Trick (TV show)
Encyclopedia
Trick comprises a comedic Japanese television dorama and movie series (three seasons, three movies, and two feature-length TV specials), as well as associated comic books, novelizations and meta-fiction novels about a failed magician and an arrogant physicist who debunks fraudulent spiritualists. It stars Hiroshi Abe
and Yukie Nakama
and is shown on TV Asahi. It was created by Japanese director Yukihiko Tsutsumi
.
) considers herself a beautiful and talented magician, she is continuously fired and constantly hounded by her landlady for the rent being late. Before firing her, her manager shows Yamada an ad for a physics professor, Jiro Ueda (Hiroshi Abe
), a non-believer of all things magical, offering money to anyone who can prove to him that magic is real. Desperately needing the money, Naoko accepts the challenge, which is how she comes to meet Professor Ueda. Falling prey to her simple magic tricks, Ueda is impressed, and enlists the reluctant Naoko to help him uncover the tricks behind a local cult. Soon, they are debunking spiritualists. Eventually Ueda develops a reputation for solving supernatural cases, but his secret weapon is Yamada, who hates the work but needs the money.
Season one introduces the main characters, as well as a would-be suitor for Yamada (this plotline will be abandoned after season one). The over-arching plot is that a true psychic killed Yamada's father, and that person may be Yamada herself.
Fraudulent psychics include: Big Mother (cultist, clairvoyant), Miracle Mitsui (makes things disappear), Kurosaka Miyuki (the pantomime killer),Katsuragi Koushou (clairvoyant, health guru) and the residents of Kokumontou (a.k.a. Black Gate Island).
This season has a more established atmosphere. Ueda has published a book, and is enjoying some fame.
Villans include: Suzuki Yoshiko (fortune teller, time traveller), Fukami Hiroaki (clairvoyant), and Tsukamoto Emi (voice of divine punishment).
In the movie, Yamada is convinced to pretend to be a god and dupe a village, but she has to prove the other fake gods are charlatans. Ueda works behind the scenes to make some of her miracles possible.
The surrealism and characterizations become more firmly entrenched. This season is named TRICK ～Troisième partie～ on the DVDs.
Villains include: Shibakawa Genjou (commanding voice powers), "Slit" Mikako (teleporter), and Akaike Hiroshi (claims to fix anything, including people).
The introduction of Yabe's new sidekick, a proud and arrogant Toudai
graduate. The last half of the final episode of the 3rd Season, the love-hate and unspoken relationship between Yamada and Ueda may look like it has entered a new stage.
Feature length show in which Ueda joins other professors to debunk a spirtualist, one Midorikawa Shouko, who claims she knows when people will die. The professors die one by one.
Introduction of Yabe's Otaku assistant, Akiba.
Ueda employes Yamada to go a mysterious island in search of a girl (played by Maki Horikita
) that disappeared 10 years ago. They discover the island is run by Kobako Sachiko, who can appear and disappear via boxes, among other strange powers.
The 20 year olds of a remote village are dying one by one, all seemingly cursed to death by a woman who has come back to the village for revenge.
A battle royale between many spiritualists.
s and pales in comparison to the lead characters themselves (to the point where many plot holes are never explained). The chemistry between them is often cited as a reason for the popularity of the series. In addition, both characters are by most standards unbalanced and crazy, and social outcasts in many respects (though Ueda does have some fame as an author and professor) and their differences with a crazy world, in a way, bond them together. A subtle hint of love is suggested every once in a while, but usually the two are poking fun at each other in half-hearted hatred.
have been used as the closing themes for all three seasons of the TV show and the first movie. The song Gekkō was used for Series 1 and the first movie, Ryūseigun for Series 2, and Watashi to Warutsu (Waltz) wo for Series 3. Chihiro herself appeared onscreen singing Gekkō during the closing credits of the final episode of Series 1.
Hiroshi Abe (actor)
is a Japanese model and actor.He began his career as a model, but he successfully made the transition to acting, becoming one of the most regularly visible presences in Japanese media. He is a 1988 graduate of Chuo University.-Career:...
and Yukie Nakama
Yukie Nakama
is a Japanese actress, singer and former idol. She was born in Okinawa, Japan, in a fisherman's family, the youngest of five siblings.At the start of her career she was a gravure idol and singer , and appeared in bit roles until her career breakthrough playing Sadako in "Ring 0: Birthday ."In 2000,...
and is shown on TV Asahi. It was created by Japanese director Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Yukihiko Tsutsumi
is a Japanese television and film director. He began directing commercials and music promotion videos as an employee of Nihon Television. After spending time abroad, he returned and started his own production company, Crescendo, from which he works independently...
.
Synopsis
Although 23-year-old Naoko Yamada (Yukie NakamaYukie Nakama
is a Japanese actress, singer and former idol. She was born in Okinawa, Japan, in a fisherman's family, the youngest of five siblings.At the start of her career she was a gravure idol and singer , and appeared in bit roles until her career breakthrough playing Sadako in "Ring 0: Birthday ."In 2000,...
