Art Imitates Life in the Surreal "Ito-Kun A to E"

There was a movie that came out a few years ago that I really loved called “Onnatachi wa Nido Asobu” (Women Play Twice) about an author with writer’s block who eavesdrops in on the women customers in the cafe restaurant he goes to every day and, listening to their problems, weaves stories featuring his own his own versions of what he imagined happened to them afterwards...The new drama series “Ito-Kun A To E” takes this premise and even goes one step further!

Fumino Kimura stars as celebrity author Rio Yazaki, who is famous for scripting a bestselling drama called “Tokyo Doll House”. Now in a slump, she holds a lecture to promote her new essay book, and her publisher Shinya Tamura (Kei Tanaka) has her participants write down their romantic problems (to give her ideas for her next project).

The lecture is a huge success, with women of all types coming to meet the famous writer and enter to win a chance to confer with her one-on-one! 
Among them are the pretty but insecure Tomomi Shimabara(Nozomi Sasaki)…

The introverted Shuko Nose (Mirai Shida)…

The vibrant Satoko Aida (Elaiza Ikeda)…

and the wide-eyed and bookish Miki Jinbo (Kaho)…

When all the essays are collected, Yazaki notices one strange thing: four of the guests (the aforementioned women) who wrote about their romantic troubles ALL seems to be worrying about an unidentified man named ITO.

Intrigued, Yazaki interviews all four women and muses that this Ito they’re worrying about might in fact be the SAME GUY!

Now fully invested, Yazaki begins to write her stories around the scenarios the girls might be going through, and it’s here that the show takes a surreal tone: As Yazaki counsels the girls (in the first episode, she’s helping Nozomi Sasaki’s Shimabara Tomomi), we seemingly follow Shimabara as she takes Yazaki’s advice, in this case confessing her love to her sempai, but Yazaki is narrating the story and as the scene plays out, Yazaki herself walks alongside Shimabara like a guardian angel so you know what we’re seeing is what Yazaki is imagining more than what is really happening.

 

One thing that’s funny is that since Yazaki has no idea what this Ito-kun looks like, in her imagination, she puts her publisher Tamura in his place! So this unsuspecting guy has a dual role of being both Yazaki's cohort of sorts as well as “playing’ the main subject of her book!

Very surreal and at times a bit confusing as to what we are supposed to believe is really happening and what’s only fanciful assumptions by the crafty Yazaki.

But it’s quite a funny show and by GOSH the girls in it are heavenly to look at, especially Elaiza Ikeda whom I’m seeing for the first time here, and of course wonderful Nozomi Sasaki. Actually kind of funny because Nozomi is supposed to be playing a girl who gets rejected by the guy she likes…yeah right as if that would EVER happen in real life, LOL!

PS: You’re not supposed to know who this mysterious “Ito-Kun” is, but unfortunately they’ve already posted up pictures and credits for the upcoming Ito-Kun A To E Movie (to be released early Spring 2018) and darn it, they showed who the actor playing him is. So I guess that’s spoiled for me…if you want to keep the identity of Ito Kun a secret, stay away from the Asianwiki Blogs, LOL!
EDIT: Some forums are saying that the movie has nothing to do with the drama. Some say it's a sequel but some say it's a movie version OF the drama. I'm confused.
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com