Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu

Of all the series starting off the new year of a very dry Winter season, mangaka Miko Yasu's Hakozume a.k.a Police in a Pod definitely stood out for being one of the most interesting works ever made. A manga that clinched a win in the 66th Shogakukan Manga Awards in the Best General Manga category, alongside Inio Asano's Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction last year (which is now finally getting an anime adaptation), it's no secret that this work is truly something special, and it all had to do with the fact that Miko Yasu herself, was once an ex-cop working in Japan's kouban (a.k.a ... police box) police force.

Before I go further, I would like to elaborate specificially that the police culture of the East and the West are vastly different, and that has lead to some unnecessary triggering of comparisons made that could extend itself into a hate rant (I'm looking at you ANN), so please do not snare up any hateful rants here as well.

Back to the main topic, Hakozume's main episodic stories and arcs are based off of Miko Yasu's personal real-life experiences working in the police force for approximately 10 years, but was saddened by Japan's culture of overwork, and this manga was her way to spread understanding about the profession to encourage public support. She joined the police force in her local kouban as a low-level officer doing crime prevention publicity campaigns, her inspiration for joining being that she felt empathy for families of crime victims, but ultimately left when the officer that filled her role when she took her childcare leave, died of overwork. Being the victim of someone's death can instill emotional guilt, and as best as Miko Yasu tried to cope with the trauma and rallied recruitment efforts, there is yet another turning point of disheartenment to see that the younger generation wasn't all that interested in being a police officer. One boy whom she asked, said that he expressed interest but had some skepticism of the profession, claiming that it was too high of an order for someone like him whom struggled to take care of himself. It was this reason that Miko Yasu decided to convey the message that police officers aren't necessarily upright and honourable people, just regular human beings doing their best on the job. And being a low-level officer herself, it was easy to pitch to publishing companies like Kodansha's Morning magazine to get her work serialized, but although she had experience drawing portraits during her time in the police force, it's because of her inexperience drawing manga that forced her to quit the profession and focus on refining her art to be suitable for serialization. So, to see all the effort finally getting an anime adaptation produced by Madhouse under Kaiji director Yuuzou Satou (aside from last year's Nippon TV live-action drama), everything has come around full circle.

This story is supported by the fact that the main female police officer Mai Kawai, serves as a fictional person of the mangaka herself, who's all but done from the police force. Kawai joined the force to earn a stable income, unlike her crude father that ended up on the opposite end of the spectrum. Being a fresh graduate from the Police Academy, she wasn't treated all that well when she was transferred to the local Machiyama Police Box, being hurled hurting remarks that are spokesbeing of the culture and the reception of the outside people. These issues are serious enough for Kawai to throw her letter of resignation, but that was stopped when a new instructor steps in: Seiko Fuji, a once detective chief that got demoted to a sergeant and transferred out for harassing her junior. And man, is Seiko-chan such a ruthless woman to stand her grounda amidst pressure, guiding the almost-resigned Kawai into comedic antics from the usual rank-and-file cases ranging from burglary to assault. And every single one of these chapters has a purpose, referencing back to how Miko Yasu had seen and heard the exact same issues in her police lifetime.

To edge the profession ever further, there's the Astro Brothers of Sergeant Seiji Minamoto and his detective sidekick helper Takeshi Yamada. Like Seiko-chan, Minamoto has an eerily similar personality to Fuji, so much so that they tend to clash a lot, putting both Kawai and Yamada as their juniors to shudder in fear. And since everyone knows each other from Police Academy, it's easy to say that both Fuji and Minamoto were in loggerheads with one another, brought to the real work life where the troubles never end. But as much as these two are tutors to their junior counterparts, they do act the role as superiors when life matters most in the fight against crime, solo or syndicate. The Machiyama Police Box has also Miwa Makitaka as a backup force, mainly dealing with stalkers and sex crimes, but with a drawback that her entire world was surrounded with girls and not being accustomed to men. Despite this, she's an iron-fist clad of a woman to stand her ground against the criminals oppressing her, and male-centric divisions like Criminal Affairs will step in if she needs help to handle the most difficult of men. Overall, to bring similar figures that Miko Yasu has known in her 10-year cycle in the police force be replicated to the manga, it really shows how much the audience can really mistake police control in the horrid ways of the real world, though depending on where you live, police brutality will always be the the central taboo.