) considers herself a beautiful and talented magician, she is continuously fired and constantly hounded by her landlady for the rent being late. Before firing her, her manager shows Yamada an ad for a physics professor, Jiro Ueda (Hiroshi Abe
Hiroshi Abe (actor)
is a Japanese model and actor.He began his career as a model, but he successfully made the transition to acting, becoming one of the most regularly visible presences in Japanese media. He is a 1988 graduate of Chuo University.-Career:...
), a non-believer of all things magical, offering money to anyone who can prove to him that magic is real. Desperately needing the money, Naoko accepts the challenge, which is how she comes to meet Professor Ueda. Falling prey to her simple magic tricks, Ueda is impressed, and enlists the reluctant Naoko to help him uncover the tricks behind a local cult. Soon, they are debunking spiritualists. Eventually Ueda develops a reputation for solving supernatural cases, but his secret weapon is Yamada, who hates the work but needs the money.
Season/movies summary
Presented in chronological order- 1st Season
Season one introduces the main characters, as well as a would-be suitor for Yamada (this plotline will be abandoned after season one). The over-arching plot is that a true psychic killed Yamada's father, and that person may be Yamada herself.
Fraudulent psychics include: Big Mother (cultist, clairvoyant), Miracle Mitsui (makes things disappear), Kurosaka Miyuki (the pantomime killer),Katsuragi Koushou (clairvoyant, health guru) and the residents of Kokumontou (a.k.a. Black Gate Island).
- 2nd Season
This season has a more established atmosphere. Ueda has published a book, and is enjoying some fame.
Villans include: Suzuki Yoshiko (fortune teller, time traveller), Fukami Hiroaki (clairvoyant), and Tsukamoto Emi (voice of divine punishment).
- First movie
In the movie, Yamada is convinced to pretend to be a god and dupe a village, but she has to prove the other fake gods are charlatans. Ueda works behind the scenes to make some of her miracles possible.
- 3rd Season
The surrealism and characterizations become more firmly entrenched. This season is named TRICK ～Troisième partie～ on the DVDs.
Villains include: Shibakawa Genjou (commanding voice powers), "Slit" Mikako (teleporter), and Akaike Hiroshi (claims to fix anything, including people).
The introduction of Yabe's new sidekick, a proud and arrogant Toudai
University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...
graduate. The last half of the final episode of the 3rd Season, the love-hate and unspoken relationship between Yamada and Ueda may look like it has entered a new stage.
- Feature-length Special
Feature length show in which Ueda joins other professors to debunk a spirtualist, one Midorikawa Shouko, who claims she knows when people will die. The professors die one by one.
Introduction of Yabe's Otaku assistant, Akiba.
- Second movie
Ueda employes Yamada to go a mysterious island in search of a girl (played by Maki Horikita
Maki Horikita
is a Japanese actress and endorser. She debuted in 2003 as a U-15 idol and has since starred in Japanese television dramas, television and magazine advertisements, and movies.- Childhood:...
) that disappeared 10 years ago. They discover the island is run by Kobako Sachiko, who can appear and disappear via boxes, among other strange powers.
- Feature-length Special 2
The 20 year olds of a remote village are dying one by one, all seemingly cursed to death by a woman who has come back to the village for revenge.
- Third Movie
A battle royale between many spiritualists.
Books
There are a few tie-in novels, written from the characters' points of view. Many of these appear in the show, when Ueda proudly shows them off. Currently, they are only available in Japanese.: in which Ueda details his personal history and summarizes some episodes of the show from his point of view.ISBN 4054017622- "VIP Use" version of the above bookA continuation of Ueda's egotistical summary. ISBN 4054025285Yamada's own egotistical presentation of events in the series.ISBN 4847015398 In which Yamada's version of events continues（ISBN 4847016629）
- Series One Novelization
- Series Two Novelization[sic]; an independent story set after the first series
Other
A DVD to promote the movie, starring the Detective Yabe character. The cover resembles the metafiction novels.Chemistry
Often, the plots involve lots of macguffinMacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
s and pales in comparison to the lead characters themselves (to the point where many plot holes are never explained). The chemistry between them is often cited as a reason for the popularity of the series. In addition, both characters are by most standards unbalanced and crazy, and social outcasts in many respects (though Ueda does have some fame as an author and professor) and their differences with a crazy world, in a way, bond them together. A subtle hint of love is suggested every once in a while, but usually the two are poking fun at each other in half-hearted hatred.
Running gags and motifs
- Each series and movie starts with Yamada doing a cheesy magic act, complete with blownout speakers, to an all but empty crowd. She is always fired soon after, and walks home with people, somehow aware of her plight, laughing and pointing. She has only one fan, who jovially stalks her from afar.
