I was definitely excited when I heard that Shun, Mao, and Hiroki were doing a drama together. They are so awesome. Considering it had the "Dolittle" title, I expected some sort of animal talking thing. There wasn't any. It's simply a nickname because Tottori is good with animals and his name kinda sounds like Dolittle. Ah, well. Onto the review:
I have to admit that, for the most part, I enjoyed the series. It took me a long time to warm up to Tottori but, if you pay close attention, you can see that he's an ass because he cares for the animals so much. He thinks that their human caretakers are idiots and, most of the time, he's right. In one episode, a girl allowed her ferret to run free in the house. The ferret chewed on her slippers, swallowed some rubber and almost died. Yet the girl refused to take responsibility for it and when the ferret was well enough to go home.....yup, she let him run free again and the ferret got sick again. It wasn't until the ferret almost died a second time that she realized her selfishness. So, yeah, I felt that he had every right to be an ass to her.
On the other side, you have Hanabishi. He is very popular and works well with people. Yet he can't overcome a past trauma, stopping him from being able to operate. He does get along with Tottori so I'm not sure why the two of them didn't form a partnership. Hanabishi could diagnose the problem and deal with the customer, while Tottori operated and cared for the animals. I think that if they joined forces, they could have been way more successful than they would be separately. Instead, Hanabishi keeps shipping animals off secretly to Tottori's clinic to be operated on. The whole thing kinda makes me want to bang my head on the table.
Tajima is right in the middle of this. In the first episode, Tottori heals her prized horse. She can't afford his fee so, after failing to get hired for any of the jobs she applied for, she goes to work for him to pay off the debt. During her tenure at the clinic, she finds her purpose in life. Of all of the characters, she is the one that grows the most throughout the series. To be honest, without her, the show wouldn't have been nearly as good. There is a hint of romance between her and Tottori but not enough to overwhelm the series. At the end, I was glad that she realized that she wanted to go to school to become an animal nurse.
As a whole, the show is a little slow. There are a variety of animal patients so it was nice to see them work on more than just dogs and cats. However, there is a ton of politicking going on. That part annoyed me. Everyone was all "Let's help the animals!" but then would stop something because it was against an agenda. Granted, that is how things can be in real life. But this is a television show. It's not supposed to be too real!
Anyway, if you can look past Tottori's arrogance and Hanabishi's want to please everyone, it's a decent series. It's more about conservation and helping animals than it is about the humans. The best part is that it's different from most of the other shows I've watched lately. It was refreshing.
Title: Meitantei Conan: Kudo Shinichi he no Chosenjo
Also known as: Detective Conan: Kudo Shinichi's Written Challenge
Broadcast date: 10/2/06
Genre: Detective Drama
Cast: Oguri Shun, Kurokawa Tomoka, Jinnai Takanori, Iwasa Mayuko
Plot: Kudo Shinichi is a famous high school detective. Just before his class trip, he receives a challenge letter. A kidnapper will abduct one of his classmates unless Shinichi can stop him!
What is good: The mysteries are actually pretty difficult.
What is bad: Unless you are a Detective Conan fan, this will probably be rather boring for you.
Overall rating: C+
Overall: I usually get a lot of enjoyment out of detective series. As long as the detectives aren't completely moronic and the cases aren't extremely easy, I'll be there every step of the way. However, I found this 10th anniversary of the Detective Conan series completely boring. The actors were good depictions of their anime counterparts. Even though I never watched the anime past a couple of episodes, I could easily identify each character. There was just nothing there to give it that extra 'oomph.' Shinichi seemed to be walking through the mysteries despite the fact that he was having trouble solving them. It would have been nice if there was a little more personality for each of the characters. Especially since, in the overall timeline, this special takes place before the anime series actually starts. There is another special coming out next year. Hopefully the characters will be a little more three-dimensional. 
Name: Oguri Shun
Nicknames: Ogushun, Guri, Ogurin
Birthday: 12/26/82
Height: 6' (183 cm)
Weight: 154 lbs (70 kg)