Original title
リーガル・ハイ
Released
4/17/2012
Origin country
JP
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Production companies
Fuji Television Network
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
2
Number of episodes
21
A lawyer with a big personality works with an straightlaced recent law graduate on various law cases in Japan.
One day, her student Kogure Kazuhiko (Sueoka Takuto) falls from the rooftop. Kazuhiko was on the rooftop with some other male students who say that he was jumping to the neighbouring school building but missed it and fell. Fortunately, although Kazuhiko ends up with a fracture leg and ribs, he is in a stable condition. However, in order to protect its public image, the school explains to Kazuhiko’s mother Hidemi (Horiuchi Keiko) that it was not bullying but an accident caused by a caper with friends. Kazuhiko has a fear of heights and would not have done something like that. Hidemi, who is skeptical of the school’s explanation, consults Mayuzumi Machiko (Aragaki Yui). Machiko is an enthusiastic lawyer with a sense of justice and readily agrees to undertake this case. However, she is not confident that she is going to win this alone and seeks the help of Komikado Kensuke (Sakai Masato). Komikado cuts her off by telling her that he hates kids and schools, but he accepts the case in the end. On the other hand, the school gets Miki Choichiro (Namase Katsuhisa) to represent it. Miki, who has had bitter experiences with Komikado in previous trials, burns with exceptional hostility. He decides to entrust this case to the lawyer Teshigawara Isao (Kitaoji Kinya). Komikado has never lost in a trial. Standing in court in high spirits, he sees the presiding judge Beppu Toshiko (Hirosue Ryoko) and is astounded. Komikado who has a great love for females had once tried to pick Toshiko up at a ski resort while on a vacation but was unceremoniously dumped. Toshiko’s impression of Komikado puts him at a great disadvantage before the case is fought in court.
Of all the law related dramas inside and outside of the country, a majority of lawyers are depicted as heroes, either bringing tears to your eyes helping the weak underdog, or trying to advocate justice to the extreme. This has led the general public to view lawyers with eyes of respect and envy. However, the main character of "Legal High!!" stands miles away from that stereotypical identity of a lawyer. Komikado Kensuke is stubborn, abusive in his language, sarcastic, moody, and an extravagant spender. To the contrary, he has never lost a case in his life. A genius at bargaining and building strategy, winning is everything to Kensuke. His love for money, fame, and women obviously collects the dislikes of other professionals in the field. Kensuke loathes the textbook of justice the young lawyers try to brandish. Unexpectedly, Mayuzumi Machiko is a lawyer who passed her bar exam through hard studies. She is overly earnest in her mission of saving the weak, and rather clumsy and incapable of planning ahead. Her lack of versatility and strong righteousness drives her reckless, without compromise to her convictions. Passionate and determined, she is the complete opposite of Kensuke's character. "Justice is the winner," Kensuke stands by this belief without doubt. Despite the skepticism he receives for his sensational efforts, the people surrounding him begin to see that their view was but a pipe dream. In the courtroom, Kensuke reminds us of the feeling we had all forgotten: To fight with all our energy and to never give up.
Komikado-sensei is back!! And together with him, Mayuzumi and Hattori. This season, a new employee joins their team. Hanyu Haruki comes from a rich family. His father owns a highly profitable trading company, while his mother is a children's books writer. Hanyu has lived in England, Saudi Arabia and USA, before returning to Japan to sit for his bar exam. After finishing his apprenticeship, he joins the Public Prosecutor department. To broaden his experience, Hanyu is loaned out to Komikado's law firm.
Komikado Kensuke is back! This time around he faces his biggest challenge yet: defending a woman who most certainly is a murderer and keeping her from getting the death penalty. But the circumstances keep changing so fast even Kensuke might have trouble keeping up. Meanwhile Hanyu, an up-and-coming attorney who had been apprenticing under Kensuke returns to his home with the Prosecutor's office, and is promptly given a case that will pit him again Kensuke. But he also can't quite keep his eyes off the lovely Mayuzumi…
Kensuke finds his next challenge in the form of Ayukawa Hikari, a genius who nevertheless ended up behind bars for awhile. Now released, Ayukawa has picked up a new hobby for himself: suing anyone and everyone who in anyway seemed to defame him. Hanyu, having suffered a loss at Ayukawa’s hands, asks for Kensuke’s help in defending a manga artist who’s latest work is all to similar to Ayukawa’s life. But whether Kensuke will jump in or not remains in the air..
With his firm still struggling along, Kensuke agrees to represent a client Mayuzumi has brought in. A man who wants to divorce his wife after finding out she had cosmetic surgery years before without telling him. Turns out though that the wife in question is being represented by Hanyu and his staff and they are determined to bring a happy ending for the couple. But not if Kensuke has anything to say about it...
Kensuke gets dragged into a case of two neighbors who were once close but now are at each other’s throats. But it seems the Defendant’s lawyer, Hanyu, may have the upper hand in this one since the Presiding Judge is none other than Beppu again, and she seems to have an even larger chip on her shoulder than ever.
Kensuke manages to get a long-time employee of a stationery company to file a lawsuit against his company over a character design that had hit big time. He'll have his hands full though; not because of the case but because Machiko's father stops by to pay a visit and he doesn't like what he sees one bit.
Mayuzumi gets the firm involved in a case she’d rather not deal with: a woman who has 3 husbands and 5 children. The mother of one of the woman’s husbands wants to have her grandson taken out of it, but now that Kensuke’s in charge, she might find that difficult. Meanwhile, while Mayuzumi can’t quite make her decision, Kensuke will end up making it for her.
Now that Mayuzumi has left Kensuke's law firm and joined Hanyu's, she'll soon find herself facing off against her old boss not once, not twice but on three different cases all at the same time! Although Mayuzumi has grown quite a bit, she might find she still has a ways to go if she truly wants to defeat Kensuke.
Hanyu convinces the reluctant Kensuke to join him in a trip out to the backwoods of Japan where they will try to protect a village that has a forest whose status as a World Property site is being threatened. But things quickly go astray when Kensuke decides to help out the opposing side instead and things get even more bizarre when none other than Judge Beppu appears to mediate between the two groups.
Kensuke and Mayuzumi go to the Supreme Court in order to try and free Ando Kiwa at last. But there they find Prosecutor Daigo, the only one who has defeated Kensuke so far, waiting for them and now he's backed by the popular will of the people. His return triggers strong emotions in Kensuke which put him at risk and may lead Machiko to take some dangerous risks of her own.
Hanyu has managed to outmaneuver Kensuke and forced him out of the trial for Ando Kiwa. Kensuke, of course, isn't about to take that lying down; especially not when his perfect record of wins is at stake. But he'll find the way back into the ring difficult, what with Hanyu's ever-growing stature blocking the way. Still, if there's one thing Kensuke is good at, it's finding a backdoor method to what he wants.
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