Catch The Rainbow with "Nijiiro Karute"

 Mitsuki Takahata stars as Masora Kureno, a gifted physician who loves her job as a doctor in the big city. But when she is stricken by a disease that makes her unable to perform at her top skill, she is let go from her job.

For the next few weeks Kureno wanders aimlessly, wondering what she should do with her life, when she meets a friendly man named Kirigatani (Ken Mitsuishi) visiting from a small village to promote his town’s produce.

Looking up the tiny village online, Kureno is excited to find that the town is looking for a doctor! Keeping her malady a secret, she applies for the job and is immediately accepted!

She makes the long journey to the small village, not sure of what to expect. But once there, she is met with open arms! She meets with the friendly if eccentric townsfolk of the town, including Midorikawa (Mizuno Miki), Kirigatani's wife (Nishida Naomi) and Yukino (Adachi Yumi) among others.

She is also introduced to her new medical partners, the odd surgeon Asagi Saku (Iura Arata) and stoic nurse Aoyama Taiyo (Kitamura Takumi) and led to her new clinic, an old school repurposed as the town’s medical center. Despite the place’s run-down appearance, Masora instantly falls in love with the place and happily decides to stay!! 

The town has long been hoping for a doctor to make his or her residence here, and she is instantly taken in my them. And it isn’t long before Kureno is able to show the townsfolk what she can do!

Done in the vein of Harassment Game or Napoleon No Mura where someone from Tokyo moves in to a small community and the lessons each can learn from each other, this has all the makings of another great feel-good drama!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Crush of the Day: Alice Hirose

 Beautiful Alice Hirose should have been a Crush of the Day YEARS ago, and I’m sure she would have easily done so already, if her drama “Tantei ga Hayasugiru” had not been dropped by the subtitlers after the third episode and my infatuation put on hold!  I was reminded how wonderfully darling she is in this past year’s “Seven Secretaries” (7nin no Hisho), and with her new drama “Shitteru Wife” being one of my most favorite dramas on right now, she is officially my Crush Du Jour!

The first time I ever saw Alice was in the 2018 drama Harassment Game as the stoic and able Makoto Komura, and I remember at the time thinking how much she looked and acted like actress/model Maryjun Takahashi, but she soon proved she had an aura all her own!

 I really liked her here and was eager to see more from her, and more I got!

The next thing I saw her in was the comedy crime drama Tantei Hayasugiru as a teenage heiress who has to deal with an annoying detective bodyguard when her life is threatened! After seeing her play such a cool, serious character in Harassment Game, it was kind of jarring seeing her playing a young, klutzy and OH SO SPAZZY college student!

 Truthfully I had a hard time seeing her as a student, but she won me over anyway with her cute charm as the character of the peppy Ichika Sogawa, and until its untimely dropping, Tantei was my favorite show!

Then came Seven Secretaries (7nin No Hisho) which showed me Alice’s glamorous side as the stylish but utterly naive Nana Terui!  So cute and charming was she in this that she officially became one of my favorite actresses, one whom I would be keeping an eye out for!

(BTW, Alice must have one of the most disarming smiles EVER!)

The next two dramas Alice tackled were serious medical shows that I admit I didn’t have too much interest in watching and so only briefly checked out, the VERY Code-Blue centric Top Knife with Alice playing newbie medical student Sachiko Kozukue under the strict eye of Yuki Amami…

…and  in Radiation House as Hirose Hirono…This is an odd one. I love BOTH Alice AND Tsubasa Honda, so you would think that Radiation House would be a GIVEN for me to watch. But save the first episode, I haven't been interested enough to pick up the drama proper…maybe soon.

Side Note: Isn’t it amazing that even after all these years, Sayaka Yamaguchi is still one of the sexiest women on the planet?! Look at that sultry pose she's making there. Yow!

I recently saw the 2018 drama Seigi No Se and was delighted to find Alce playing Yuriko Yoshitaka’s little sister Haruko. Though she only appeared briefly in each episode, the chemistry between the two sisters was very believable and always made for some entertaining scenes!

I had mentioned before how hard I had it to see Alice as a younger girl since she seemed so mature in Harassment Game, but I had no problem seeing her as a younger girl here…not only ‘cause they always dressed her down to make Yuriko look more adult, but the fact that they still slept in bunk beds! LOL

Every episode had to have at least ONE scene with the two sisters interacting and it was always so much FUN!

And now we have come to Alice’s latest drama, one which FULLY showcases her wonderful talents, both as smart, capable woman, frazzled, harried Mother, and adorable manic pixie, the still-airing time-slipping drama Shitteru Wife. Oh man, ALice is simply KILLING it in this show- with a premise that has her character jumping from college student to bright-eyed OL and desperate housewife with kids, she is completely commanding each scene!

Thanks to this drama I am BESIDE myself with love for this actress. Seriously, Alice has it in her to become one of my top fave actresses of ALL TIME if she keeps this up!

EDIT: Holy CRAP, I JUST realized that Alice was the insanely adorable girl Haru in the 2015 comedy drama Mousou Kanojou!!! Been so long since I'd seen it- who knew that that cute sprite playing the Gaku Hamada’s dream girl was my dear Alice-chan!! Sooo, sooo cute here, and I gotta say, while rewatching the series to make these screencaps…yeah, Alice already had that special something, that magical twinkle in her eye, even from way back!!!

PS” Just looked up Alice’s stats on Wikipedia and was stunned to discover..her real name is Mayuko Oishii???? Huh. Who Knew! So wait…Alice’s sister Suzu Hirose’s real name is Oishii, too??? (looks up Suzu’s stats) HUH! The More You Know!

PPS: SPEAKING of the more you know, I ALSO discovered that, like SO MANY other actresses I love, Alice started out…as a KAMEN RIDER girl! YES! And not just ANY girl, in the 2009 movie "Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider W & Decade MOVIE War 2010”, Alice played Misaki Yuriko, Sentai Super-heroine Denpa Ningen TACKLE!!!! WHAAAAAATTTT!!!!

For those of you who don’t know, Tackle was always a curious character in the Kamen Rider original series- as the sidekick/partner of Kamen Rider Stronger, she was more than a regular human and yet never officially branded as a “Kamen Rider’ though she shared the powers and insect motif (ladybug) Who would have dreamed she would someday be portrayed by one of my new favorite actresses!!!

Right now Alice is the most exciting actress out there, and it is thrilling to be here as she grows and becomes even MORE awesome!