Haru ni Nattara~ When Spring Comes

Nao and Noritake Kinashi in Haru ni Nattara

 Over breakfast one morning, a single father and his daughter announce that they have huge, shocking news for the other. On the count of three they both say what it is, and both are indeed shocked by the news they hear: Daughter has announced that she has been seeing a guy for a year and intends to MARRY in three months…while father has news of a more startling sort: the news that he has stage4 pancreatic cancer and has three months to LIVE!

Father Masahiko Shiina (Noritake Kinashi), a peppy salesman by day, has only learned of his cancer by chance- a sore hip led to the discovery of the slow-moving cancer, sadly by the time the Docs have found it, it has metastasized to other parts of his body  and is a long shot for survival. Having seen what the cancer can do to other friends and with little chance of success, Masahiko opts out of treatment and hopes to spend his last few months peacefully. 

Daughter Hitomi (Nao) is a young midwife working at a maternity clinic in town, under the watchful eye of Sugimura (Satomi Kobayashi)  she has moved on to treating patients of her own and is secure and happy in her job and life. 

Her fiance is a schleppy man named Kawakami (Gaku Hamada) , an older and if, truth be told, not that funny guy working as a comedian. The two have secretly been gearing up for their wedding, but not only does her father’s illness throw a huge wrench in their plans…. he’s ENTIRELY AGAINST Hitomi marrying the Kawakami!!!

Even Hitomi's friends Minako (Ai Mikami) and Keigo (Tatsuya Fukazawa), whom she delightedly tells one afternoon, aren't too sure about this union, especially Keigo, who's long harbored secret feelings for Hitomi...

  The situation causes terrific arguments at home: Hitomi wants Father to begin treatments and accept her fiance, while Dad only wants to live out his life in peace…and WITHOUT his daughter marrying tht good-for-nothing comedian shlub!

While the two try and work out the differences between them and come to some kind of arrangement, there is a matter of bucket lists. Daughter Hitomi has a list of all the things she wants to do before getting married. And father has crafted a similar list of things he wants to do before he passes. And in the coming episodes we will see the Father and Daughter try to come to terms while at the same time fulfilling their list wishes!

I will say that on paper, the premise of this drama sounds like a depressing melodrama, but far from it, this show is full of life, great characters, wonderful dialog and, as you would expect from someone like Nao, completely believable and lovable characters!

Ready to see where this one goes~!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

First Penguin おわり

 Just a quick not to mention how much I enjoyed the Nao/Tsutsumi Shinichi drama "First Penguin"!  The story of the city Single Mom who comes to a dying Fishing Port and becomes part of the small community and eventually its savior was easily my favorite drama this past season and episode by episode it remained my most anticipated show week after week!

You all know how much I love Nao and I'm going to go out on a limb and say this might be her best role yet... Simply wonderful!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Nao Is Back in “First Penguin”

 Nao is Nodoka Iwasaki, a single mother who arrives in a dying fishing village with young son Susumu in tow, looking for work! She’s there to begin work as a waitress in a hotel restaurant, but lets everyone know that she’s willing to do any number of things to make some money!

By chance she catches the eye of  an earnest fisherman named Hiroshi Kataoka (Shinichi Tsutsumi) who is reminded of a woman named Midori who was a positive force in keeping the town lively and buzzing.

When he hears she is up for promotional work and such, he immediately decides to hire her as the person to come up with a plan to save the fishing village from dying out!

This takes Nodoka for a loop, as she knows nothing about such things, but thanks to the passion of the fishermen and the amazing taste of the fresh fish, she decides to accept the job and make a go of it!

Using her marketing moxie, as well as the help of friends in town like Yusuke Kotohira (Daichi Watanabe), she tries to come up with ways to revitalize the town and bring in revenue for the ailing community.

She is tenacious and smart, but she will find that working against  a village set in their old ways, with greedy elders and boat workers who scoff at her radical ideas, may make things harder than she thought!

