Crush of the Day: Sayu Kubota

 When fans of the 2021 sci-fi flick DUNE went to go see it in the theaters, many were rightfully surprised to find they had been sitting through part ONE of the movie, with a whole 'nother as yet to be released movie to finish it.  WELL, that's JUST how I felt after watching the drama “Watashi Moratte Tsuioku Hen” (the story of a girl and a ghostly partner trying to solve the mystery of who tired to kill them)…and found out it continued to ANOTHER drama called  "Watashi wo Moratte: Koiji Hen”! ARGH! When was this going to be aired? And more importantly, was anyone going to sub it??? I had no idea, and could only cross fingers that the subbing team who did the first one would be picking it up!

Truthfully, I initially found the story of Watashi ga Hen to be very lightweight and basic, but it was the sheer power of the CUTENESS of actress Sayu Kubota in the lead role as the spazzy and energetic Natsumi Morikawa that made me really invested in this show, and no matter how cliched and predictable the storyline might be that week, I just HAD to tune to see her!

Balancing the character with both parts adorable and clueless spazz and svelte and composed OL, she was great in every scene, and by the halfway point of the show, knew I was hopelessly crushing on her! Screencap after Screencap, I just couldn’t stop!

This is great to see Sayu in a lead role here, as her main forte up to this point has been of the weird/quirky kind of charaters, much like her role of the morose (yet scene stealing) Suzu Masuda in "Hamaru Otoko ni Keritai Onna" with Nagisa Sekimizu and Taisuke Fujigaya ...here complaining about Fujigaya's bad cooking!

 

Speaking of cooking, I think the last thing I saw Sayu in before that was “Fermat No Ryori”, as the school-mate of main character Kitada (Fumiya Takahashi).  In the drama, they are both math geniuses, but when Kitada fails his tests, he gives up, til he finds inspiration in the world of cuisine. In the meantime, Kubota’s character has risen to a grand champion of mathematics. The episode build up to the day he meets her again and cooks for her.

 The first time I’d laid eyes on Sayu (or at last, I THOUGHT) was as the office love interest of Yosuke Sugino in the 2021 Haru Kuroki drama “Boku No Neechan”. I remember noting that this actress was VERY pretty indeed, unfortunately, the "pretty love interest" was all she was meant to be, and the drama didn’t actually delve too deeply into her character... But my interest in this girl was piqued!

Going onto Dramawiki, come to find out that I had seen Sayu in a BUNCH of earlier dramas, albeit some rather smaller roles, like the moody editing assistant Izumi Haruka in “Oh my Boss!” with Mone Kamishiraishi , playing a girl who is at first stand-offish to Mone but becomes friends with her over time...

Novice director Chiaki Sonomiya in “Hidarikiki no Eren", here with Kamio Fuju..

A bit appearance as Ibu Masato’s granddaughter in the Satomi Ishihara medical drama “Unsung Cinderella” (BTW, it’s insane how much Sayu looks like a young Emi Takei here!)

...I had also seen her as a suspect in the fun comedy "Oshii Keiji with Shunsuke Kazama...look how young she looks here!!!

And oh My GOSH, as SOON as I saw that Sayu had appeared in the Mitsuki Takahata drama “Kahogo no Kahoko”, I just KNEW which character she had played- “I bet Sayu played that pretty but moody cousin Ito!” and SURE ENOUGH, that’s EXACTLY who she was!

She plays a character  who is cold and bitter, but warms up due to Kahoko's sweet positivity. I remember distinctly thinking how pretty this actress was, HUH, who knew she would grown up to be the Sayu we know today!

Such great chemistry, and Sayu and Mitsuki even got to work together again briefly when she made a guest appearance in Mitsuki’s "Douki no Sakura” a few years later!

Funny that of all the glamorous roles Sayu has played and how stunningly beautiful she was in ALL of them, the one which finally hooked my heart was a goofy and zany character...with a bob-style haircut no less!!

Such is the power of a character! NOW...will some kind subbing team PLEASE pick up the second part of Watashi Moratte Tsuioku Hen so I can find out just how this story ends??!LOL

EDIT!!!

Went onto the awesome Drama Otaku site today and saw some WONDERFUL NEWS: Not only has Furritsubs (the team who did the first series) picked up Watashi wo Moratte Koiji Hen, they ALREADY subbed the first two episodes!!! Whooohooo, Can't WAIT to dig into this!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com