A Harem Romance

 
Also had time to check out the very, very silly comedy “Harekon”
After finding out her latest boyfriend has been cheating on her (her third such failed relationship) Koharu Maezono (Haruka Shimazaki) decides to swear off men and packs up to go home.

Upon arriving home, she finds out two things: One, that her family’s coffee shop is set to be seized due to debt incurred during her father’s (Ikkei Watanabe) illness, a real bummer since Koharu planned to work there...

...and two: That the mayor of the town has just announced that Polygamy will be LEGAL!

It seems the new trend is having a Harem Marriage, or, “Hare-kon” and in an effort to boost declining family rates, many towns have opted into this new thing!

Koharu is lamenting the closure of the coffee shop which she grew up in, when a dashing young man named Ryunosuke (Yu Inaba) comes into the cafe for a drink. He gushes over seeing her like a lost friend, but Koharu doesn’t remember him at all.

The next day he shows up back at the Coffee House with two beautiful women,Yuzu (Yurina Yanagi) and Madoka (Nana Asakawa) who Koharu is shocked to find are his two wives! Yes, Ryunosuke has embraced the new harem trend…and hopes to make KOHARU his third! 
Hearing about her money problem, he’s come with a bag of cash but surely this gift must come with some strings attached!

LOL,  Looks like it’s gonna be another “Heroine has a money problem but she can solve it by marrying an affluent guy” that seem to be so ubiquitous nowadays (gads, I still haven’t finished Konin Todoke yet and here we are with the latest!)

Funny, the whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking, huh, that girl looks a little bit like the girl who played Honami Suzuki’s daughter in  "Shufu Katsu”. Little did I know, that’s exactly who it was!

PS- been a few years since I stopped making these screengrab headers for my monthly livejournal entries...maybe I should revisit it sometime...was a pain to make but made the blog look so much nicer than the plain text it is now...

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War! (Mini)

Picked up this short little mini series without knowing ANYTHING about it except that it starred Kanna Hashimoto, and that was reason enough! Grabbed it and was so captivated by it I binged it all in one sitting! 

"Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensaitachi no Renai Zunosen Mini” tells the tale of two students in a prestigious school council who each secretly like each other but consider it a loss if they are the one to show their feelings first! Thus they begin a hilarious war with each one trying to trick the other into confessing their love and “losing” the game!

Kanna Hashimoto stars as Kaguya Shinnomiya, a headstrong girl who seems cold and unfeeling about everything council president Miyuki Shirogane (Sho Hirano) does, but secretly swoons behind his back. On the other side, Shirogane is constantly trying to decipher what Kaguya means in every little thing she does. Is she kind to him? Judging him? And would he ever DARE reveal how much he likes her?

Along with the two are fellow students Chika Fujikawa (a scene stealing Nana Asakawa), a ditzy and bubbly friend of Kaguya’s who naturally becomes a perfect foil for the two leads, and introverted Ishigami Yu (Hayato Sano) as a poor bystander caught in their charades!

There’s even an almost unrecognizable Mayu Hotta in blonde locks and blue eyes as Kaguya’s sempai Ai Hayasaka, who cannot help but shake her head at how SILLY kaguya can be in her game of romance!

From the beginning I was laughing out loud, but the one that (literally) takes the cake is in episode 4 where there is one piece of strawberry shortcake, and BOTH Kaguya and Shirogane decide that THEY are going to be the charitable one and offer the piece to the other!

Things go from polite declining to firm refusal to outright arguing, “YOU eat it!” No, YOU eat it!” And as it escalated I was laughing harder and harder and HARDER!!

The show was so short that I wondered if it was a “chain” story to a bigger series, and, looking it up, found out it was preceded by two MOVIES of the same name!!! Well! Now I know what films I’m gonna be looking for, but as it is, this mini series is a FINE representation! SO FUN!!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdorama.blogspot.com

Joshikosei no Mudazukai~ The Wasteful Days of High School Girls

 In January of 2020 we were treated to a fun and spirited new high school comedy about an outspoken and outrageous student named Nozomu Tanaka (Yui Okada) and her two best friends Akane Kikuchi (Yuri Tsunematsu) and Shiori Saginomiya (Yurika Nakamura) chronicling their zany adventures in class as they tackle boys, hobbies and sometimes even schoolwork! Along the way they deal with their odd classmates and find they have created enduring friendships to cherish forever!

