Showing posts with label abe sadao. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abe sadao. Show all posts

Friday, August 15, 2025

If I had a Nickel Every Time Takako Matsu was Suspected of Killing Her Husband in a Drama, I’d Have Two…Which Isn’t a Lot, But it’s Weird That It Happened Twice!!

Matsu Takako and Abe Sadao in Shiwase na Kekkon
Just caught the first episode of the drama “Shiawase na Kekkon~ Their Marriage” , starring Abe Sadao as Kotaro Harada,  a lawyer and TV personality who boasts himself as a lifelong bachelor…
That is, until by chance he bumps into the seemingly carefree Nella Suzuki (Takako Matsu) who sweeps him off his feet with her charm and innocence…and ultimately, into a happy married life!
But there is something odd about Nella that Kotaro can’t quite put his finger on,  and when he sees her meeting up with a dapper young man in secret and mentioning not a word about it to him, he begins to suspect the worst! 
Worried that she may be cheating on him, Kotaro finally finds and confronts the man, and, when asked to explain his business with his wife, gets a BOMBSHELL of information about her!
The man’s name is Kurokawa (Yosuke Sugino), and, far from being a cheating lover as Kotaro had suspected, is actually a DETECTIVE on the POLICE force keeping tabs on Nella…for suspicion of MURDERING her ex- husband some years ago!!


The case has been closed for some years now, but due to the urging of the detective, has been re-opened for investigation!!
Harada can’t believe what he is hearing. But as he learns about the case, his happily married life in now thrown into doubt and chaos. And though he wants to believe in his wife, there are so many things about her that he doesn't know....
What decision he will ultimately make regarding the police and his dear wife? Only time will tell!
HAHAHA, yeah, my first thought was, “This is like the set-up for “Quartet”, Takako’s excellent ensemble drama from 2017, where her character of Maki Maki was suspected of killing her husband, too! And though I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone out there who might NOT have seen Quartet yet, I will say that I’d bet donuts to dollars that we get the exact same outcome at the end of Shiawase na Kekkon that we did with Quartet…
I'm up to episode 2 and so far it's been really intriguing!!!

Sunday, February 11, 2024

The P.E. Teacher Who Leapt Through Time: “Futekisetsu Nimo Hodo ga Aru”

From the mind of zany screenwriter Kudo Kankuro comes a new drama all about a man and his time-travelling escapades, called “Futekisetsu Nimo Hodo ga Aru~ Extremely Inappropriate!”
Sadao Abe is a prickly single Father named Ichiro Ogawa raising a rebellious yankee daughter named Junko (Yumi Kawai) in 1986. Though feared as a punitive loudmouthed P.E. Teacher at the school he works at, he can barely contain his wild child’s extreme tendencies and is constantly stressing out about keeping guys away from her and intervening every time she tries to ‘hook up”!
As for Junko, she’s a real free spirit without a care to what the future holds and has the attention of all the juvie punks around, including  suave motorcycle-ridin’ Mutsumi Akitsu (Hayato Isomura), who considers her his main gal!
With her cavalier attitude and tuff-chick vibe, Junko ALSO wins the heart of a meek and shy new boy in town named Kiyoshi Sakisaka (Manato Sakamoto) when they bump into each other in town and he is spellbound by her assured allure!
When the shy boy confesses his love for her, the bemused Junko playfully tries to get him in the sack while Dad is out, but their supposed tryst is  interrupted by his sudden return!! Ogawa is naturally furious and chides Junko, who honestly couldn't care less! Taking advantage of the situation, Kiyoshi tries to state his love for Junko to him, but Pops won’t hear it!
The next day at school, Ichiro is thrilled to find that the young kid in his daughter’s bed that night is the newest transfer student! What luck, thinks Ogawa with a wicked smile! Planning revenge on his daughter's would-be boyfriend, he decides to give him the works, making him catch flyballs all period til he collapses with exhaustion!
Back then we would have called it “toughening up”, but Kiyoshi’s mother Sakae (Yo Yoshida)  is a strict and STERN woman, and immediately comes down to give Ogawa and the principal a piece of her mind! She calls what they have done to her son power harassment. She calls them insensitive to her son’s needs. And she calls the nonstop smoking a violation of her health!

Power harassment? Sensitivity Training? All this sounds way too MODERN, and there's a GOOD REASON- we are to soon find that both Mom AND son are from the FUTURE, some 30+ years ahead, and are here for only a short time until they go back!

The time travelling apparatus is a specially created bus designed specifically for Sakae and her Son, but on one fateful day, they MISS the bus...and the clueless ICHIRO gets on instead!!!
Thinking that he's taking a ride into town, once the bus crosses the bridge, it also crosses over into the past! But as it is seamless, Ichiro doesn't realize it yet!
The first thing that seems off kilter is the way the other passengers react to him smoking on the bus. "Who does this guy think he IS?" they think, but it gets worse! He sees the kids listening to air-pods and tease them "there’s udon noodles in your ears!" But when he comments about a teenage girl’s short skirt, they have had enough and flee the bus from this obnoxious weirdo!
Confused, he makes his way to his regular restaurant to get a beer, and is shocked to find it has been completely renovated and unrecognizable! 
????
Despite the change in appearance of the place, he is thirsty and grabs the first glass of beer he sees at the bar... and earns the furious ire of the harried young woman he took it from!
Her name is Nagisa Inushima (Riisa Naka) and right now, she’s having the worst day of her life! Troubles at work, troubles with family, and a crying baby in tow to boot, Ogawa swigging her beer is the last straw and she unloads on him!
Ogawa is flabbergasted at the tirade coming towards him over a measly glass of beer, but at the same time, finds himself oddly smitten with this beautiful, if entirely stressed-out woman, and finds he wants to help her!
Thus, with Ogawa stuck in 2024 and Sakisaka stuck in 1986, they decide to make the best of it, with Sagisaka and Son temporarily looking after the rebellious Junko in 1986...

 ...and Ogawa staying in 2024 helping out the alluring Ms. Inushima! 
How will things play out for these two parties out of their own time? 
I’ve come to expect wackiness when it comes to Kudo Kankuro’s works, and have absolutely LOVED some of his earlier comedies like “Kangoku no Ohimesama”, “Kisazaru Cat’s Eye” and the excellent “Tiger and Dragon” series, and Futekisetsu Nimo Hodo ga Aru promises to be his craziest one yet!*
I grabbed this mostly for Yumi Kawaii after falling in love with her in the touching “Kazoku Dakara Aishitan Janakute, Aishita no ga Kazoku Datta”, and I gotta say, she simply steals the SHOW as the spritely and SASSY Junko, doing a PERFECT profile of the 80’s yankee girl- I almost expected her to pull out a yo-yo and start fighting crime! LOLOL
Let’s see where this drama’s going to go!!
*Not that wacky comedies are ALL Kankuro is known for, he also did more famous coming of age dramas like "Ikebukuro West Gate Park" and "Ryusei no Kizuna", both of which I loved!