Tsubame wa Modottekonai~ The Swallows Won't Return

 An extremely riveting human drama about a couple Yuko and Motoki Kusaoke (Yuki Uchida and Goro Inagaki) who, due to medical reasons, cannot successfully bring a child to term, and a healthy but down-on-her luck woman named Riki Oishi (Shizuka Ishibashi) with limited work prospects and a crippling debt. Between them is Plante, a Reproductive Medical Clinic dealing with infertility problems and act as go-between to match up those who can fulfill each other's wants.

Yuko and Motoki have been trying to have a child for some time now, but after a third tragic failure, feel things may be hopeless. With the pressure from Motoki's stern mother (Hitomi Kuroki) for Yuko to produce an heir to the affluent family's legacy, they are willing to try even an idea as outside surrogacy.

Meanwhile, Riki is eking out a struggling life through a series of short-term jobs. Through the advice of a co-worker Kawabe (Marika Ito) Riki applies to Plante (which she considers a dubious institution) solely for the money offered for donation of her eggs, though  the reason she puts on the application is "wants to help people". 

Upon arrival at the mysterious clinic, Riki is well to be cautious. But the woman who greets her, Aonuma ((Romi Park) seems considerate and friendly enough as she interviews her and explains what they might expect from her.

Giving up her eggs  is one thing but she is then told she is a prime candidate for child surrogacy. Riki is nervous  about the entire procedure, and only considers at the amount they will pay for her efforts. Part of her still doesn't want to do it. But little does she know she may be the PERFECT candidate to carry the child of a desperate couple, the one who can make their dreams come true...

Must say I was completely taken in by this show from the very  beginning... I know they've recently tackled a similar subject in the Haruka Fukuhara /Kyoko Fukada drama 18/40, but Tsubame wa Modottekonai seems like such a breath of fresh air, with all the predictable and cliched stories out nowadays, this is one where I'm not sure where it's going and am simply clamoring to learn more and more! So much so that I feel it may go on to become another BIG favorite!

PS: Oh My GOSH, Marika Ito is really KILLIN' IT with CUTENESS in this drama as the spunky Teruyo Kawabe!!!! As she's a co-worker of Riki's, I hope she won't be written out of the show and continues to appear, perhaps as Riki's confidante and friend?

In any case, I have HIGH HOPES for this drama!!!!

A Very Odd Drama: Kirei No Kuni

Man, Kirei No Kuni is like some David Lynchian surrealistic drama in the vein of Mulholland Falls, where you are never sure the order of things as they are played out, never sure if the characters you are seeing are who they appear to be on the surface!!

 Our story begins with an old married couple (Yo Yoshida and Tetsu Hirahara) who love each other but must admit their lives are rather mundane.

At the same time we meet a young unmarried couple (Misako Renbutsu and Yuzu Aoki) who are constantly clashing with each other and ultimately end up breaking up.

These two seemingly separate lives intersect in a dramatic way, all carefully documented by a mysterious “Director” (Goro Inagaki) who may be the one orchestrating the direction of the players’ lives….

Well, to say any more would be going into spoilers (and by the way, I notice that all synopses online seem to take spoilers into consideration when trying to describe this show by being vague as heck) so I will just say this is one strange but so far quite intriguing, original drama!!

PS: Christ, Misako Renbutsu is SO doggone pretty in this drama, I can't even...

I knew there was a reason I fell in love with her all those years ago!

J-Drama Catch Up- More Older Dramas I'm Finishing Up!!

Call Center no Koibito

Story of a guy named Wataru Tokura (Kotaro Koizumi), a businessman at a Television Shopping Center who offends the outspoken host (Yuko Natori) and gets banished to the Customer Complaint Department all the way out in the sticks.
Tokura curses his luck at being demoted to such a place, but there he meets the eccentric Kyoko Aoyama (Rie Mimura), a mysterious woman with a secretive past and a burning passion to do what’s right for their angry customers.
Though at first butting heads, Tokura soon begins to respect this odd woman and, along with the similarly eccentric team of misfits running the center, learns that the Call Center is a valuable and worthy place to be!

