ハコヅメ～交番女子の逆襲～

HAKOZUME: KOUBAN JOSHI NO GYAKUSHUU

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
13
RELEASE
March 30, 2022
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

Officer Mai Kawai has had enough! She’s sick of being a police officer—but just when she’s about to hand in her resignation, the arrival of a brilliant (and beautiful) ace detective named Seiko Fuji changes her mind. Will Fuji reignite Mai’s passion for policing? And will Mai uncover the mystery of why Fuji was transferred to this ordinary police box?

(Source: Funimation)

CAST

Seiko Fuji
Yui Ishikawa
Mai Kawai
Shion Wakayama
Miwa Makitaka
Kana Hanazawa
Seiji Minamoto
Ryouta Suzuki
Takeshi Yamada
Shinba Tsuchiya
Tamotsu Houjou
Rikiya Koyama
Fukushocho
Kendo Kobayashi
Hahaoya
Ayano Hamaguchi
Shoin
Reiji Kawashima

EPISODES

Dubbed

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RELATED TO HAKOZUME: KOUBAN JOSHI NO GYAKUSHUU

Cover Art for Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu

MANGA ComedyHakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu

REVIEWS

SallyOtak
90/100
Review of POLICE IN A POD
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Review of POLICE IN A POD
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► Story:

The anime is really interesting, I don't expect such a serious presentation of police work!
We find rather classic cases at the beginning of the season to more and more to orient in things much more serious as suicides, deaths, disappearance, sexual aggregation that are really impacting for the different characters as well as for us!
I really like this series!
It shows the police discrimination that is by the inhabitants as well as in the police! In particular on the sex of people!
Episode very well constructed, we are really always in immersion!

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► Characters:

The characters themselves didn't particularly stand out to me!
Of course we like them and we learn to know them, but I didn't have a real attachment!
Except for Makitaka who in the last episodes took a difficult place in endorse.
The characters remain very pleasant :)
I really appreciated the work of the dubbers, who know how to mark the different scenes!

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► Art:

The anime has a unique style of animation, which is really very clean to the eye.
It gives a good immersion to the viewer!

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►Music

Levels of music I was not especially marked, the opening is quite nice but I do not especially remember it. But I really like the sound of the police sirens at the beginning of the opening!
Nevertheless the sound ambiance of the episodes was rather well managed so nothing to say about this :)

The Ending is also quite forgettable :(

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► Conclusion:

An excellent anime that presents the job of a police officer from different points of view.
Having minor investigation then more and more difficult to bear for the viewer but warns us of the different dangers of the current life!
Really emotional, and uncomfortable shots, as well as respect for everyone!
It will surely allow some people interested in the job to discover its different aspect!
I'm happy to discover new jobs like this one and I hope thereafter to discover other jobs in animated form that is in any field :)

I thank for such a well executed work!
As well as to the policewoman having created this work!
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Sorry if some sentences are not understandable, I am French and I use a translator :)
In any case do not hesitate to come and share your opinion with me on my profile!
I would be happy to hear from you!
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SpiritChaser
60/100
A cute and funny, mediocre, slideshow presentation tier, police propaganda series.
Since I have a biased hatred for the police, it will affect this, and there is no point in hiding it. This series did not deviate much from what I thought about it in the first episode. A cute and funny, mediocre, slideshow presentation tier, police propaganda series. It's an episodic series about two police women and the rest of their coworkers. They go on to battle crime in Japan with a story written by a former police officer. As a result, there a lot of interesting insight into what it's like working for the Japanese police. It amazes me the amount of hand holding that happens here seeing as though where I live the police will usually shoot first and ask questions later, and have a rotten history in general that leaves no room for respectability. I've had my own experiences with psychopathic police officers who nearly shot me in the head over a simple misunderstanding. I've been stopped and told "your kind don't belong around here," behind police sirens of officers that most likely have white sheets in their closets. As a result, this series can make me feel uncomfortable at times.

Kawaii is a coward who recently joined up and met Fuji, a psychopath that shows her the ropes with her cunning experience. The series takes an episodic approach. As a result, it's your usual hit and miss episodes back and forth since it's more difficult to write great standalone episodes back to back where the plot often goes nowhere. Fuji tends to figure things out quickly, though it feels ridiculous at times. Kawai is usually clueless as usual. The dynamic between Kawaii, the very weak person, and the sinister Fuji, is nowhere near the greatness of duos like Kei and Yuri from Dirty Pair that even make bad episodes better with their own dynamic. Kawaii is a quitter who lacks self-confidence, and became a police officer more by accident than because she really wanted to. Fuji got transferred because she was bullying another officer. They start to become close as the series goes, and Fuji becomes protective as well.

Towards the end, they went for a grand finale type of story that went on for more than 1 episode. Honestly, they should have wrapped it up sooner as it was easily among the weakest parts of the series. The author tries to at times show the reality of what being an officer is like. As a result, one moment you can be laughing, the next horrified after a suicide attempt or the sight of a mangled baby. Kawai's ant like growth and development is nearly nonexistent as she often lacks any kind of real courage throughout most of the show. It's still adorable to watch how innocent she is in her career.

The two eventually meet Minamoto and Yamada. Though they try to go out and have fun on their time off, they tend to get called a lot and can never really escape. There's a lot of focus on how much police officers get overworked here. I think the author had a coworker that passed away that way if I remember correctly.

Now over, this was mostly forgettable. It didn't help that the animation looked pretty but was very lazy. There's something scary about their eyes. The constant slideshows were annoying. None of the music was memorable, but the opening and closing sequences were nice. Right from the start, the viewers get police butt shoved in their face. The only thing it had going for me was the occasional really funny joke.
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HMashiro
70/100
An entertaining slice of life anime taking a good look into police work and police life in Japan.
__Minor Spoiler Ahead (￣￣|||)__
Note: TLDR at the very bottom.

