Crush of The Day: Meru Nukumi

 Seems quite awhile since I’ve done a “Crush of The Day” post, but after being simply swept away by actress Meru Nukumi in the wonderful “Sexy Tanaka-San”, I just HAD to get my gushing out!

Sexy Tanaka San feels like this generation’s answer to “Shall We Dance”, that classic film about rigid salarymen who find an outlet for the daily grind through ballroom dancing, only in this case, it’s Office ladies and the secret outlet is BELLY DANCING!

The invincible Haruka Kinami stars as the titular Kyoko Tanaka, a stoic, silent and highly efficient accountant within a Company,  who moonlights as a vibrant, charismatic and, yes, SEXY Belly dancer...

But to me, the real focus of this show is the OL in the same company by the name of Akari Kurahashi (Meru Nukumi) . Like Tanaka, Kurahashi strives to do her best in work, love and life, and appears to all as a popular, carefree, flighty girly girl, a HUGE contrast to the icy Tanaka, whom the other girls avoid if they can!

Kurahashi herself actually finds Tanaka fascinating- while appearing cold, there seems to be a aura about her that she just cannot place. Akari admires Tanaka's professionalism and  perfect dedication to her job. This looks like a woman who has it together!

This is a bit of a sticking point for Akari. For while she puts on the face of the happy-go-lucky to her friends and co-workers, she actually isn't too satisfied with the way her life has so far been playing out.

The permanent career she had hoped for has only been a temp position, the men she has been hoping for futures with all turn out to be deadbeat duds (with one continually showing up to crash at her place), and it seems the stable “normal” life she has wanted will remain a dream.

This has to change, and the catalyst that awakens her happens one night when she ventures into a hole in the wall Persian Eatery called Sabalan. After enjoying a fine meal, is enthralled by the stage show, and in particular the exotic dancing of a mysterious woman Belly-dancing onstage!

Her name is Sari, and she twirls and spins with gusto along with the exotic music, and Akari is captivated!

 How Akari wishes she could let herself lt loose and fly freely like this stunning woman in front of her…but what she doesn’t know is that this energetic whirlwind in front of her is the quiet and reserved Tanaka from work!

Tanaka recognizes Kurahashi right away, but is relieved when she doesn't seem to recognize HER, and thereafter avoids Kurahashi as often as she can! But inevitably, the light goes on in Akari’s head and after doing a little spying on her own, finally figures out that Tanaka is the enigmatic Sari herself!

"Sari! You're Sari, aren't You?!"

Tanaka is mortified and shamed to be caught as the brazen belly dancer Sari, but the wide-eyed Akari only has positive thoughts and HUGE respect for her. 

A tentative friendship of sorts develops between the two women who couldn’t be further from each other, and they begin to change each other’s lives!

Just WHERE will this friendship go?!

GAHHHHH, I had no IDEA this drama was going to be THAT GOOD, but from just 10 minutes into the show I’d already fallen in love with the show and Akari Kurahashi, and it’s ALL due to the sweet and SINCERE portrayal by Miss Meru Nukumi!!! 

Really, she just LIGHTS up the screen whenever she’s on, her eyes conveying so much warmth and feeling, whether it be interest, sadness or hurt, and when she’s happy, her smile just DAZZLES!

Up to now, I had seen Meru in only a handful of dramas, including the recent “Nichiyo no Yoru Gurai wa” where she co-starred with Nana Seino and Yukino Kishii as one of the three main girls, the upbeat and positive Wakaba Higuchi (here cheering up the dour Kishida):

… an appearance in a couple of episodes of “Ishiko to Haneo” as a troubled client jailed for assault…

...and a smaller recurring role in the Hana Sugisaki drama "Koi Desu: Yankee-kun to Hakujou Garu” as the romantic rival Hachiko Tono who tries to come between  Sugisaki and Yosuke Sugino...

Thankfully, Meru's been steppin' up he game, and so far, there isn’t anything like her role as Akari in Sexy Tanaka San. She’s SENSATIONAL here, and I’m hoping with this drama she can get wider exposure (at least as much as her co-stars Nana Seino and Yukino Kishii!) so we can see just how far she can go!

Psed by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com