Some Vampiric Tomfoolery with Mitsuki Takahata in "Unknown"

Can’t say I’ve really been able to get into the latest drama from the otherwise wonderful Mitsuki Takahata along with Kei Tanaka, telling the tale of a clueless man dating a sassy girl who just HAPPENS to be a VAMPIRE… Sounds great on paper and there are quite a few good actors and actresses involved here, but like so many other drama this season, the writing and direction is such a MESS! Very slapdash and wonky pacing wildly pinballing back and forth, this feels more like an SNL skit gone mad than a real drama…

Mitsuki Takahata is Kokoro Yamihara, a scandal rag paparazzi journalist who, along with partner Kagami (Keita Machida) , shacks up outside celebrity residences to snap them in the act of wrongdoing~ a dirty job to be sure but one that needs to be done!

Toramatsu Asada on the other hand, is a neighborhood policeman, loved and relied on by his community, though he DOES appear a little absent minded in the head, but everyone, including his superior (Shinya Kote) expect good things for him!

Somehow, this sordid woman journalist and this good hearted cop KEEP brushing paths, whether it's when Asada's interrupting and RUINING Kokoro’s carefully planned stakeouts, citing her for loitering when she is JUST about to nab a naughty celebrity doing the deed…

Or when he drunkenly turns up on Kokoro’s doorstep (seems her place is his old residence which he accidentally returns to when drunk)…

Guess these scenes are supposed to be funny,  but for me it’s more irritating than anything. Watching a virtual stranger trying to drunkenly force his way into a woman's house and having the neighbors (who think it’s just a lover’s quarrel) joining in to MAKE her let him in…ehhhh, that’s not funny.

Eventually all these chance encounters leads to romance between the two, and I have to state for the record, I never felt any chemistry between these two at ALL, and though you’re supposed to believe that these two are madly in love and should be happily married (at least all the support characters say so over and over), I don’t buy it.

Even the parts with Kokoro and her family- with Kumiko Aso as her Mother (?) and Kotaro Yoshida as Kokoro’s eccentric Father (determined to dress as “Dracula-ish” as possible), disappoints.  With this cast, it should be a laugh RIOT, but the comedy just falls flat for me.

IN ANY CASE, like MANY of the other dramas this season, I guess I will keep tuning in to see if this show gets any better. There's supposed to be a storyline where you find out Asada is a killer or something, maybe that can develop into a real story. Crossing fingers with this one.....

And "Super-Rich" Episode #4, Too

Might also add that this week's episode of "Super-Rich" was pretty awesome, too! In fact, Super-Rich and Saiai are probably my two FAVE shows airing right now, the two dramas that I wait in anticipation for each week and devour deliciously when it gets uploaded!

Funny, Noriko Eguchi is ONE actress I NEVER would have dreamed to be such a charismatic lead for a show- for years I always associated her with her stern nun role in "One Pound Fukuin", and she's always done those kind of characters. With Super-Rich's Mamoru Hyoga, she's finally got the perfect role- she's freakin' great here!!

Lifestyles of the (Formerly) Rich and Famous

 Super Rich stars actress Noriko Eguchi as the affluent Mamoru Hyoga, a multi-millionaire businesswoman co-running a succesful online manga company.

Though always wealthy even as a child, ever since both her parents were killed in a plane crash (which the young Mamoru believes is at fault), she has been stand-offish about relationships and has an abrupt and callous demeanor about her.

Her employees, however, love and trust her. They support her in every decision she makes and knows she always has the company’s interest in mind.

Executives( Keita Machida, Yuri Nakamura, Rio Kanno and Yuma Yamato)

Manga Staff (Arata Furuta and Riku Kashima)

This can’t be said for Mamoru’s partner, Ryo Ichinose (Shigeyuki Totsugi), whom, though Mamoru she has known all her life and considers her only friend, is seen as undependable, lazy and untrustworthy by the employees.

So when Ichinose is discovered to have partnered the company with a business with Yakuza ties before disappearing with a fortune, no one is surprised (save Mamoru herself) at all!

Their parent company, run by the elegant but strict Satomi Shimatani (A gorgeous Nanako Matsushima) has no intention of being associated with a yakuza partnership, but tells Mamoru all will be overlooked if she fires Ichinose.

But when Mamoru cannot bring herself to dismiss her friend, the manga company is dropped and the sponsors soon begin cutting ties with them. 

After the payment of penalties due to cancellations, the company, and Mamoru herself, are suddenly left poor!!! As she leaves, it feels like the end.

At some point earlier in the month, the company has admitted some new interns (including Mirai Shida Mizuki Itagaki, and Miyu Takahashi) after passing an entrance exam.

But one young hopeful, the energetic and optimistic Yu Haruno (Eiji Akaso) has missed the exam due to helping a pregnant woman on the way to the company. Though he begs and pleads with Hyoga, his tardiness is something she cannot overlook and dismisses him, over and over.

It’s only when she has hit rock bottom that this curious young man reappears, and, when offering up his last coin to buy Mamoru something to eat, she finally sees the moxie in him and decides then and there to get back up and fight her way to the top…with his continued support!

MAN, this is one HELLUVA cast! While Noriko Eguchi has never been on my radar (she always seems to play the more morose roles), the actors and actresses involved in this shidig make it worthwhile JUST to see it all play out! Should be a fun one!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com