Story - 8

As someone who was from a dictatorship country with a very corrupted police force, I really envy countries that have a reliable police force. How corrupted you ask? If you call the emergency line, the police might or might not come. If you file a robbery case, that case will never be solved let alone more serious cases. If they caught you running a red light, you can bribe them. The police will even find trouble on purpose so that you will give them money.

Watching Police in a Pod, I can’t help but feel envious of the Japanese police force which helps fight crime in one of the world's safest countries. It was also an interesting insight into the police force and how they operate.

Police in a Pod follows Kawai, who was a rookie policewoman about to resign because of all the pressure but got teamed up with Fuji who acted as her senior. Kawai instead of resigning keeps on staying in the police force for a bit longer and her view on police work slowly changes.

Since the location is in Japan, a lot of crimes are petty crimes, suicide or sexual assault. You won’t be seeing any shootout here.

Every couple of episodes is about the Kawai and Fuji doing different police work from traffic work, patrol, and all the way up to sexual assault as the story rev up. The way the Japanese police respond to these situations and the procedures are pretty interesting to see such as the reenactment of a molest case, paying respect to the dead body before checking the body, etc...

One fascinating thing is that Kawai and Fuji keep responding to one call from this guy who keeps saying he is going to commit suicide but every time they went and check on him, he seems to be just fine. The guy was also just let off with just a minor scolding too. However, the guy really tries to commit suicide on the final call and if Kawai and Fuji haven’t responded he would be long dead.

In the early episode, there is one scene where people verbally insult Kawai and Fuji saying things such as waste of tax money and the first thing that pops up in my mind is, you guys are lucky you have a police force that is functioning well and keeping you safe.

The anime is not all about police work with a serious tone all the way. Comedies are inserted appropriately such as the two detective pair Minamoto and Yamada often wrecking their police vehicle, how the detective department all look full of Yakuza looking peeps or trying to sketch the victim's face from description without drawing experiences.

I really like that the anime shows that the police are also human beings and are not perfect but they were also trying the best of their ability. The anime also shows the negative side of police work such as overworking, not enough sleep, irregular mealtime, getting called in for duty even if it is your off day, etc...

Character - 7

The character you will be seeing often in Police in a Pod are Kawai, Fuji, Yamada, Minamoto and Makitaka. A lot of character development goes into Kawai since she is the rookie police but the rest of the characters are likeable too.

Kawai joined the police force because she want a stable salary and not because she want to be a policewoman. She was assigned with Fuji when she was about to resign from all the pressure she is getting but following Fuji around and handling different cases, Kawai slowly change her view about police work.

The development of Kawai and her learning more about police work can easily be seen in each and every episode. In one scene Kawai suggested leaving after a guy who keep calling them that he going to suicide because she can’t open his front door but Fuji smashed the window and got inside only to save the guy on time.

An experience like this grows on Kawai and she slowly changes from just being there for the salary to actually being a policewoman. When the anime starts, Kawai looks totally green and cowardly but by the end of the anime, she is chasing a guy who is armed with a knife all by herself.

Fuji didn’t change much from start to end but she is an important character for Kawai to grow and for the plot to advance. Fuji is your role model of a policewoman but she was demoted from detective to sergeant. She can stand all the pressure, handled a lot of cases professionally and was a good mentor for Kawai.

Yamada and Minamoto are detectives. Both of them got used as comedic relief a lot but there are also moments where they do serious work. Fuji, Yamada and Minamoto graduated from the same police academy thus rivalry and argument between Fuji and Minamoto are commonly used as comedic relief but at the end of the anime in a more serious case, they all work together perfectly.

Makitaka mostly deals with sexual assault cases and plays an important role near the end of the anime which is about a sexual assault case. Despite her look, she is strong and stands firmly on the side of justice. Moreover, she is also very compassionate toward the victim. A really likeable character.

All in all, not a lot of character development apart from Kawai but solid characterization from the get-go. The characters are suitable for the story and the theme the anime is going for.

Art & Animation - 6.5

Police in a Pod’s art and animation are solid and they get the job done for an anime like this. It has an overall more realistic tone too. The art and animation are consistent from start to end too.

The character design leans toward a more realistic side, not your usual moe art and it looks pretty decent. Detail such as radio, whistle cords and baton are all accounted for though they are not drawn in much detail.

The animation looks natural, most are just regular human animations. There is some usage of close up mug shots in some running scenes to make it feel like the character is running without much animation work.

Background arts are mostly solid too. Police stations look and feel like one with all the whiteboards, cabinets, paper works. The usual stuff you may find at a police station. The outdoor arts are also decent but in terms of details, it is rather hit or miss. There is one scene where Kawai, Fuji, Yamada and Minamoto went on a stakeout mission and there are people and even car moving about in the city but there are also scene where the street is bizarrely empty.

The cars are made with CG and they are okay but didn’t blend exceptionally well with the 2D background but not sticking out like a sour thumb either.

Sound - 6.5

Both the opening and ending songs sound really nice. The opening song rap part is really lovely and the ending song is more chill and cute.

Background music is nothing exceptional but is very suitable for the scenes they were played be it heartwarming or funky scenes. The sound effects are pretty well detailed from background noise in a pub to the squeaking sound of the chair to people rubbing their shoulders. Nothing is amiss.

Voice acting is solid with each character having a voice that is appropriate for their personality and looks. Fuji is voiced by the same voice actress who voiced Mikasa from Attack On Titan. I am surprised how much she was able to capture Fuji’s personality which is way different from Mikasa. The same goes for Kawai voice actress who voiced Destiny from Takt Op Destiny.

TLDR:

An entertaining slice of life anime taking a good look into police work and police life in Japan.
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