Machiko Mayuzumi (Yui Aragaki) is a young lawyer determined to keep a man she believes to be innocent from being convicted of murder. The evidence appears to be against her, though, so when she is advised to consult with Kensuke Komikado (Masato Sakai), a lawyer who has never lost a case, she immediately seeks him out. Unfortunately Komikado, while brilliant, is an arrogant, temperamental Jerkass who cares far more about making as much money as he can and maintaining his perfect record than he does about silly concepts like "justice" and "morality." Mayuzumi nevertheless goes into debt to him to secure his help, then agrees to work for him to pay off the debt. As they try cases together, she struggles to maintain her sense of ethics in the face of Komikado’s questionable, but effective, legal tactics.
Legal High is a Japanese legal comedy/drama. It aired for one season in 2012, then a double-length special episode, then another season in 2013, then a second special. A Korean adaptation, starring Jin Goo and Seo Eun-soo, aired in 2019.
Tropes include:
- Ambiguous Ending:
- The end of the first episode suggests that Mayuzumi"s client really was guilty, but it’s not confirmed one way or the other.
- The end of the second season also leaves Mayuzumi (and the audience) deeply unsure about the truth of Kiwa Ando"s case.
- Amoral Attorney:
- Komikado has absolutely no compunctions about using any underhanded tactic he can dream up to win a case.
- In the second special, Kazumi Kujo is referred to as a "racketeering lawyer," meaning he basically harasses defendants so much they settle just to get rid of him.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: After returning from a secret meeting with Miki’s attractive (and busty) secretary, Sawachi, Komikado calls Mayuzumi "pettanko." (But she doesn’t even know what the term means.)
- Dope Slap: In the first special, some potential clients of Miki’s ask him how many times he has won and lost against Komikado. Miki’s associate, Ide, says they have never won against him. Miki and Sawachi slap him upside the head.
- Dream Sequence: Mayuzumi has one in which Komikado and Hanyu have a duel over her. She realizes pretty quickly that it must be a dream.
- Emancipated Child: One episode concerns a child actress who hires Komikado to emancipate her from her mother.
- Evolving Credits: The opening credits depict a Komikado and Mayuzumi having a kaiju-like battle over a city.
- Gambit Pileup: Episode 9 of the second season is this between Komikado and Mayuzumi. Komikado falls into a deep funk after his efforts to free Kiwa Ando seem headed for disaster. Then Mayuzumi is attacked in the street by citizens angered that anyone would try to free Ando. With her in the hospital, Komikado recovers his wits and successfully gets Ando’s conviction overturned. Then he and Mayuzumi argue about whether he was manipulating her into getting more information for their case, or she was manipulating him by getting hurt and motivating him to be more effective. At one point she insists that “Even though I had realized that you had realized that I had realized I went on with it!”
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Mayuzumi’s singing shows up a couple of times and is remarkably bad; in the first special several characters, watching a video of her singing, actually recoil. (Mayuzumi herself seems entirely unaware of how bad she is.)
- Hypocritical Humor: In one episode, Komikado takes the side of a real estate developer that wants to build an apartment complex but is opposed by a citizens' group that don’t want such a huge building blocking the sun and spoiling their view. Komikado makes it clear he thinks the citizens are standing in the way of economic progress. Then at the end, when he finds out an apartment building is being built next to him (which will block the sunshine to his butler's garden, thus depriving him of fresh vegetables), he immediately resolves to file a lawsuit to prevent it.
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Sawachi, Miki's secretary, is not above using sex appeal to get what she wants. (She's played by former bikini model Eiko Koike.) In the first special, she conspicuously pulls her shirt lower, then bends down in front of Miki's disgruntled clients to get them to calm down and listen to him.
- Jack of All Trades: Hattori, Komikado's butler, is constantly revealing a wide variety of skills acquired from the numerous careers he previously had.
- Large Ham: Komikado. Partly to enhance his courtroom theatrics (once, while he was leaping around the courtroom, the judge admonished him that he was not in a "Broadway show"), and partly just because he really is that emotional.
- Mean Boss: Komikado frequently insults Mayuzumi (especially her supposed bow-leggedness) and ridicules her belief in justice. At one point, when they're representing an exorcist, he makes her go through a demonstration of exorcism in the courtroom, including having salt thrown all over her.
- Might Makes Right: Komikado has a strange version of this philosophy. Essentially, he believes that whoever wins in court was ultimately correct, and that any underhanded tactic to achieve this result is therefore justified.
- Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Komikado never loses, no matter what kind of case, criminal or civil, he is handling.
- OOC Is Serious Business: In the second special, after a dramatic day in their trial, Mayuzumi tells Hattori that it was the first time she had seen Komikado behave "respectably" in court.
- Smug Smiler: Komikado is a rare protagonist version. In court he is usually wearing a superior smirk, although this is sometimes to cover up sheer panic when a case starts to go against him.
- Son of a Whore: In one episode, a soy sauce manufacturer dies, and each of his three children has a will that states they inherit the business. Mayuzumi (and, through her, Komikado) is hired by one son, Kisuke, who believes the other two look down on him because he is only their half-sibling and the son of a geisha.
- Still Believes in Santa: Mayuzumi states that she still believes in Santa, though she later clarifies this. She says that, although the legend may have started with Saint Nicholas, the spirit of gift-giving quickly spread to others, and so anyone who gives a gift can be said to be Santa Claus.
- Win-Win Ending: Haruki Hanyu, a former protégé of Komikado's, believes the best result is when everyone involved in a trial is happy with the outcome. Komikado thinks this attitude is impossibly naïve.