It's glad to have Madhouse produce more shows outside of their comfort zone, now with the studio's recent revival and dabbing into other genres. Along with last season's vampire comedy show Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu a.k.a The Vampire Dies in No Time, Madhouse is chosen to adapt yet another comedy series, albeit one that's focusing more on the police force, and I think like the many recent works Madhouse still has that unmistakable quality that's instantly recognizable. The elephant in the room is with director Yuuzou Satou, of which I've mentioned that he is famous for the Kaiji series. He hasn't had a breakout work since Kaiji Season 2 a decade ago, and finally found his stride with this show. It'll be a long while before he comes back with another work, so for now, enjoy while you can Satou-san.

Music is pretty decent too with Riko Azuna and nonoc at the helm. I'd think that I gravitate more towards nonoc's ED "Change" because of famous Vocaloid composer DECO*27, and I know this because DECO*27 composes really good songs that I've heard before, so the standard is there.

Works like this are rare to find, even one that's worth the inspiration to be adapted into anime, and I thank mangaka Miko Yasu for being a source of inspiration to draw and illustrate what was once her life's job into manga form, that you can't really find anywhere else. And because this is the AniManga industry, I hope that you don't carry over the overwork culture from your police days to drawing manga. Nonetheless, regardless of where you live in the world, try and see this show from a different perspective, and you might find something to like about it.

When I heard there is a police slice of life coming this season and watched the cover art, I thought it'd definitely be one of those “Ideal cop/coppers being of service to society while being cute AF and having tonnes of Yuri” And only I picked it up due to the latter :3

But I have to admit I underestimated this its certainly not just police yuri,
The author of this anime is an Ex-cop so she clearly knows her stuff


At first, It was hard to understand what this anime is all about,

The tags mention seinen and police, so I expected a crime drama with high ... stakes cool police thing with loads of action.

Then I saw the PV, I saw cute Policewomen who looked like obvious Yuri bait.

But make no mistake it none of those, it's a realistic Slice of life, now a slice of life of a high school girl would be you guessed it a slice of her high school life, cutesy Joshi Kosei stuff hence lots of fluff, Here Its a slice of life of A policewoman hence the seinen tag, Topics such as forensics, crime and much more are present but in a realistic fashion and not glorified
or edge - y - fied which is a relief, also since the author was a legit Japanese Policewoman we get a pretty good insight on Japanese police their functioning, reputation (I guess no country likes their police huh?). The comedy however is …… out there, it'll depend on the taste. It did get a couple of smirks and chuckles out of me, however. A good investment on sound and art would have certainly helped and I am beginning to wonder if madhouse has forgotten their glory days :/


Now for the review,

Story 8/10
A good and realistic look at the Japanese police scene, slice of police life basically, Characters have their own backstories which are convincing and weave into the plot pretty alright, however, it is too soon to say if the there will be any real tension. there is no clear plot or eventual end goals like catching this criminal mastermind or whatever and the episode are individually distinct.

Characters 7/10
Basic cute girls one who is unmotivated and easily hurt and the other the dependable senpai I don't mean to say they are bad or anything, but they do fit into character archetypes we have already seen, a few other interesting characters have just been introduced hence there is a bit more to look forward to

Sound and VA 6/10
The background sound is generic, VA s do a good job tho with a couple of male ones standing out, the senpai sound pretty good when she talks shit too XD . the MC, however, is the average unmotivated chick and sounds pretty apt.OP was standard cute girls stuff and an immediate skip, ED is artistically nice but not audio-wise, but I guess it'll depend on the taste.


Art and animation 6/10
Man, I miss madhouse of old, maybe since this is a low budget slice of life they are trying to cut corners but cmon mate, I definitely expected better Art is good the background art is generic and totally pale compared to the high budget slice of life of this season like akebi chan and Priconne but the animation is totally shit, stiff animation and still frames are everywhere, with the 90s looking generic background art which really doesn't help.


If you are very interested in Japanese culture this anime is an easy sell, otherwise, I can only recommend it if you are a Slice of life fan. It's a sad thing to see even a studio like Madhouse producing something this low budget, but the anime on its own isn't bad ad is a fun watch.

Police in a Pod is a very unusual show, and one which I greatly enjoyed.

Other reviews talk about its background and Manga more (which I have not read) so I'll just be focusing on a brief, spoiler-free breakdown here.

