliver, who has been captured. The climax of the film is reached, with an ending that goes far beyond what was expected.

As the alarm sounds, the camera suddenly zooms back in just as it seems that the all-out war with the Shinigami is about to begin. The camera suddenly zoomed back in, and the performers were on stage, an unpredictable turn of events that even netizens known for their harsh opinions were excited about.

Moreover, the bizarre final scene, in which the goddess Kaminari, escaping in a helicopter, takes off her mask to reveal “Odagiri Joe,” left many viewers dumbfounded. The last scene, in which “Odagiri Joe” appears, left many viewers stunned.

The extravagant cast members, including Takako Matsu, Hana Kuroki, brothers Ryuhei and Shota Matsuda, Minami Hamabe, Shota Sometani, Taiga Nakano, and Nijiro Murakami, have been attracting attention even before the series began airing.

The second episode of the series featured a surreal one-minute exchange of “What? (Kumiko Aso) in the second episode, and the surrealistic conversational drama and video clips, the Odagiri world has been further accelerated in this season. Some have called it “too aggressive NHK” as a sign of admiration.

However, many viewers are wondering how such an innovative project was able to be realized on NHK. Many viewers are puzzled.

At first glance, “Oliver’s Dog” may seem like an uncharacteristic NHK project, but it is a drama that would never have been made in a commercial GP slot. Odagiri himself commented, “NHK has the strength not to have a sponsor or to be able to make calculations based on its own compliance.

He added, “Today’s dramas are difficult to produce. I wanted to create a stir against that. There is no doubt that “Oliver’s Dog” was an epoch-making content that opened up a new era.

Oliver’s Dog” was born out of the close relationship between Odagiri and NHK. What exactly was the impetus for this project? The secret is hidden in the feature film that took Odagiri 10 years to make.

In 2008, Odagiri adapted an original screenplay he had been working on for many years. In his directorial debut, “A Boatman’s Story,” set in a pre-modern mountain village, Toichi (Akira Emoto), a boatman on the river connecting the village and the town, is the main character, and the film is reminiscent of “good old Japanese movies” that question the state of civilization and what is important to human beings. The film is reminiscent of “good old Japanese cinema. The staff includes world-renowned cameraman Christopher Doyle and other international faces from Odagiri’s personal connections,” said the producer.

The completed film was entered in the Venice International Film Festival’s Venice Days section, which features innovative films. The film was officially screened and received high acclaim.

In fact, “Oliver’s Dog” features a cast that includes Akira Emoto, who starred in “A Certain Boatman’s Tale,” as well as Nijiro Murakami, Jun Murakami, Masatoshi Nagase, Isao Hashizume, Haruomi Hosono, and many other actors and staff members who are now interested in participating in an Odagiri film after watching “A Certain Boatman’s Tale,” which contains 10 years of his passion. I am sure that there are many actors and staff members who would like to participate in such a film. NHK staff were among those who shared this desire.

The fact that Odagiri appeared in a morning drama may also be a plus for “Oliver’s Dog.

Odagiri appeared in the NHK morning drama “Come Come Everybody” last year, playing the role of Joichiro Otsuki, the husband of the second heroine Rui (Eri Fukatsu), who was raised as a war orphan and gave up his dream of becoming a jazz trumpeter due to an unknown illness. He was torn between accepting the role and not accepting it for reasons such as “I feel more at home in midnight films” and “I’ve been focusing on indies and small films, so it’s not like me. In the end, he accepted the role after learning that the scriptwriter, Yuki Fujimoto, had written it with Odagiri in mind.

Although “Come Come” aired after the previous series of “Oliver’s Dog,” there is no doubt that his appearance in “Come Come” and the positive response it received pushed him to make “Oliver’s Dog” a series,” said a director of a production company.

It is not clear whether this was a “strategy” of NHK and Odagiri. However, it is an undeniable fact that the innovative drama “Oliver’s Dog” caused a stir in today’s drama world.