- One of the running gags in the characters' love-hate relationship is that they are both sexually inadequate; Yamada has a flat chest, and Ueda's anatomy is too large, and each constantly reminds the other of their shameful physical and virginal state.
- Starting early on, Ueda calls Yamada "YOU" in English instead of politely using her name in Japanese.
- Another trademark of Ueda is his tendency to yell out in English, "Jump!" and either preternaturally disappear, or perhaps more humorously, not.
- In the third series, Ueda's utterance "Uooh!" becomes very comedic and pronounced. Usually he says it when something bad happens. Yamada picks up the habit.
- Ueda is a proud man, and puts on airs of being fearless. He often spouts, "どんと来い!" (donto koi) equivalent to "bring it on!" in English. However, Ueda, while a big man, constantly faints. Though at times he can be roused to action and becomes a fierce fighter. In the third series, his more brave moments are often preceded by the heavily accented English phrase, "Why don't you do your best?" Which is one of his book titles, as is donto koi.
- Ueda often starts his appearance in each episode by using a magic trick, which Yamada easily figures out. Yamada usually does a simple magic trick towards the middle of the episode, and laughs characteristically ("kyeahehehe!") after explaining how she did it.
- Ueda's car door breaks off at one point, and he carries it over his shoulder quite often. Interstingly, his car also follows him at some points the feature-length specials and movies. This is never explained. In fact many of the more mystical aspects (and of course the irony that the only people with supernatural abilities may be Yamada and her mother) of Ueda and Yamada are never explained or even noticed by the main characters.
- Yamada has to practice smiling. She has no friends, save Ueda. She laughs in an unnatural way (see above) and is sometimes smacked by others when she laughs at her own cleverness.
- Yamada's landlady is constantly hounding her for money, and not easily tricked. She is assisted by an obnoxious tenant from Bangladesh, who eventual marries the landlady and has two children with her.
- Yamada's mother is constantly scheming to make money, and loves Ueda like a son, which infuriates Yamada.
- Yamada (and sometimes others) constantly misreads kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
and Ueda has to correct her.
- Yamada often hits and disables Ueda. Detective Yabe often punches his assistants for saying things that annoy him.
- When someone is struck, the camera often shakes.
- Detective Yabe's assistant changes from a dullard to a genius in the third series, who constantly spouts, "I graduated from Tokyo University!" The new assistant is smacked as much as the first. In special and the second movie, a third, OtakuOtakuis a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga or video games.- Etymology :Otaku is derived from a Japanese term for another's house or family , which is also used as an honorific second-person pronoun...
assistant takes the role.
- Another constant gag concerns detective Yabe's hair, which is a wig. Many puns are made when someone says a word like that sounds like "hair" and Yabe grabs his toupeeToupeeA toupée is a hairpiece or partial wig of natural or synthetic hair worn to cover partial baldness or for theatrical purposes. While toupées and hairpieces are typically associated with male wearers, some women also use hairpieces to lengthen existing hair, or cover partially exposed scalp...
and shouts "It's natural!"
- Detective Yabe often accuses Yamada of the current crime, or sometimes is even legitimately seeking her for fraud she has done. Usually, she can escape incarceration with simple tricks.
- There are a multitude of musical cues. For instance, when someone realizes something, there is usually the sound of a tambourine.
- As the series and movies increase, special effects become more and more surreal. Lightbulbs above peoples heads, bugs with human faces, and Ueda stretching his limbs to fight like a cartoon character are but a few examples.
Music
Songs by Chihiro OnitsukaChihiro Onitsuka
is a Japanese singer-songwriter.In 2000, Onitsuka released her debut single "Shine" and gained a recognition with its follow-up "Gekkou" which became a hit. Insomnia, her first studio album released in following year topped the Japanese Oricon chart and sold more than a million copies...
have been used as the closing themes for all three seasons of the TV show and the first movie. The song Gekkō was used for Series 1 and the first movie, Ryūseigun for Series 2, and Watashi to Warutsu (Waltz) wo for Series 3. Chihiro herself appeared onscreen singing Gekkō during the closing credits of the final episode of Series 1.
Production notes
- During the filming of seasons one and two, the svelte Nakama, who plays Yamada, had to flatten her chest further with a straight-padded blouse under her clothes because she was not modestly endowed enough for the producers' liking. However, in season three, Nakama no longer wears the padding, leading to a new gag in which Ueda often comments that she has a more pronounced chest than before. Yamada replies that it is "high-level magic", to which Ueda snorts and says that it is more likely the result of surgical enhancements.
- In the second movie, Yamada crawls around creepily for one scene. This is a reference to Nakama Yukie starring as SadakoSadakoSadako is a Japanese name, used for females. Although written romanized the same way, the kanji can be different. It is composed of the two parts "sada" and "ko"; collectively, they mean "chaste child".-People:...
in Ring Zero. - Ueda's apartment has pictures of him everywhere. These are from Hiroshi Abe's days as a young teen model.