Was enjoying the drama’s entirely eccentric shenanigans to the fullest when, after episode four, we got the news that no Nihon-speaking jdrama fan wants to hear: the subtitlers were dropping the series!!! Nooooo! So crushing to hear, but in March of this year, a hero came to our rescue! Picking up where the original subber left off, subber Yanez announced they were going to finish it up, and just this past month it finally got completed!!

Well, I JUST finished watching the entire series (started from the beginning and re-watched it again) and I cannot stress how much I ADORED this drama!!! So fun, so WACKY and so doggone SWEET!

The characters are so crazy,  interesting and yet lovingly flawed that you just like ALL of them! And the show gives enough time so you learn each character’s eccentricities as they go about their “Wasteful days of high school”!

Because Akane is such an otaku for things and Shiroi is so cool and unfeeling, Tanaka gives them the nicknames “Wota” and “Robo”. She asks for a nickname for herself, and they dub her “Baka” LOLOL!

Having done that, Tanaka decides to nickname the entire class based on their tics and personalities, and the show hilariously calls them by the nicknames for the rest of the show!
Besides, the three main girls, there are:

Saku Momoi (Mei Hata) as “Loli” for her little girl appearance (which frustrates her to no end) as well as her naivety…

Minami Yamamoto (Momoko Fukuchi) named “Yamai” for her habit of dressing in bandages and gauze as a tragic magic goddess…

Hisui Kujo (Ayaka Imoto) as “Majo”, an introverted horror-loving enthusiast who starts off as a hikikomori (don’t ALL high school dramas have one?) but, touched by the girls’ friendship, comes out of her shell.

Ninomae Kanade (Nana Asakawa) as “Majime”, the serious student loved by all...

Lily Someya (Yui Kobayashi) as Lily, the knockout transfer student with the glowing features and killer bod, who works hard at being popular!

Along with their ever-suffering teacher Sawatari (Keita Machida), these are all the ingredients for a far-out school comedy, and BOY does it deliver!!!

Some scenes that had me rolling on the floor:

Loli’s Attempt At Friendship

Always frustrated at being good-naturedly picked on by Tanaka, Momoi decides to make them her minions by bribing them with snacks (hilariously, instead of Pocky, it is “Bocky” LOL).

It seems to be working at first, with Akane and Shiroi accepting the snack…

But Tanaka  shows her “Baka” ness and chomps her mouth down on the WHOLE thing, making poor Momoi cry!!!

That Transfer Student

The class is in awe of the new transfer student Lily Someya who is dazzling and beautiful, til she announces that she prefers girls to guys...because she is allergic to boys!

Well, the class can’t believe that, and when she sits with them, Tanaka asks if she’s serious. 

Lily says that all she has to do is touch a guy’s hand like this (grabs Tanaka’s hands) and she will start having allergic reactions...

Of course, Tanaka is SUCH a tomboy that Lily immediately begins having allergic reactions to HER! And before she can get away, Lily sneezes an EXPLOSIVE sneeze right into Tanaka’s face, AHAHAHAHA!!!!

Baka’s Better Lip Balm

Tanaka shows up to class with her lips glistening. Is this some new kind of lip balm?

Baka waxes about how boring lip balm is and then reveals her secret lip moisturizer: SESAME OIL! She says it’s better than lip balm because you don’t have to worry about licking your lips, and as a bonus gives you extra flavor when  you eat rice! AHAHAHA!

Met with dubious reactions, of course she forces the other two to try it, AHAHAHA!

The Gym Clothes Mystery.

Tanaka wants to know why her dirty, unwashed gym clothes smell like natto (gahhh!) and try to make her friends smell it. Then unsuspecting Lily shows up and is immediately targeted by Baka into being the sniffer!

AHAHAHAHA!

Man, every episode was just crammed with such frivolity, and yet, you can definitely see the girls slowly becoming closer as each chapter progresses, til by the end they are friends who truly love each other!

SUCH A GREAT LITTLE DRAMA!!!

PS: And if all that wasn’t enough, each episode featured a mini-spoof ASADORA called “Roboko”, showcasing all the traps and tropes of an NHK Morning drama, hilariously showing how by-the-numbers it can sometimes be!

PPS: Is it just me, or does actress Momoko Fukuchi look not just a little like K-pop act TWICE's Dahyun?

Just an observation that struck me...

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com