The story is fairly simple, following the lives of two policewomen - the young Kawaii and her more mature partner, Sergeant Fuji - as they go about their lives as members of the police force. Though often comedic, the show still manages to carry a serious tone when dealing with the darker aspects of police work. The characters are what really sell the show though, ... and I found them to be very enjoyable, particularly once the wider cast of supporting actors is introduced and fleshed out enough to begin to have some real depth. The comedy was mostly on point for me, with there being a bit of repetition in some cases, but not enough to drag the show down. For most of its run, up until the final few episodes, the show is largely episodic, which fits its style well, given that the second main draw of this show, after its characters and comedy, is the fascinating look it takes at the daily lives of policemen.

In sum, if quirky, but largely believable characters and a humorous take on modern police work sounds like something you would be interested in, then you'll probably love this show, like I did. If those things aren't interesting to you though, then this show will probably fall flat for you.

Who knew Police training would get their own training anime.

But it also surprises me, considering you don't really find many animes, or animes lately that are centered around the Police of all things. Which is surprising honestly. You'd think there would be a fair few series. You see it in certain animes, where there is a detective agency, or a police friend. But that's about it, so it's real nice to actually have a show, that's more directed towards that. Props to show for that.

As for how the show is? While it can be hit or miss at times, but it's certainly worth a watch ... I'd say. There are many different reasons as to why you can enjoy such a show, and why it'd keep your attention from start to finish.

The art and sound are really great touches when it comes to this show. There is so much little details, and things don't look a mess in both ends of the field. The movement of the animation is real good too. While the art style isn't breathtaking as certain other things. But it's still certainly a highlight.

The story in itself is real simple to get, and that's not a discredit to the show. But more to it's themes. It's not a world danger plot line, and it doesn't need to be. What it is, is a well thought out police show, that honestly we need more of. It doesn't beat around the bush with things, it treats the idea of being a cop very seriously. As for the story elements? Well. Imagine not liking your job, and struggling. Along with some deep running backstory that really touches at your heart strings. Only for someone new to walk in, whom is an experienced model at said job, and is now your mentor. Turning what you thought wasn't a good fit for you, into something that can be wort while. But in as a story sense. It almost feels like you're watching Cops be...Well cops. In a more cute, and sometimes funny way. Sometimes very personal too. They really don't leave anything out. The second episode is a perfect example of this. Topics that are very hard to deal with, but you'll learn quickly just how more serious the life of a cop can be.

As for the characters themselves. They're a fun bunch, and have nice features about them, and their personalities that make them likable. They do their job, and they're good in their own right. Seiko is as beautiful as her professionalism is. She fits the mentor role super well. With Mai as the one she is mentoring, as she tries her best to be a cop, now that's she entered the fray. They're a nice partnership to say the least. They're not the only ones of course, there is quite the few likable characters within this show alone.

I'd honestly give this a go. It can be cute. It can be charming. It can be all of the above. While the comedy can be hit or miss, as it really doesn't hook you in right away, but it can really surprise you with it's charm.. Defo worth a watch.

It is really just a dumb show about policemen work with a low budget. Everything about this show is average. The jokes and funny situations aren't extra funny, but I find them funny sometimes. Especially if the characters grow on you a little you start to enjoy it more.

But I wanted to highlight something else. The show doesn't forget to remind us of the harsh reality, that world is a cruel place and people die sometimes. And imo portrays it very well and in just right ratio to the funny situations.

If this show was just a plain comedy I probably would've give it lower score ... and not even write this review, since it's not really that interesting, unless you have a personal interest in how police works in Japan/ police overall. But thanks to those not so funny stuff that ocassionally popped here and there, the show got somewhat deeper and more meaningful. I'm not saying this a good show, but it was a FINE show which you could probably give a shot, if it interests you just a little (like it did me).

Hakozume is an anime about a duo of cops that do cops things to let you know that cops are useful, and that would be it. It could sound like a gross simplification, but that is the whole argument. The anime shows a girl that wants to quit her position of a cop in a kouban because she feels disappointed at her job, forgetting the reasons to be a cop in the first place. Then, another cop appears, and shows her, through a completely dull and generic set of occurrences, that cops can save lives, families, the whales, the world, and the aliens. If I ... were paranoid, I would think that the main girl is supposed to be the audience, an audience that have forgotten the importance of cops in modern society and thinks about them as beasts that rob money and applies violence into the populace. And while I live in a complete shithole, so the past definition fits the cops here, I suppose that in Japan it is not the case. So, ignoring the fact that this is an advertisement to get people into the police, is this anime worth to be watched?

