As someone who’s been a fan of both actress Mayumi Wakamura’s body of work and the 1993 Ivan Reitman movie “Dave”, I was instantly on board as SOON as I heard the synopsis for the drama “Kono Subarashiki Sekai~What a Wonderful World!” featuring Mayumi as woman thrown into a “Prince and Pauper” situation when she is asked to act as a famous actress for whom she is a virtual double!
The film Dave concerned a Temp Agency owner, who, because of his likeness to the President of the United States, is asked to stand in when the POTUS has a heart attack and is incapacitated during an important time. It is meant to be a one-time thing, but is subsequently required to continue playing him for an extended and unknown period of time, slowly changing both his life and the people around him, as well as those around the real President...
In THIS particular story, we have Mayumi Wakamura playing Taeko Hamaoka, a harried housewife making do dealing with a mundane life and an apathetic husband Yoichi (Sports Makita) who doesn’t appreciate what she does and rarely listens to her concerns…
She's also working at an unfulfilling part-time job overseeing a snarky and selfish young newbie (the usually adorable Yuna Taira who is just awful here, LOL) who ignores her and her guidance. Try as she might, she just can’t seem to get into this teen’s head!
Taeko confides to her friend and co-worker Asano (Tsubaki Nekoze) how much she would love to divorce her no-good husband, but her friend advises her that before she does anything rash, she should make sure she is well-off financially first! She muses 3 million in savings might do it, so until she can (possibly) save that much, she must sit quietly and endure it.
And, if THAT wasn’t enough on her plate, Taeko can’t shake off the feeling that she is being stalked by a mysterious “tall and dark” stranger who seems to always be in the corner of her eye when she is coming to work or leaving for home...
Hubby says it’s just her imagination and tells her to ignore it. But this “stalker’s” obsession with Taeko is ALL TOO TRUE! Seems he’s been summing her up for the past few days, appraising her looks, gait and behaviors, all in anticipation for what he believes will be the PERFECT JOB for her!
It seems the married actress not only had a prolonged affair with a certain individual…but this sordid man is revealed to have connections to crime!! Such a disgrace can be damaging to not only her career, but all the businesses and agencies connected with her!
A humble and sincere apology from the actress could help, sadly we are to find that this Kinuyo Wakana is a cold, selfish and arrogant person who wants NOTHING TO DO with the agency or media, and, rather than cooperate with a public apology, has fled to America to escape it all!
With millions in investments and interests concerning Kinuyo, the agency and the corporation behind her NEED to have Wakana’s face in the media with her head bowed in remorse, and its here that Taeko Hamaoka steps in!
It is revealed that the humble and plain Taeko is in fact a DEAD RINGER for the fanciful Kinuyo Wakana, and with a bit of makeup, styling, and a WHOLE LOT of coaching, they believe that if it’s only for a moment, she can successfully “stand in” for the real Kinuyo at a highly publicized Apology Press-Conference, deliver an apology, and smooth things over so the real Kinuyo can return to Japan!
Good-hearted Taeko knows at ONCE that this isn’t strictly kosher, and that stating that you are someone you’re not MUST be wrong, but Saijo is a convincing speaker and, to seal the deal as tight as can be, offers her 3 MILLION to take on the role!
3 Million- the exact amount she needs to break free from her apathetic husband and aggravating job! WELL, with THIS turn of events, she can’t immediately refuse, and when the stern Vice-President of the company, the calculating Mitsuaki Yasuhara (Masahiko Nishimura, as intimidating as ever) visits her with the CASH in HAND, she is now totally ON BOARD!
Taeko meets up with the base that will be her faux-Kinuyo team, which, beside Yasuhara and Saijo, include President Riko Higa (Yoshino Kimura), Manager Cecile Muroi (Marui Wan), makeup specialist Ran Okido (Shun Yatabe), lawyer (Kenta Satoi)...
…and even Kinuyo’s REAL HUSBAND Mizuta (Ikki Sawamura)! How in the WORLD can she ever go THROUGH with this charade???
By the end of the two weeks, the team has done all they can and, as expected, have performed a bit of magic, turning the humble and quiet Taeko into the svelte and commanding Kinuyo!!!
Even THEY can't believe how well they've succeeded!!!
Like the movie DAVE before, we expect many things to be affected by the chance encounters put into motion, for better or for worse... And as for Taeko herself, she will take a journey of self-discovery all her own, where the plain and underappreciated housewife can feel pretty, loved, and needed...(and yet may find all she wants is what she already has!) Only time will tell!
MAN, I have just watched ONE EPISODE of Kono Subarashiki Sekai, and I love, love, LOVE it SO MUCH already! Like I mentioned above, I was dying to see it from the second I read the synopsis of it, and after Ep.1, can safely say it has satisfied like NO OTHER! Found myself giddy while sitting through it and just entranced for its hour runtime!
Mayumi Wakamura is SOLID GOLD here- so sweet and believable as the kind and thoughtful Taeko Hamaoka, with a script that relies on her simply blinking, gasping and gawking, she has so much to convey with so little! But so effortless is Mayumi that you hang on her every motion and word she speaks, SUCH a treat to watch her in action!
Reading up, I learned that Kyoko Suzuki (another actress I really love) was originally slated to play the dual role of Taeko/Kinuyo but bowed out due to health. While that’s sad to hear (and I hope she’s doing all right), I just cannot imagine Taeko as anyone but Mayumi!
PLEASE, MORE!!!!
PS: Special thanks to Saburo who managed to acquire this fine show for me!
