The Devotion of Suspect X
Genius v.s. Eccentric?

Date：23, Jun, 2020
Investigated and Written by Misaka Youhei
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Hello. Today I'm mentioning about a Japanese live action film "the Devotion of Suspect X" released in 2008 October (Japan). Some of you might have heard it, since I heard it was also released in 2008 Hong Kong. What about your nation? Sorry, ask someone else.

I don't mean to play cheap dialogue alone. Let's take back to the Devotion of Suspect X. It is originally a 2005 novel written by Higashino Keigo, the third in his Detective Galileo series. Yes, it is a mystery-thriller story. And the Detective Galileo series became a Japanese TV drama in 2007 October, became a hit. The main character Yukawa Manabu (Fukuyama Masaharu) is a Japanese male physicist who belongs to one university. He has a clear head as some call him genius, but is not well up in human feelings and inner workings. Then, his old friend calls him Eccentric Galileo.

In 2007 December, the TV drama ended a great success. The fans so missed him. And the Eccentric Galileo came back to screens in 2008 October. That's the Devotion of Suspect X. Many people were glad meeting Yukawa again at theaters. It was deeply successful in Japan, grossing about 4.9 billion yen. Of course, I also went to a nearby theater for watching it.

The main characters of the Devotion of Suspect X are, however, Ishigami Tetsuya (Tsutsumi Shin-ichi) and Hanaoka Yasuko (Matsuyuki Yasuko). Not Yukawa.

Hanaoka Yasuko is a Japanese middle-aged women. She got married with a man, but got divorced. And she lives with her daughter in an cheap apartment. Ishigami is a mathematics teacher who lives next to the Hanaoka family. One day, her ex-husband suddenly visits the apartment, but she doesn't welcome. Ishigami hears something unusual from the Hanaoka family. He wonders, pays a call to her.

After a while, found is a murdered man at a riverside near the apartment. His fingers were burnt, his face was smashed, they cannot make it clear what he was. A police detective woman Utsumi Kaoru (Shibasaki Ko) investigates the case, discusses it with Yukawa Manabu. One day, the two meet Ishigami in the search. In fact, Yukawa and Ishigami were at university together. Yukawa says if there is a genius in this world, it must be nobody but Ishigami. Ishigami also knows Yukawa. They meet after a long interval, renews their friendship. But...