Discussion:Strawberry Night Saga *Spoilers*

I'm watching it and so far, I like it as much as the previous version.

I think Nikaido Fumi is just as good as Takeuchi Yuko in portraying Himekawa Reiko. It's not like she's copying her or anything; it still feels like the same character, but portrayed differently. I don't feel any chemistry between her and Kame, though. (But it should be noted that as much as people loved the dynamics between Takeuchi's Reiko and Nishijima Hidetoshi's Kikuta, I didn't feel anything watching them. Sorry, guys, please don't kill me.)

Oh, and Eguchi Yosuke is a better Gantetsu than Takeda Tetsuya. But I am biased. In the previous version, Gantetsu just looked like this grumpy old detective, and of course he looked down on Reiko, but so did half of the police. Basically, I really couldn't get why she disliked him so much. But Eguchi's Gantetsu has this frightening streaks of cruelty and shows contempt for his fellow officers (and virtually everyone, it seems), it's easy to see why she would hate him.

The guy who gave money to an "informant" was Gantetsu, and he's a dirty bastard. I think we're supposed to hate him because Reiko hates him and he is what you'd call a crooked cop, the type who would do anything--even illegal stuff--to score an indictment. As if that's not enough, at one point in episode 1, he actually used Reiko's experience of being raped against her, to intimidate her. (I think he said something along the lines of "Aren't you afraid of prowling the streets these summer nights?"--referencing to the time of her rape.) So yeah, he's that kind of person.

I like the newer version but yeah it’s difficult to hear Himekawa and not imagine Yuki Takeuchi, new lead is also good tho

Dropped after episode 1. Original is better. Much much better.