I thought this series was one of the best Asian drama series I've seen on Netflix since Squid Game. It features some amazing actors. Not a dud among the entire very large cast. One huge problem though: The voice dubbing actors for Harrison the ring leader and the guy who plays the swindleing attorney, aren't consistently convincing and come across as over-striving amateurs. Takumi's voice actor may be reasonably cool, but these 2 bad dub actors render the English dub version virtually unwatchable by the middle point of episode 1. So that being said, I'm reviewing the original Japanese with English subtitles "Tokyo Swindlers" from this point onward. The ever impressive Go Ayano stars as Takumi, a cat loving swindler with PTSD who acts as an inscrutable foil to a psychopath mentor mastermind (who could be the devil himself he's so evil). How this series is not higher rated may have to do with its raw treatment of some very dirty business and a continual flow of of violent repugnant weirdoes with sick execution fetishes. Bottom line is this series is SO not for the squeamish and/or those who watch crime shows to root for one heroic protagonist who miraculously dodges every bullet. Special props to the theme music composer Takkyu Ishino. His claustrophic techno-pop is perfect for biting your nails to while you watch each adrenaline-laced scam unfurl. (And if you get hooked on Ishino's theme music like I did, watch the credits at the end of every episode for 4 full minutes of its trance-inducing vibe.)
