Tantei Monogatari

Tantei Monogatari (探偵物語), or Detective Story, is an action Japanese TV series starring Yūsaku Matsuda that was originally broadcast on Nippon TV in 27 forty-five-minute episodes from September 18, 1979 to April 1, 1980. The show had various directors including Toru Murakawa, Kiyoshi Nishimura, Yukihiro Sawada and Yasuharu Hasebe.

Plot
Shunsaku Kudō sets up office in a rundown building as a private detective after spending five years as a cop in San Francisco where he became familiar with firearms. Kudō was originally envisioned as a standard hard-boiled type but star Yūsaku Matsuda looked too much like a rebel so the character ended up riding a Vespa scooter, smoking Camel cigarettes and dressing in a black or white suit and sunglasses. Also living in the building are two young girls (American actress Nancy Cheney and Kahori Takeda) who fuss over the detective.

Cast

 * Yūsaku Matsuda as Shunsaku Kudo
 * Mikio Narita as Chief Detective Hattori
 * Mitsuko Baisho as Masako
 * Michihiro Yamanishi as Detective Matsumoto
 * Nancy Cheney as Nancy
 * Kahori Takeda as Kahori
 * Tetsuo Nose as Tattoo Guy
 * Hiroshi Shimizu as Iizuka
 * Osamu Shigematsu
 * Yukiko Tachibana
 * Ryoko Watanabe
 * Hiromi Hirata

Reception
Tantei Monogatari with its easy-going humorous style earned high ratings while on the air and later acquired a cult following. Nippon TV published a book about the show titled ''Yomigaere! Tantei Monogatari'' (Come Back! Detective Story) in 1994 and Toei Video later released the whole series. Toei also released the entire series as a boxed set of Blu-ray discs in 2015.