I would go with no; this anime is just riddled with an utter lack of creativeness. The dialogues are beyond horrible, they add absolutely no energy, personality, or life to the series, it somehow just explains the line of thought that one can infer from the events that are being shown in screen, in the most agnostic and straight form. One could easily replace the dialogues with a chatbot powered by GPT-3, and that chatbot would give us more humanity to whatever was described here. The abhorrent dialogues just flat the interactions of the criminals and cops, they feel cartoony and preachy, was that the intention? The same lack of creativeness can be found in the diverse set of criminal events that happens through the series, I will do a game here, answer the next questions:

- An underage girl is having compensated dating, have a high body count, and have a new stepfather. Why is the girl like that?
- A grandmother is lonely and do criminal acts to get the attention that she doesn’t get from her family. Which is the solution?
- A person asks the number to a cop. Which is the punchline?

Maybe I’m a disturbed person that have read too much hentai and watched too many detective shows, but the way the anime presents any of the past premises makes the whole experience just a continuous eye-roll. It can’t catch the attention to anyone who have watched more than one cop show in their life, because it doesn’t add anything to the viewer, it is just a portrait of anything you should already know, without characters that add flavor. The problem is that there is no fun in having a set of events with a direct moral direction and a direct cause-consequence that can be easily inferred, the fun exists on the dilemmas, contradictions, argument fights, problems related with how the cop world functions. And that doesn’t exist in Hakozume, the problem of Hakozume is that the intention of the show is nothing but to pander and create a common ground where nothing can be debated, the characters are uncharismatic so you don’t feel alienated by their presence, the events are easy to grab so you don’t get a multidimensional interpretation, the jokes have the same wittiness as your uncle after drinking way too much in a dinner, it just doesn’t try to provoke anything but admiration.

While all those problems exist, there are some good aspects of this show. The colorful palette and crisp designs make you fall easily in a comfort zone, it is just an anime that is easily digestible by the eyes. There are also some interesting intersections between the role of the woman in a male dominated field and their perspective, and most of the events have a moral lesson that can be useful for a person that have never been watched or read anything about it, or to confirm your ideas about it too, confirming your own morals in an anime is really fun!!

In conclusion, the worst aspect of this show is how offensive its unoffensive narrative is. The show is just worth watching if you are either a want to be cop (So you get motivation), a person that is unaware of what a cop is (So you get a solid biased perspective about it), or a cop that is about to retire because the ACAB sentiment is growing strong. In any other case, the anime fails at being funny (Can we get an episode about this anime being arrested for comedy homicide?), interesting, innovative, emotive, surprising, and any other positive adjective that could make it watchable. The main conclusion is, if being a cop in Japan is this boring, why couldn’t they include some non-robotic characters?

This is the Daily Lives of Police Officers. Like Judy Hopps from Zootopia, the main duo spends most of their time writing speeding tickets. And since this anime takes place in Japan, half their time is also spent catching underaged smokers and teenagers who skip school.

Mai Kawai is a new police officer fresh from the academy. Why does she join the police? Her father lost his job due to a company scandal, so he wanted her to work in civil service. And this was the only civil service job she could get. Such noble intentions! And she hates the work! Or at least, she feels ... uncomfortable when civilians insult her as a police officer, so she’s about to resign when she meets…

Sergeant Seiko Fuji, a former member of the Criminal Investigations Department. When her “aggressive pep talk” gets reported as bullying, she gets demoted to the police box and becomes Kawai’s mentor. She curses like the proverbial sailor, and she’s the most competent among the police and detectives.

As police officers, Kawai and Fuji deal with more sensitive issues, including pedophilia and suspected elder abuse. The police and detectives have a lot of respect and compassion for people, and each story ends on a light-hearted note.

There's a lot of sexism from civilians toward the policewomen, but the police department responds well, and they have a great work dynamic. Kawai and Fuji's senpai-kohai relationship is so wholesome! Fuji is definitely the mentor we all need.

I realize this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I swear its worth a watch as all hidden gems are.

This isn't a hard dramatic cop anime. Its kinda slice of life mixed with real Japanese police tactics, and it doesn't really try to be more than that. Yes, there are are very sad/even horrific scenes in this anime, but the tone tends to stay lighthearted.

