The title of TV Asahi's new police drama, "Keiji Shichinin" ("Seven Detectives"; Thurs., 9 p.m.), is meant to strike a chord with older viewers who will remember "Shichinin no Keiji," one of the most popular series of the 1960s — a cop show that wasn't about action but real police work, and which tackled up-to-the-minute social topics.
In the premiere episode, a cruiser explodes at a Tokyo marina, killing the son of a former finance minister. Samura (Masahiro Takashima) of the 12th Investigation Division brings his crew to the crime scene and there encounters Amagi (Noriyuki Higashiyama), a detective he's never met before. She has just been assigned to his team, and he already has ideas about the case, but when an autopsy is performed on the body, the coroner discovers that the victim actually died the night before the blast.
TV Asahi loves cop shows with numbers in the title, so this week there's also "Saikyo no Futari" ("The Strongest Two"; TV Asahi, Thurs., 8 p.m.), starring veteran actors Isao Hashizume and Yuko Natori as a pair of aging detectives suddenly thrown together as partners.