The Private Detective Mike (私立探偵 濱マイク, Shiritsu tantei Hama Maiku) is a Japanese television series starring Masatoshi Nagase as the private detective Mike Hama. Each episode of the series was a self-contained story, involving different sets of directors and screenwriters, including Isao Yukisada, Gakuryū Ishii, and Alex Cox. Nagase originally starred as Mike Hama in a trilogy of films directed by Kaizo Hayashi, beginning with The Most Terrible Time in My Life.
Contents
Synopsis
Mike Hama runs a detective agency from an office on the roof of Nichigeki movie theater. Perpetually short on cash, he takes on all sorts of jobs — missing family members, unfaithful spouses, lost pets — and always gets into trouble.
Production
The Private Detective Mike was Nagase's first television role in a decade. The year before, Nagase had starred in a series of popular commercials for Boss Coffee, directed by Ryosuke Maeda, who would go on to direct the second episode of The Private Detective Mike. Suguru Takeuchi, director of episode ten, was also a commercial and music video director. The remaining directors had experience in feature films as directors, screenwriters or assistant directors. Kaizo Hayashi was not involved in the production of the series because he was overseas at the time.