The Legacy of "Mei-Chan No Shitsuji" Continues to Impress

 
Was looking up the cast for the NETFLIX drama “My Husband Won’t Fit” starring Aoi Nakamura and Natsumi Ishibashi as a couple who find they are not as compatible as they'd thought...

Didn't recognize either of them but I was surprised when, looking up Natsumi Ishibashi on dramawiki,  found she had her early start in MEI-CHAN NO SHITSUJI as one of those angry Arm Crossing  "Sol" Rank Girls!

(that's her on the far left.)

As you ALL know, I’m a firm believer that practically EVERY hard-hitter from the 10’s came from that show and it always seemed that whenever I started liking some new actress, I’d inevitably find out she came from Mei Chan No Shitsuji!

Besides the obvious Nana Eikura as the titular Mei-chan...

we also had actresses like Aya Oomasa

Shiori Kutsuna,

Aoi Nakabeppu

Mayuko Iwasa,

As well as others like Mitsuki Tanimura, Asami Usuda and others! So MANY of them went on to lucrative careers~ 

Looking over all the girls in the cast, however,  it occurred to me ONE actress I hadn’t hears much of: whatever happened to Riko Yoshida, the actress who played the little girl “Miriku Mamihara”? 

Didn’t instantly recall seeing the name in any dramas later. Did she ever make a career out of acting? Did she quit?

Clicking on her stats, I was to find that, yes, she HAD retired back in 2o16, but made a comeback a year later…under the NEW name of...Ai Yoshikawa!
WHAAT! Ai Yoshikawa? I KNOW that name!
You’re telling me this "Ai Yoshikawa" playing such characters as the sassy Mika Etou in Hajimete Koi o Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi:

And Ena Genda in a series of strange psychoses in the drama “In Hand”:

...and the stoic and serious nurse Yuika Sakai in “Koi wa Tsuzuku Dokomademo” was that SAME little kid?

Wowo, she grew up right under my nose! 

Whodathunk it? Seems surreal that THIS cute little student in Mei-Chan No Shitusji:

Is this SAME pretty thang in ViVi Magazine!

Only then did I fully realize that a good 11 years had quickly gone by since then and that the girls who played children are now becoming teen actresses in their own right!~

Boy, Mei Chan No Shitsuji...the drama that KEEPS ON GIVING!

Catching up On Some Older Classics

After so many people have recommended it to me, I FINALLY was motivated enough to find and download the old Tsuyoshi Kusanagi drama NINKYO HELPER, and MAN, what TOOK me so long? This drama is freakin’ great!

Ninkyo Helper tells the tale of a group of Yakuza Bosses who get an odd directive from their new BIG Yakuza Boss (Matsudaira “Abarenbo Shogun” Ken) Takayama- to hide their Yakuza roots and go undercover…as CARETAKERS in an Elderly Care Center!

 Takayama explaining to the Care Facility Owner that he will be taking in six new volunteer. Caretaker playing by Ren Osugi, no stranger to dramas where Yakuza go undercover as he appeared in “My Boss My Hero” as well!

The six Yakuza bosses have no idea just what is on the elder Boss’ mind, but cannot refuse his orders. And so their life of struggling with the pains and problems of elder care begin! 

Though rough at first, over time some of them actually find worth in both the old people they care for and the job they provide. Enough to wonder, “Just WHAT is the endgame plan for this charade?”

I’m halfway through the series already and really liking it- Meisa Kuroki is indeed as COOL as Hamanosilence said- as the only female of the team, she is easily the most kick-ass out of all of them!

Also VERY happy to see Yui Natsukawa in this, here as Akira Hatori, a woman running a chain of high class care centers with an eye to take over the one the gang is working at-

There’s a nice side-story of Hatori’s bullied young son who takes a liking to Kusanagi’s Tsubasa, begging him to accept him as his senior and teach him how to be strong.

Also nice to see Riisa Naka as a naive caretaker working a t the facility who seems to be taking a shine to the gruff Tsubasa…

Osamu Mukai as Tsubasa’s junior in the clan…

and , OH MY GOSH, Aoi Nakabeppu in a minor role as Hatori’s assistant (along with Misako Yasuda), boy, I was JUST wondering what EVER happened to her!

Also began watching the Shinjo Katori/Yuko Takeuchi drama “ Bara No Nai Hanaya”, the story of a widowed man raising a young daughter who meets a sweet blind woman outside of his flower shoppe one rainy night.

 There is immediate chemistry between the two, and circumstances seem to bring them closer and closer together. But we find that this is all an elaborate con put together by a mysterious man out to punish the father for yet unknown reasons….

 Also about halfway through this one- Yuko Takeuchi reminds me why I fell so head-over heels in love with her in “Lunch No Joou”!!

Just about to wrap these up and THEN...on to tackling Code Blue finally!

Posted by zdoramaagain.blogspot.com