Just started watching three or four different dramas this week, and while all of them seem interesting enough, it’s the super fun TV ASAHI j-drama MOP GIRL that’s come out at the head of the pack! Strange Title? Heck! Check out the STORY!
Adorable Kitagawa Keiko stars as Momoko Hasegawa, a girl who, at a very young age, was given the powers of precognition, passed onto her by a mysterious woman who died saving Momo from being struck by a motorcycle. The powers themselves don’t surface til she’s a teenager, and up until then has lived a life where she feels like she’s an inept, not-too-bright misfit who can’t fit in anywhere.
When we first meet up with her, she’s just been demoted to her company’s lower branches, a clean-up service called “Little Angels”, and once there, Momo is shocked to find her job consists of cleaning up after bloody murder scenes AND taking care of the bodies! But the job takes an unexpected turn when she recognizes the corpse at her first assignment as her beloved high school teacher!
The police tell her the deceased was shot and killed attempting to rob a bank. Knowing he was someone who wouldn’t readily do such a desperate thing, Momoko tries to figure out what has happened, and here’s where her powers finally come bursting out- While looking over the personal effects of her teacher, she suddenly hears a ringing in her head… then she passes out and awakens…only to find she’s back at the beginning of the day!
The thing I love about it is that unlike “Quantum Leap”, Momoko actually lives the day first, and only after seeing the body at the morgue does she “jump back”, and in the grand tradition of “Groundhog Day”, she repeats the day all over again- this time armed with the foresight of what has to be corrected to “fix” the problem and erase the victim’s death!
And Kitagawa Keiko…! After watching only a few episodes so far, she’s completely swept me away! For someone like me who is still in a daze of love for Ayase Haruka, Kitagawa proves the perfect tonic- Reminding me of a mix between Ayase, Ueto Aya and even Ishikawa Rika, throw in a bubbly and warm hearted personality with just the right amount of ditsyness and klutziness and you’ve got yourself a REAL HEARTBREAKER!! I love this girl!
Can’t wait to see what this girl does next!
