Hakozume is the only series from last week’s digest post to make it to a second impressions, which I guess speaks to it being decent.  I certainly wasn’t blown away by the premiere but it was reasonably well-executed.  And the premise is one which would seem to have a lot of potential in the right hands – an exploration of the struggle of women in Japan’s male-dominated police culture.  And a female former cop (the mangaka) would certainly seem to be the right hands.

I wouldn’t say this episode moved the needle much either way for me.  There was some interesting moments and even a couple of decent gags (like the 110 bit).  I thought the first couple of scenes with the runaway who was engaging in enjo-kousai were quite well done.  But that kind of fell apart for me when Sgt. Fuji picked up on her stepfather being a sexual abuser from a single glance, and the narrative basically made no attempt to show (or tell) us exactly how she was able to do that.  Maybe there are cops that are just that good, but if you want me to suspend disbelief you’ve got to at least make the effort to convince me.

The second chapter went for a more comedic angle, though it did revolve around bringing in a domestic violence victim.  This kind of fell flat for me – I’m not sure whether the room full of detectives with pompadours are supposed to be funny or scary, but since they aren’t either I guess it doesn’t matter.  I think a focus on the lives of the women trying to keep their sanity in this environment is crucial to the series’ chances to succeed, but it’s going to have to be more engaging than this bit or it’s a moot point.

I think we can safely say Hakozume: Koban Joshi no Gyakushuu is the first bubble series of the season – it’s not making enough of an impression either positively or negatively for me to have a read on it.  It does air in a pretty uncompetitive part of the week schedule-wise, so I can afford to be a little more patient in waiting for answers than I might be otherwise.