Toyota 86 coupes drift through new Japanese cop show

A new Japanese police series promises a throwback to classic shows chock full of shootouts and car chases. Farewell, Gun: Metropolitan Police SGU is an 8-episode streamer that harkens back to old school standards of the genre like Seibu Keisatsu or Abunai Deka. Only in this case, instead of Nissan Skylines and Leopards, we have drifting matte black Toyota 86es.

The program centers around the officers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police’s SGU, or Special Gun Unit. Firearm ownership is rare in Japan, though exceptions can be made for hunting or sporting reasons. Gun license applicants have to undergo a mental health evaluation and take a shooting range test. Of course, in TV shows there are guns a plenty, and neither the baddies or the officers display any hesitation in using them.

The ensemble cast even includes the godfather of Japanese cop shows, Hiroshi Tachi. He starred as Tatsu in Seibu Keisatsu, Det. Takayama in Abunai Deka, and Ken Date in Gorilla: Metropolitan Police Squad 8. It’s a long career but the 73-year-old actor, who also voiced Duke Togo in Golgo 13, looks as cool as ever. There’s even seemingly a reference to Seibu‘s Sgt. Daimon’s when he dons aviator shades takes a sniper rifle up into a chopper. Hiroshi Tachi’s castmate from Abunai Deka, Toru Nakamura, also appears.

While previous outings were sponsored by Nissan and Mitsubishi, Farewell, Gun appears to have some heavy Toyota product placement. The main cars are a pair of ZN8s, one that’s a mostly stock bodied and one with a widebody and wing. Other background cars include Crown sedans and Hiace vans, but our favorite nod to tuning is the control room scene where one of the keyboard jockeys is sitting in a BRIDE racing seat.

Farewell, Gun: Metropolitan Police SGU is streaming on NTT Docomo’s streaming service Lenimo.