Crush Of The Day: Nanoka Hara

You know, actress Nanoka Hara was practically a Crush of the Day for her take on the wide-eyed and innocent Mizuho in the awesome “Namiyo Kiite Kuru” anyway, when you consider how much I GUSHED about her and her sweet and adorable interaction with co-star Fuka Koshiba- as you may recall, I just couldn’t stop taking screencaps of the two! Shoulda made her a "Crush" right there!!

Maybe it was the direct contrast between her and the loud and abrasive Fuka Koshiba character, but she just came off so achingly sweet and naive, putting me on high alert and I found I ould not get her out of my mind!

And now we have Nanoka in this cute mini-drama “Komugi no Manpuku Ki”, a 2023 foodie drama featuring the wonders of wheat-based goodies (everything from pastries to pasta and ramen)-

....and with how doggone ADORABLE she is here as the wheat-based addict Komugi Tachibana, it’s time to make it official: Hara Nanoka is my latest “Crush of The Day” princess!!!

Komugi no Manpuku Ki is a perfect drama for Nanoka to show her cuteness- with a very basic plot of  a foodie girl traveling to parts of Japan seeking out the latest popular wheat-based dishes, it's ALL about Nanoka and her facial reactions, running the gamut from curious, excited, amazed, and ecstatic, you get to see them all!

Oh boy, popsicles never had a better spokesperson than this!

...and then time for a MASSIVE pasta meal LOADED with tomato sauce and ground beef which just melts on the tongue!

One Cheese Croquette, please!

...and then more Pastries and MORE! We go from venue to venue, following Komugi on her wheat-themed gourmet journey until at last she has her "stomach filled"!

Yeppppp, this was truly a Nanoka Hara lovers dream, will ya look at all the wonderful screen-caps I got from just TWO episodes of the show...ALL of them fit for framing! LOLOL

Wonderfully photogenic, it's hard to take a bad picture of her, and I love how one of Nanoka's key moods is her "amazed" face which she seems to do fairly regularly and always disarms instantly!! Such a charming girl~

I had seen Nanoka before as the sassy sister of Shotaro Mamiya in “Nanba MG5”, and even earlier as the daughter of Hidetoshi Nishijima in "Shinhannin Flag", but to me it seems she's only now starting to make regular appearances in dramas and CMs...

Nanba MG5

Shinhannin Flag

Dou Suru Ieyasu

Night Doctor

Recently Nanoka is lending her talents to the idol-based drama "Oshi No Ko", a show I have not yet watched (but of course should really make time to go out and find!), but I'm really hoping for a leading actress role for her. Time to see just how GREAT she can become!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Namiyo Kiite Kuru おわり

One from a few seasons back, Nami yo Kiite Kuru was always on my back burner and has FINALLY wrapped up, to GLORIOUS appeal! Gotta say, for a show that started out nutty (and, admittedly, sometimes irritating) as hell, I have to say how much this drama grew on me until the point where I just LOVE it to death!  Funny how a show can hit one way and then end up being one of your favorite shows of the season!!

 Fuka Koshiba excels as radio personality Minare and the individual episode stories are fun, but I think it's the development of Minare’s friendship/partnership with the AD Mizuho (played by Hara Nanoka) that really sold me on the show. Initially starting out as mere associates at the radio station, when Mizuho gets promoted to becoming Minare’s program director, they become really like partners in crime, so fun and rascally with each other!

The two have such distinct personalities: with Mizuho the soft spoken and thoughtful one and Minare the loudmouthed, brash fly-off-the-handle type they play quite well off each other, and as the show went along, Minare and Mizuho became almost like equal co-stars as they investigated each new topic for their night program, getting into all KINDS of shenanigans in the process!!!

Such a joy watching them interact each episode, and despite any differences they have, you can tell they really adore each other and it always puts a smile on my face when they unabashedly assert their love for each other!

A perfect example: Mato (Kazuki Kitamura) tells Minare she has to attend attitude meetings if she wants to keep the show afloat, to which she threatens to just axe the show. But Mizuho cries out against the news, to which Minare pleads her love for her no matter what!

LOLOL

In another one, they're going over a potential story, and Minare is shocked to find Mizuho becoming more and more devilish with her plans to nab a good story no matter the cost.

"I'm the rotten one...you're supposed to be the sweet one!" Minare cries as she hugs Mizuho, scared that she is turning into Mato as she becomes more responsible for her programs!

Such a FUN and SWEET pairing! It’s for this that when the drama inevitably ended, I was achingly missing them and wanting to drop in on them again! Such is the mark of great characters!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com