If I Had A Nickel For Every Time Someone Tried To Cover Yuko Araki’s Mouth…

 …I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice!

First in Roppongi Class with Yurina Hirate and Ryoma Takeuchi....

And then in the recent Galileo Special Kindan no Majutsu with Yu Sawabe and Masatoshi Nakamura!

At THIS rate, it's looking like Yuko might have been a better choice for the upcoming Hanasaki Mai ga Damattenai reboot since EVERY body seems to want to SHUT her UP! LOL

Uchi no Musume wa Kareshi ga Dekinai 終わり

 Sugao no Mama De, Chance, Aishiteiru To Ittekure, Long Vacation… 

These are all HUGE, top-tier fave j-dramas of mine and they all come from the pen of Eriko “Goddess Of Romance Stories” Kitagawa, surely one of the most celebrated Drama writers out there, and now I have one more to add to that lofty list: Uchi no Musume wa Kareshi ga Dekinai!

Starring Miho Kanno and Minami Hamabe as a Mother and Daughter team who go through the ups and downs of romance, all the while Mom struggles with her waning popularity as a Romance Novelist and daughter deals with first loves and being a secret Manga otaku, this was SHEER DELIGHT to watch from the very first minute and never let go til the last episode’s final beat!!

Featuring a fine little cast that included Ikki Sawamura, Kenshi Okada, Haruka Fukuhara, Keisuke Higashi, Ayako Yoshitani, and Masatoshi Nakamura,as well as surprise appearances by both Akiko Yada and Etsushi Toyokawa (true Eriko Kitagawa alums) this was an ensemble-led drama where everyone shone, and yet, the heart and soul of the show was the love between this eccentric Mother and Daughter as they go about life and romance!

I cannot tell you how many times I was just sitting there crying my eyes out with how wonderfully touching the scenes with Mom Aoi and daughter Sora, their each and every moment showing you how much these two loved each other. 

And the writing…There were so many zippy, fun and witty scenarios as well as incredible, wonderful lines of dialog that just BROKE MY HEART, sadly most of them I can’t quote without giving away important story points!

Tried to find a few passages I really loved which weren't so overly spoilery...

(translations by aoinousagi)

Chatting in bed one night, Sora and Mom talk about relationships and how parent and child bonds rise above all others:

LOL

Sora hanging out with Saori (Haruka Fukuhara) who lets her know how rare it is to have such a sweet relationship with her Mother!

Aoi's career hinges on a movie adaptation being made of one of her older books, but she is uncomfortable with the drastic changes they are making to it. She knows she should swallow her pride and accept the deal for the sake of her future, but it all comes to a head one night when she is playfully wrestling with Sora in bed. One minute she is laughing, then suddenly bursts into tears...

When Sora is feeling down about her career and feeling like a loser, her agent Soseki (Yohei Kawakami) reassures her of her value.

A perfect encapsulation of the eccentric lifestyle of Aoi and Sora which Irino (Kenshi Okada) witnesses when Sora gets a book deal:

You can see the love and warmth these two have for each other!

And just a throwaway zinger but so funny: when Aoi is given tickets to Bob Dylan to go with Gon (Ikki Sawamura), he wants to go with his guy friend instead of her. Then Pop (Masatoshi Nakamura) puts in his two cents:

LOLOLOL, these and many more passages are what makes this drama so darn GREAT!

This is one drama I will really have to sit on and decide where I want to place it in my list of all-time faves, because, oh boy, this was a HUGE one!!! One of the best dramas I’ve seen, and DEFINITELY one to go alongside All of Eriko’s other amazing dramas.

Some of you may know, but I’ve been lukewarm on much of Eriko Kitagawa’s later releases…Though I still really liked dramas like Sora Kara Furu Ichioku no Hoshi and Tatta Hitotsu No Koi, I wasn’t a big fan of Orange Days or even Beautiful Life. And then with (in my opinion) uninspiring dramas like Sunao ni Narenakute and the recent watch Hanbun Aoi, I began to think she had lost her glow, much like her heroine Aoi!

But MAN! Just like Aoi Minase herself, I’m here to tell you, with Uchi no Musume wa Kareshi ga Dekinai, there is no doubt in my mind that this woman still has the MAGIC!!!

SHE IS TIFFANY!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com