I enjoyed that it talks about how being a cop in Japan can obliterate your private life in certain aspects. As your on call in case of a harrowing event and will have to drop everything in a matter of ... minutes. In case of a natural disaster, you probably won't be there to protect your own family...and yet that's the job they signed up for. Its really sad, but realistic. And they just learn to live with that...kinda. Sake helps when dates go bust.

I also enjoyed how they don't try to make it seem glamourous. Stake outs take forever and you could be up for several days smelling like trash by the end of it. You could be stuck doing paperwork all night after someone calls 9-1-1 simply for attention. Or you could be called to help recover an old man's dead body so the family can move on.

I liked how despite it being light hearted, it was real. And given how lame the Winter '22 anime season was...this was definitely a breath of fresh air for me.

If you like light hearted, educational anime series definitely give this one a go! <3

+ One of those underappreciated anime with a work-life theme, because of its realistic mature theme and ordinary-looking characters.

+ Started out strong and kept that momentum going throughout the series. The plot is lighthearted enough and full of comedic moments, but there is always a that serious moment where the plot twist finally kicks in.

+ There is no romance narrative involved, only healthy workplace competition, but this keeps the series focused on police work-life rather than an unnecessary plot.

+ This anime also demonstrates that while government organizations are flawed as a whole, there are individuals within who do their jobs well regardless of their end ... target or agenda.

+ The series uses some real-life crimes or incidents, which can be highly unsettling at times, but this is the key to making it much more believable and real. Viewers' discretion is advised

Sick of only hearing about police brutality, reactionary men's rights advocacy, and slick TV crime dramas? Police in a Pod spits in the face of all of that. Police in a Pod is what you'd call a "true slice of life".

Police in a Pod does something amazing - the serious scenes are intentionally brain-dead predictable. By not introducing some crazy plot twist, it gives itself room to present each situation for what it is. It's like an adult sitting you down and explaining to you an uncomfortable concept. No hot takes, just what it is and what it feels like. And it always tops off ... by having Kawai redeem her stupidity in other ways.

The show goes in depth into how much it sucks for women working for the police in Japan and also how women really do have their strengths and weaknesses compared to men. I had a friend joke that he came out of the anime hating men. And this anime makes it easy to see why policewomen tend to that side too.

Jokes get a bit stale as it leads to the end, but pulls up fantastically for the ending. The ending is easily the best part of the show, and I wish they used more of that instead of the more general workplace comedy.

Art gets the job done. Story is good and actually picks up at the end. CG cars, strange for a police anime but not that crazy once you realize it isn't about the chases. I didn't notice the music.

The one thing this show fails to do, however, is convince anyone watching this to join the police. Japanese police work culture is nuts.

So uh, the show is still currently airing but I doubt my mind will change much in the last couple weeks.

A very well put together show that I believe is a good representation of what the life of a Japanese policewoman is like.

My only problem is that with tags like Comedy and PG13 it makes it sound like a kind of feel good show and it is not. Maybe at the start but later on there are some pretty heavy themes.

Overall if you have any interest in the Japanese police force then give it a go, but be ready to shed some tears or ... feel sick more than to smile and laugh as the show progresses.

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 that 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.

Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu (Police in a Pod)

Police in a Pod follows Mai Kawai, a police officer that has grown increasingly disgruntled and disappinted with her job. Kawai decides to throw in the towel and is about to turn in her resignation only a few months into her work when Seiko Fuji, a star member of the Criminal Affairs Division, enters their precint and becomes her new mentor and partner.

PLOT - 9/10
The premise and concept of Police in a Pod is extremely unique and I believe is the strongest point of the show. It provides a glimpse into the lives of police offers ... and the various struggles that they face while serving the people. With the author having served 10 years in the police force as a female officer, Police in a Pod serves as her way of shining a light on the field. Personally, I found this really interesting as you're able to see the inner workings of what goes in behind the work of police officers. What I loved most are the serious and often heart-wrenching and heart-warming themes and topics that are tackled throughout each episode. For that alone, I really appreciated this show despite maybe having some episodes that do not measure up to the better episodes throughout the season.

