Little Miyuki (Naho Yokomizu) is attempting to ride her bicycle while her father Ryoichi Miyamoto (Yutaka Takenouchi) gets water out of a vending machine. She loses her balance and is confronted by a stern woman with a cold voice who tells her that she must lose her fear and go fast on the bike is she wants to gain control over it.
Offended by the severe woman’s lecturing, she is further shocked when Father runs up to them and in an apologetic voice, tells Miyuki, “Gomen, I never found the right time to tell you, but this is Akiko…and she’s going to be your NEW MOTHER!”
Completely businesslike, the cold woman formally bows towards Miyuki and offers her business card to her as she introduces herself! It has only been three years since Miyuki’s real Mother passed away and she doesn’t need or want a new one…and certainly not this unfeeling, all-business robot! Why would Papa ever want to marry someone like THAT!
Their first meeting a failure, Akiko withdraws for the time being, telling Ryoichi that she wants time to realculate her method of approach.
That evening, Ryoichi tries to warm Miyuki up to the idea of Akiko as her mother. We find that Akiko is actually a rival of his at a competing business firm, but her impeccable, sharp and masterful work ethic dazzled him and he fell in love with her. But Miyuki won’t fall for any of her Father’s praise of Akiko.
Meeting over lunch, Akiko and Ryoichi compare notes and try to come up with a way to get Miyuki to like her. Akiko wonders if she should have a talk with the girl herself, but Ryoichi has a plan of his own: To pick up Miyuki from school late enough that she will wish for a mother. Sounds like a terrible plan, but whatever!
Sure enough, when he arrives late that evening to get Miyuki, she’s already gone home by calling their family friend Kazuko Shimayama (Yumi Aso) to pick her up. Miyuki won’t fall for Ryoichi’s dim-witted plans, and Kazuko chides Ryoichi, saying perhaps it’s too early for Miyuki to deal with a new mother.
In the meantime, Akiko is still at her office, poring over data sheets and websites, using her keen business intellect to find ways to have Miyuki warm up to her.
She comes up with a plan to have Miyuki and her ride a scary ride an an amusement park which she calculates will help them bond, and even has her able assistant Asari (Tomomasa Taguchi) draw a funny face on her tummy to make Miyuki laugh.
The entire thing backfires, however, and, far from bonding, Akiko finds herself even more reviled by the young girl. Like Masaharu Fukuyama’s Manabu Yukawa in Galileo, the mind of a young child is the one thing impossible to figure out with charts and logic!
Thus begins the trials and tribulations of Akiko and her soon-to-be stepdaughter Miyuki. Every attempt to win over the girl seems to take Akiko as tep back, but with her keen insight and unshakeable moxie, she won’t give up until she’s truly become her new mother!
Also starring Takeru Sato as a seemingly scatterbrained job jumping dude named Akira Mugita…Who is this guy and what reason does he have for his odd activities? We’ll have to see!
Ah, Great to see Ayase Haruka back! When I first saw the promo pic for Gibo To Musume No Blues, I was thinking it was going to be a serious drama like Kyo Wa Kaisha Yasumimasu, but I was pleased to find it more like Keiko Kitagawa’s Sangeya Machi in Ie Uru Onna: a focused, impeccable business woman who who is a demon in the workplace, but has zero social skills when it comes to human emotions!
As you all know, I’m not a fan of dramas centered around kids, but Naho Yokomizu is a fun and likeable girl (I love how she scrunches up her face with frustration whenever something doesn't go right for her, simply hilarious), and though the drama can be VERY uneven at times, I can’t wait to see where it goes!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