Awww, I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed Nao over the past few months, and First penguin is a great one to bring her back with! Nodoka Iwasaki is a great character, fun and goofy,thoughtful and kind, the kind of role Nao is perfect in!!! Should be a good one!

Oh, and Wakana Matsumoto is in it, too!! How great is that!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Yankee-Kun and White-Cane Girl: Koi Desu!

 Light hearted drama about a legally blind girl named Yukiko Akaza (Hana Sugisaki) who suffers from amblyopia. While not completely blind, she can see lights, colors and shapes if they are big and she holds them up to her eyes. For walking she uses a long white cane to get around.

Despite her impairment, Yukiko lives her life as best possible with her big sister Izumi (Nao) and Father (Goro “Mr. Kaori Okui” Kishitani). By following the same patterns each day and remembering where things are, Yukiko can do most things by herself, going shopping and walking to school.

Though she DOES have to lean in pretty close to SEE anything!!!

 

One day going to school, she is stopped when she comes across a few thugs who are casually sitting across the braille path she needs to take. She tries to politely asks them to let her get past, but they ignore her. When she tries to move by with her cane, the main punk, a yankee named Morio Kurokawa (Yosuke Sugino) grabs it, causing Yukiko to panic and reflexively kick out.

Her frantic move meets its mark and she accidentally kicks the young man in groin, immediately taking him out of action! 

When Morio’s friends (Junki Tozuka and Natsuki Hori) try to scare her by telling her what a tuff guy Morio is, she misunderstands when they say he has a scar on his face, thinking she injured him.

Leaning in and taking his head in her hands, she tries to look closer to see the damage. It’s all a misunderstanding, and he brushes her off, but by that time the germ of interest has already sparked in this young man towards this odd girl!

You could say he was smitten right off the bat!

Upon arriving at school (a visually impaired center), she meets her best friend Sora (Momoko Tanabe) and tells her of her strange experience with the would-be thugs that morning. Sora’s heard of Morio and tell sher she’d better be careful! But soon school turns to lighter things and she forgets all about it…

But the very next day when Yukiko is heading towards school, she is abruptly met up with the same guy from the day before! Only this time, he wants to formally introduce himself, apologize for his behavior and, thanks to her besting him in battle,  consider her his “Aneki”!!!

Kurokawa proudly tells her how he looked up the things she’s been doing. He now knows she needed the braille path to get to places and also that she needs the cane he tried to take away to guide her.

Well, Yukiko is impressed that this guy went so far as to understand her situation, but at being called “Aneki” she draws the line!  He understands, but there’s nothing to stop him from waiting for her every day if only to say good morning and see her off!

At the cafe where the boys hang out, owner Akane (First Summer Uika) figures it out, exclaiming, “Are you in LOVE?” to which a sheepish Morio can only smile…though this is bad news for assistant Hachiko (Meru Nukumi) who secretly has a crush on him herself…

Eventually Morio works up the courage to confess his love to Yukiko, who thinks it must be some kind of joke! Double whammy, he writes it in such small print so there's no way she can even read it, LOL

But in time she sees the good side of this guy, even fate puts him into situations where he is seen in a bad light. As those around her like friends and family only see him as a street punk, they are on guard and try to talk her out of seeing this guy.…But together they talk things through....

Well, with such a stellar cast I already knew I was gonna dig this one, and so far it’s been really good, if, at times, mostly predictable… but Hana Sugisaki really sells the role and I’m behind her 100% to see where she gets to!

PS: In the role of Yukiko’s pretty best friend Sora, I initially thought it might actress Maika Yamamoto, imagine my surprise when I saw that it was Momoko Tanabe, last seen as the devious Jun Ichinose in the Keiko Kitagawa drama “Rikokatsu”! If you recall, at the time I remarked that she was a pretty gal under those military fatigues, and it looks like she’s finally allowed to shine! (If I have one problem it’s that, though her character is supposed to be visually impaired like Yukiko, she doesn’t act it… I mean, look at these clips… does she look impaired, LOL?)

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com