A very by-the-books drama but I REALLY liked the characters in this drama! This might be the first drama I saw where Koizumi Kotaro played any character of note, but he was really good here- and Rie Mimura...she’s so great as Kyoko Aoyama. Truth be told, for the entire first episode, I thought I was watching Miki Nakatani! But after watching this drama, I am interested in seeing more for this woman! Looking over her stats, I guess she was in Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai, but I don’t remember who she was. Maybe Dean Fujioka’s ex-girlfriend? I’ll have to dig that one out again!

M No Higeki

M No Higeki stars Goro Inagaki as Mamoru Ando, a reserved man who, because of a childhood trauma, is an overly careful person who frets over every bad possibility, who comes into contact with a mysterious dark woman named Misa Aihara who, though a seemingly chance encounter, targets Ando for a fall, and uses all her wiles to destroy his life. Ando has no idea why this woman wants to ruin him since she is a complete stranger to him,but it is soon revealed that she and he have a darker connection to each other…
Another drama suggested to me at the height of my Kyoko Hasegawa love, I watched the first episode and was SO captivated by this drama’s mystery that I barrelled through the entire series in days! A VERY turbulent drama full of ups and down and twists and turns! 

Diary

Misako Renbutsu stars as Ayaka Miyata, a young woman who has grown up with only hard memories of being left alone as a child while her mother dedicated herself to work.
She has always felt bitter towards her mother for her impoverished childhood where she felt left out and neglected while other kids seemed to have everything they wished for. But when her mother is stricken with a brain aneurysm and left in a coma, Ayaka must come to terms with their relationship.

At a loss of what to do regarding her mother’s living will, Ayaka goes through her mother’s belongings where she finds a huge journal that she had kept up with three other women, seemingly since high school. Without any direction, she makes a journey to her mother’s home town and, using the diary as a guide, eventually meets all the people her mother has touched through her life.

While talking to these people from her mother's past and the memories they have of her, Ayaka sees her mother’s life from a different perspective and learns that, far from abandoning her and leaving her alone, that her mother had been working diligently her whole life to raise her and make sure she had all she needed despite their poverty.
As someone raised by a single parent with lots of sacrifices and not a lot of money to go around, this short 4-part drama REALLY hit home for me!

Setsuyaku Rock!

Takao Matsumoto (Tatsuya Ueda) is an entirely irresponsible rock n roller with no sense of frugality, inf act, being in debt seems rebellious and “ROCK”! 
His pretty girlfriend Makiko (Mina Fujii)  finally has enough and dumps him on the spot. For the first time Takao realizes how lackadaisy he’s been with his money, and, in an effort to win back Makiko, tries to change his ways and become more miserly.

Thought this was going to be a regular romcom drama, but it seems it’s one of those DIY type shows with focus on teaching cheap meals you can make with limited supplies, really more like a “life hack” kind of set up.

Have to admit Mina Fujii was my primary reason for downloading this drama, but it’s been a pretty fun one so far, and besides Mina we also have cutie Ayaka Wilson in a minor role as an employee at Takao’s workplace.

Seeing her reminds me that her drama “Piple  AI to Kekkon Seikatsu Hajimemashita” has been sitting in subtitle limbo for some time now. Wonder if I’ll ever get to see that one through…

Legal High 2

And speaking of Yui Aragaki, Huh, I totally forgot I had this drama! Rather liked the original series with Yui and Masato Sakai as crackpot lawyers, this time returning with a new rival in the business with Haruki Hanyu (Masaki Okada) challenging Kensuke Komikado. 

Bonus with Haru Kuroki as his hippie assistant Honda- the scenes with her and Aragaki are priceless! I’d watch a show with just the two of them doing cases!

Been watching this the same time as Hanzawa Naoki and at times it’s hard to tell the difference between the two passive-aggressive characters going from calm and collected to screaming at the top of his lungs…

OKAY back to more dramas.....