ART / SOUND - 7/10
Police in a Pod boasts an old school and seemingly hand-drawn art style. I find it unique and definitely eye catching especially with the characters. The characters are well designed with heavy focus on their eyes and I really liked their various expressions throughout the show. It also has decent action sequences as expected from Madhouse. However, the art style stands out a bit too much for me. It includes heavy outlines on the characters and there are some frames that the contrast between the characters models and the background is just too noticeable that it makes it look as if the characters were cut from a magazine and pasted onto a canvas; something that I was not very fond of and grew extremely noticeable. The music is alright, I guess. Nothing really stood out to me too much.

CHARACTERS - 7/10
The characters didn't feel too special to me. What I liked most was the dynamic between Kawai and Fuji as mentor and mentee but also as friends. Supporting characters bring a nice added layer of development and interaction among the characters which was appreciated. Overall, the characters are all very likeable and it is nice seeing how they have certain specialties which is necessary for a successful team. One thing I felt could have been improved on was the pacing of Kawai's growth as an officer. I felt that throughout the season there were limited moments where in she was able to exhibit her growth in competence as an officer. Often she would just learn a thing or two by the end of the episode from her seniors, but isn't really able to apply any of it until the final arc with the big special investigation. I would have liked to see her showcase her growth and development more gradually throughout the season to give us viewers something more to cheer for.

ENJOYMENT - 5/10
Okay, listen, I want to like this show, I really do. From its unique premise and art style to its characters, I really wanted to. BUT, it can be very hard to watch and extremely boring at times. Police in a Pod has some great episodes and moments that can be extremely touching, sometimes eye-opening, and great comdeic moments and those are the highest points when watching this show. However, there are more times that it is just a slog to watch and is barely entertaining at all. Maybe it's just me, but I found many parts quite boring. I actually stopped following it weekly after Episode 5 because it simply didn't excite me and I had nothing to look forward to anymore. When all the episodes finished airing, I decided to finish it just for the sake of it and it was still tough to get through at times.

OVERALL - 6/10
Police in a Pod has an excellent and unique premise with how it looks to shine a light on the lives of police officers and specifically the challenges of female officers in the field. It has a unique art style that I do appreciate but is personally not for me, but I definitely see the appeal it may have for others. The show tackles serious themes and has flashes of good comedic moments, but ultimately lacks excitement and enjoyability when watching it. Personally, I don't know if this would be a show to recommend as it does get extremely boring, but it does have a great and meaningful premise with good moments sprinkled throughout the season.

Initially, I wouldn't dream of watching a comedy buddy cop anime about two police girls strolling around the neighbourhood, enforcing the law and making sure they abide by it, but here I am and I am pleased with what it has to offer.

Story: 6/10
If you are forced to do an essay about a life experience that forever changed your life, this would be it. The girl hates her job being a policewoman, given the fact that she didn't expect it to be quite a challenge, thus regretting her decisions. All of a sudden, a role model started coming into her life and becoming her partner, ... while also acting as her mentor.

Pretty normal, it doesn't do anything out of the ordinary than that. It follows a standard formula of having humour in some situations, treats sudden and mature themes with respect and empathy, while it doesn't offer an inspiring world, or out worldly fantasies that reel you in, it does a few things right just as I have stated.

Art: 7/10
On some occasions, the art may look a bit thick and inconsistent, but the characters are refreshing to watch other than your average loli, cute, and busty girls with one guy stuck as a generic nice guy. I like the way they look, albeit the use of CGI can sometimes abrupt my immersion, but it is indeed a pleasure to grasp all of it.

Character: 7/10
Like I said earlier, the main character seems to be uninspired, incompetent, and the kind of person who would take shortcuts along a hard path. Her flaws are noticeable yet she doesn't dwell on them and just continues her life as a normal person because that's what life offers in the end. On the other hand, you have an ambitious, wise-cracking former detective who can get pretty obnoxious if you leave her to her own devices, yet I don't hate on it, since both of them don't dwell on them too much where it makes them insufferable. The other characters are fine and help commend the girls to a better degree.

Enjoyment: 8/10
I didn't expect the show to be quite amusing. Anyone who likes their fair share of life being brought to screen can take their time off to enjoy this work. There's no overarching plot about some dark plans being revealed along the way and any edgy aspects of the story that could potentially ruin the story. It's just a simple life story about policewomen. And I respect that fully.

Hakozume (Police in a Pod) struggles with its identity a bit. It oozes the feel of a Saturday Morning Cartoon / Slice of Life show, but strangely enough it later reverts into a traditional anime story line. And within that, it doesn't really have the space to breath properly.

