Another Child Abduction Drama…With A Twist! “Yukai ni Hi”

Child kidnapping seem to be ALL the rage in J-dramas lately, with the stellar Keiko Kitagawa “Anata wo Ubatta Sono Hi kara” (Since the Day I Took You Away) recently wrapping up, and now we have Yukai No Hi (The Day of the Kidnapping)!

Masamune Shinjo (Takumi Saito) is a man who has a young daughter in need of a serious and expensive surgery to save her life, and without funds or a future, plots with his estranged wife Shiori (Yumi Adachi) to kidnap the Hospital Director’s daughter and hold her for ransom to get the money for the operation.

While very passionate about his daughter, Masamune is admittedly not very bright, and it is up to his wife to orchestrate the entire kidnaping via phone instruction. She finds the Director’s home, maps out the getaway routes, and guides Shinjo through the dark night streets to the house, where they expect the girl to be asleep and easy for stealing away.

Though nervous, things seem to be going according to plan, however just as Masamune arrives at the house, a dazed girl steps out on front of his car and he narrowly avoids hitting her. She slumps down to the ground, and when he goes to check on her, he finds that it is the girl he was meant to kidnap!

Confused about why she would appear outside of the house in the middle of the night, he nonetheless accepts it as a bit of luck on his side, and he takes the unconscious child and spirits her away to his hideout just as they’d originally planned!

The next morning when she awakens, Masamune considers tying her up until he realizes that she has amnesia and cannot remember what has happened or even who she is! Seizing the chance, Masamune tells her he is her FATHER, and that this is her home!

He hopes she will buy this lie, but this is no ordinary girl. Her name is Rin Nanase (Yuno Nagao) and she is nothing short of a genius! Possessing a hyper-intelligent brain, she immediately pieces together that something is wrong about the situation, but until her mind can clear, is content with “playing along” with the ruse.

In the meantime, Masamune has been calling and calling the house to give the parents his demands, but they never pick up. Eventually , a confused Masamune goes back to the house to see what the holdup is…and is STUNNED to find that both the Director and his wife have been MURDERED! WHAAA!!!

Masamune has NO IDEA how to deal with this turn of events- he now has no parents to blackmail for ransom and is stuck with a kidnapped child! He calls Shiori in a panic, but they msut sit tight til they can get more information about what is going on! In the meantime, he must continue his charade as Father to young Rin!

Police Detective Tsukasa Sunouchi (Yosuke Eguchi) is assigned to the murder case, and they quickly realize that Rin is missing and possibly kidnapped. But the mystery grows when, searching the house, they discover a secret laboratory in the basement where it looks like strange experiments have been going on! Who IS this family, and what has been going on here?

Looking over the security cameras, the cops get their first look at the hapless Masamune picking Rin up off the ground and taking her away, and he immediately becomes their number one suspect for not only the abduction...but for the DOUBLE HOMICIDE as well!

Msasamune is forced to go on the run with his fake daughter in tow as an all points bulletin is put out for him, and if that weren’t bad enough, a sinister organization led by the mysterious  Yukiko Mizuhara (Yuki Uchida) is ALSO after the young girl, and they’ll stop and NOTHING to get her!

It’s time for Masamune to come clean about who he really is to the young Rin, and once they realize it’s them against everyone else, have to team up to stay one step ahead of the enemy’s clutches! And with Masamune’s energy and passion and Rin’s amazing intellect, they may get out of this yet!

Oh man, this is an exciting and FUN one- Yukai no Hi is full of twists and turns and I breezed through the first four episodes in one crack! We are now up to episode 7 and things are really ratcheting up!

Takumi Saito and Yuno Nagao are great as the sham Father and Daughter, this could be the set-up for a Disney style ongoing series with the way they keep getting in and out of sticky situations! As you may remember, Yuno played the younger version of Sakura Ando in the excellent “Brush Up Life” and she continues her streak of charming kid-friendly shenanigans! 

Posted by zdorama @zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Dear My Baby: Watashi ga Anata wo Shihai suru Made

Dear My Baby: Watashi ga Anata wo Shihai suru Made

Keiko Yoshikawa (Yuki Matsushita) is a passionate and driven talent manager who has just been unceremoniously dumped by her latest star Reina just as she attains super-stardom, leaving her feeling betrayed and discarded by someone she has cared for with all her heart over the years.

Stumbling the streets in despair after the news, she bumps into a young man whom she immediately sees as star-making material, and, forgetting her sadness, jumps at the chance of discovering and nurturing a new talent! Below: Life has no meaning anymore!

...or DOES it?

A chance encounter in the street

Yoshikawa expressing her desire to sign him and make him a star.

He's on board!

His name is Takuto Moriyama (Kota Nomura), and as a guy who has dealt with abandonment issues all his life, warms to the kind and appreciable words from Yoshikawa’s mouth. He shyly agrees to become her new protege, and within weeks is on his way! But he will find that he may have gotten himself into a situation he can’t get out of: For as passionate as Keiko is about making him a star, her over-the-top possessiveness with him will be greater and, perhaps due to her earlier betrayal, will seek to keep and control every single aspect of his life in the days to come!!

At first, Yoshikawa makes good on her word to get Takuto in the door. And though he doesn't seem to have much actual talent, she stays by him and coaches him mercilessly every day, wanting him to be the best he can be for his auditions...

 However, when the casting agents and directors don't warm up to Takuto, we see that Yoshikawa can be dangerous and aggressive in getting her way, using favors, psychological tricks and even flat out BLACKMAIL to force the agencies to hire her new charge. Underhanded and conniving, she ALWAYS gets her way!!

Though Takuto is too naive to see how unhinged Yoshikawa can be at first, outsiders can tell what’s going on right away and try to warn him. One person who really shows concern for him is actress Miyu Nagumo (Yurika Nakamura), Takuto's female co-star in the drama they are in together. She takes a shine to him and eventually becomes his safe harbor away from Yoshikawa’s talons.

And as Miyu and Takuto’s relationship deepens from co-stars to perhaps something more, so does Yoshikawa’s OBSESSIVE grip on him, creating tensions that continue to build up until its' inevitable explosion….

HAHAHA, oh MY, I do LOVE an over-the top stalker story, and at the halfway mark DEAR MY BABY is checking off all the boxes! Utterly fantastical and entirely predicable in its storylines, it's nonetheless one of the most ENTERTAINING shows on right now!!

PS: I also love how loveable Yuki Matsushita has been making a new career playing these crazy stalker-y Mom figures- you all may remember her turn as Fuka Koshiba’s possessive mommy in “Tokusatsu Ga Ga Ga”, and here we have her turned up to 11!!!!

GOTTA see what happens NEXT!!!!