Going Up The Country in “Napoleon No Mura”

Karasawa Toshiaki and Aso Kumiko in Napoleon No Mura

About halfway through the newest Karasawa Toshiaki drama NAPOLEON NO MURA, the story of a public servant named Asai Eiji who moves up to a remote village in a town called Kagura. The town is dwindling in population and soon may be a ghost town, but Asai want to revitalize it and make it great again. 
Kagura’s townsfolk don’t see much hope in bringing back life into the place, but with the (reluctant) help of fellow Public assistant Misaki Yukari, he gets to know everyone and discover the little things that make the village so special...

What Asai doesn’t know is that the town is slated to be dissolved and redeveloped by the town’s dastardly and calculating Mayor Fukumoto (played by Sawamura Ikki, a guy who has played more rotten characters over the years than I can count) and an intense rivalry begins with the two- Asai trying energetically to reinvigorate the town, and Fukumoto waiting (and sometimes even meddling) for him to fail so he can oust Asai, proclaim the town officially dead,  and take over the town’s valuable land.

Naturally this is a show of the “feel good” variety, as Asai spends most of his days bonding with the town elders and learning their vast knowledge of craftsmanship and farming, but man, what makes the show for me is Misaki Yukari- as a no-nonsense woman who is given the task of keeping Asai in check, she is constantly in a whirlwind of exasperation! Kumiko Aso is one of my favorite J-movie comediennes (in movies like the hilarious Instant Numa) and her over-the-top reactions to all of Asai’s naïve ideas and plans keep me cracking up!

A laid back show one can watch while relaxing on a Sunday Evening, Toshiaki Karasawa is still doing what he does best, the very first Sunday Night “Toshiba Theater” J-drama I watched was his great “Kagayake Rintaro!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com