To row back a bit: Hakozume is somewhat sectionalized into three parts: the introduction, the middle, and the anime. All parts share some distinction thou. The general episode length is halved to around 11 minutes and they mostly encapsulate the protagonist Police Box Women Kawai and Fuji in their work.
And the introduction part in a good step ... in into their world and their personalities. But the show uses all its positive traits here.
The middle section is a big let down in terms of characterization. This is highly likely due to the fact that the setting and premise changes drastically. Instead of just doing police box work, which mostly was minor work, they almost always end up in the Criminal Affairs station and with their characters in one way or the other. Sadly, it only shows to me that the original premise wasn't really enough to stay interesting. This is also partly due to the fact that aside the main pair, no other characters from their police box is introduced, ever. This middle part also is the one which feels the most random and episodes tend to vary wildly in their contents.
The anime part (which in this case I would argue are the last 4 episodes) is where the renaissance of the show happens. And the starting flag for this is obviously the car traffic accident episode. It is a hard shift in tone in contrast to all episode before. And I commend it for finding itself in the dark abyss which is the police life. Such episodes are also good vehicles to contrast veterans and rookies. The earlier episodes did this as well, and the middle suffered from a tag-along syndrome where the rookie was thrown into problems our of her capacity with all veterans around her which mostly solved everything for her.
The last 3 episodes form the core of the anime part. In this section the show tries to forgo its 11 minute episode runtime as these form a coherent story. But they feels extra weird when the (22-minute) episode starts a review of what happened in the last (11-minute) episode which literally happened 1 minute ago. Nonetheless, the arc structure is highly beneficial for this kind of show which emulates a comedy/slice of life/sitcom as their drama can have more time to breath and build longer terms of suspension.

There isn't really much to talk about Hakozume in general. The starting story structure works in the small setting, hampers its growth in the middle part and abandon it completely by the end. Thus it is hard to see how a potential second season would play out. I could read the manga for it but the setting and the characters aren't that strongly developed to be this engaging. On that note, the adaptation seems to be extremely faithful to its origin in its content. The designs are somewhat changed from what I have seen, but it fits the characters better in that sense.
For the most part the art and sound compliment the scenes but never take the attention.

In total, Hakozume suffers from its roots and wants to evolve into something different. But the early decisions and an ever expanding core cast limit the potential the roots had to begin with. If the author would redo this whole season it probably would be a complete different thing.

If Buddy Cop anime are your thing- and even if they're not- I couldn't recommend this more strongly: it far surpassed my expectations and probably will yours too.
The story of Mai Kawai is a reminder that, not everyone can be top of the class. Not everyone gets accepted into the #1 High School, or can get into college. So what happens to all the ordinary people left? Japan has a fairly large underclass of people living on benefits, and not all of them are elderly... Mai confronts an adulthood unsure about her future; and wanting to avoid the fate of her father who is ... an alcoholic; she finds herself a rookie recruit to Japan's civil service. It's a job that doesn't require an entrance exam, has a low but stable salary, and at first glance appears easy enough; and she gets partnered up with Seiko Fuji and all she has to do is show up to work each day and ride around in a car and deal with fairly straightforward complaints from citizens and answer calls... should be easy right?
Hahahahahahaaa!!!

The show has a really good sense of humor. Mai's circumstances are relatable to anyone just starting out in their 20s and wondering what the rest of their life is supposed to look like. And all the rest of the people in her department started out the same way- but the people she first regards as kind of weird, maybe harsh, or baffling- are dedicated, hard working people all trying to do their part to keep their community safe. Her approach at first seems to be "la dee da, what ever"- and the show does a brilliant job of making you think everything just the same old boring thing over and over- until the moment it isn't.

There are episodes of this show that took my breath away. And once it gets going, you start to see how a job that lets anyone enter and anyone can do- comes with challenges that people in their cozy offices could never imagine.

Mai's experience in the police force is confusing, demanding, exciting, and exhausting; and each day is entirely unpredictable. Long, agonizing hours of boring monotony are punctuated by moments of utter shock and bewilderment. You go from laughter to jaw dropping shock and overwhelming sadness without warning- and this is the life of a police officer. I feel like you could look at people in the profession entirely differently after watching this; it's a superb anime and I strongly recommend it. Can't wait to rewatch

Solid police show that sort of goes into the various duties and scenarios that may be occur as a member of the police force (or at least in some part of Japan). Shion Wakayama's performance as Mai Kawai is my kind of humor, and her delivery and Mai's experience as a fresh faced officer really offer a good amount of enjoyment to the show.

