Lights, Camera, Action! Naked Director 2 Takes Off

 The Naked Director Toru Muranashi (Takayuki Yamada) is back with a Netflix Sequel series, this time focusing on Muranashi’s attempt at moving his VHS empire into the Satellite Broadcast age. 

We also have the return of the lovely Misato Morita as the outspoken Ka0ru Kuroki (who is finding the times slowly moving on without her)…

As well as the introduction of Yuri Tsunematsu as Mariko Nogi, the young fresh face set to usurp Kuroki’s reign in Muranashi’s company…and perhaps his heart as well?

Along with the usual studio cronies we also have good ol’ Sairi Ito back as the intrepid Junko, and Ami Tomite as the saucy Naoko!

and MEGUMI as a stoic accountant named Oba.

We also check in on what’s happening with Kenji Kawada (Tetsuji Tamayama) and Toshi Arai (Shinnosuke Mitsushima), and get to see actress Mariya Nishiuchi in her SEXIEST role yet with hostess Sayaka!

And then there are the wonderful guest spots by surprise actresses who pop in for fun cameos, like Asami Mizukawa who appears as an uptight, rigid reporter who manages to lose her composure under Muranashi’s bawdy expletives….

Or still elegant Rie Miyazawa as a stuffy Executive of a huge business who becomes charmed by Muranashi’s wacky ways…

This time around, it seems the story is a bit more fantasy based than fact grounded, with writers continuing where the original Naked Director series ended so it’s anybody’s game just WHERE this series is going to end up! About halfway through and I’ve been enjoying the ride!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Family Feud: Michiko Hada in “Cold Game”

 
When we first drop in on Shoko Kimura (Michiko Hada), she seems like most mothers: an enthusiastic go-getter parent competing in Family Day at the school with her Son Daiki (Yuki Kousei) and Daughter Hina (Rinka Kumada) along with her hapless husband Takashi (Yasuhide Aiki).

Together they ace the relay race and sweep up the grand prize: four cups of Instant ramen! It seems like a meager prize, but as we are to soon learn, this is no ordinary day at school for the participants in this competition.

We find that it is the year 2050 and, due to a huge meteor strike which knocked earth out of its orbit, the entire world has been plunged into another devastating ice age, where civilization now resides in camps across the world.

With the sky blotted out by blizzards of ice, food is scarce and rationed out to the tiniest degree. A good example is showing how the family treasures a portion of SPAM cut into fourths for lunch!!

People are placed into work based on their experience and acumen, and Shoko is currently part of the complaint center. She tries to do her best with the bosses, workers and doctors, but she and her family are hiding a secret no one knows about.

At the particular camp Kimura and her family are at, the family unit is regarded higher than the stragglers and loners who come in. Families get an entire classroom all to themselves to live in...

...while individuals and stragglers have to share cramped quarters with dozens of others.

Additionally, games where you can win prizes like food are strictly for families only, and so it is no surprise when we see  the Mikura clan behinds closed doors and find their relationship is a sham created out of necessity!
The Mother, Father, Son and Daughter have no connection at all, and once it is lights out, they create walls to seperate themselves from each other. And yet, in times of trouble, the four still seem to reach out and care about each other just like a real family, and in a toxic environment like this, they need all the help they can get!

Shards of Shoko’s past life bleeds into the narrative and we see that she has spent time in prison before the new ice age came down and her real family was torn apart.

She is determined to see them once again, and with the participation of her “family” she hopes to survive this upside down world long enough to make it!

As a huge Michiko Hada fan (whom I’ve gushed about here) I’m thrilled to see her in a lead role for a change, and what an intriguing concept they’ve created here!! When I first saw the poster and read the synopsis, I thought it was going to be a movie, so excited to find it’s a drama!! Looks to be an  interesting one!!!