I will say that the show does drag for a bit in between, the music isn't that great, and all the other characters can be one-dimensional at times (contributing to moments when the show begins to drag)

But eventually the story and ... character interactions tighten up (natural to the conclusion of the show) to bring the enjoyment back.

7/10

Slice-of-Life police drama? Not sure how to describe this, but SoL is definitely part of it, and true SoL too. Outside of an ending arc these are individual stories about how hard it is to be a police officer told by a frankly hopeless cast of cops. Well, are they hopeless or brilliant? That's honestly part of the charm. Also, I don't know how true to life this is so I recommend taking it with a pinch of salt and not a true representation.

The characters are fun, not super fleshed out but they are enjoyable to spend time with and they do have unique personalities. ... The animation style is clean but on the budget end of things, beautiful isn't a word I'd use but distinctive is. The stories are fun for the most part, but it doesn't shy away from harder topics, though it also doesn't really dwell on them. Don't expect it to say much, just show you the situation and expect your empathy to do the rest.

Honestly on top of having a good time it reminded me just how hard and unforgiving being a cop anywhere is. Go in with empathy and I think you'll get a ton out of this one, more than you expect.

No spoilers ahead.

Have you ever watched a brilliant detective show? Either normal, or gritty, like say CSI Miami? On the other hand, how about something about hilarious and/or idiotic politice in some comedy (say hot fuzz)? Alternatively, how about just a police action movie? I'm sure most have and are aware of how great and interesting each of those can be...

How about slice of life police? Well... I mean there's room there to be interesting too, right? Maybe, but this is definitely not the case!

...

First, let's break up the elements. Story. It's a slice of life, should I even say there's pretty much nothing ... there? Art. Its madhouse so you'd expect it's good but... It's not. Extremely bland, semi lazy looking, not stylized at all. Music? Generic. Characters? Boring and flat. Comedy? Well there's a little bit there but it's rare and light chuckle worthy at best. Is there even ANYTHING there then? Well, I guess it can be wholesome and relatable sometimes.

Now I didn't watch it though till the end, only one third, but I just can't stand watching this show any longer, it's about as enjoyable as eating stale cheap bread without anything else. Its also rather awkward and preachy quite often, as if it was made as ACTUAL police PR material or something, and given the person who made this supposedly used to work the force, it's not even far off the mark.

So in short, with all my love to the police force with some exceptions, and general love for the many police themed media out there that can be and often is extremely entertaining, I would NOT recommend this mess to anyone, unless they really like government employees and slice of life or something. Or maybe want to become a Japanese police man/woman at some point. Or a social worker? Beacuse from this show, the Japanese force is apparently partly that too, for some reason.

Police in a Pod Review

After graduating from high school, Mai Kawai's priority was to find a job with a stable income. But the only institute she was accepted in was the police academy, which she reluctantly joined. Now, she's a police officer who's unexpectedly treated and criticised harshly by the citizens. Disheartened, she decides to leave the job after only few moths of appointment until she meets Seiko Fuji, her new senior and decides to give this job a second chance.

Story:
The plotline is intriguing. The execution is decent. The pacing is perfect. However, the humours didn't hit the right spot at all. It has a ... comedy tag but in no way made me laugh. If not for the Slice of Life content and the last case, this aspect would have got an even lower rating from me.

Characters:
There's nothing much to say about the characters. All of there are quite one dimensional and character development is almost negligible. There was a potential in Kawai's character which was wasted. The character dynamics remained same throughout the series without showing any changes. Pretty boring in this aspect.

Music and Voice-Acting:
The opening track is good while the ending track is decent but neither of them has that x-factor to keep me hooked which is highly expected from a series of this genre. The bgm is decent. The voice actors did a very good job.

Animation and Artwork:
The Artwork was good and was well enhanced by the animation. It was fluid and visually attractive. Especially the chasing sequences were fun to watch. The best part of this series, one can say.

Police in a Pod is a one time watch at best. Its main lacking is the absence of good comedy even though it has a comedy tag. When I started watching it, I had a much higher expectation, so it disappointed me. However, it has its good parts, and one may give it a try if they are looking for a quick, light hearted watch.