Close Encounters of the Baka Kind: Bakarhythm Returns with "The Hot Spot"

Akihiro Kakuta and Mikako Ichikawa in THE HOT SPOT

Been enjoying the new drama THE HOT SPOT, about a woman working at a Hot Springs hotel who finds out her co-worker is an extraterrestrial alien of vaguely superhuman strengths, and to whom she uses to make her hectic job easier! 

Mikako Ichikawa stars as Kiyomi Endo, a sensible single mother of one, who spends her days as a matter of routine: Get up, make breakfast for her daughter, bicycle to work, do her duties at the front desk of the hotel, go home at 6 and make dinner for her daughter who comes home from cram school at 8. 

At the front desk with co-workers Isomura and Sawada (Kaho and Maki Sakai).

Manager Okuda (Naoki Tanaka)

It's a complicated job, but somebody's got to do it!

This all changes one day when, bicycling home from work, she accidentally swerves in front of an oncoming truck-and is saved by the swift speed of her senior at the hotel, Takahashi (Akihiro Kakuta). Stunned by this sudden outburst of strength, she is further confused when he implores her to not breathe a word of the heroic deed to anyone. Why?

This secrecy really piques Kiyomi’s curiosity and the next day at work, she keeps at him until he finally confesses a most unbelievable statement: that he is an ALIEN born to a human father and alien mother!  He'd rather no one know about his secret and asks her to PLEASE keep it to herself!

"An ALIEN?"

"An Alien."

"..."

At first thinking him off his rocker, with a few demonstrations of his “powers”, she is convinced, and at once realizes that someone with his gifts is JUST the kind of thing she needs to help her in her busy day at work dealing with all the multitudes of problems the front desk receives! 

"With these powers, you can help me with my customer service problem!"

"You might be overestimating what I can do..."

Nonetheless, the dynamic duo gamely tackle the problems, and whaddaya know- they succeed! Takahashi's alien powers might JUST be the thing to keep the staff's sanity at the Onsen!

Scriptwritten by the mad mind of BAKARHYTHM, this is yet another FUN drama in the vein of his slightly sci-fi comedies like Suteki Na Sen TAXI and the excellent BRUSH UP LIFE, full of zany dialog, wacky scenarios, kooky and chatty best friends, and of course, true HEART at the base of it all! 

Kiyomi and friends Minami and Hazuki (Kami Hiraiwa and Anne Suzuki)

Skeptical friends being introduced to the "Alien"

On the case!

From the beginning, this was the SOLE drama I was looking forward to this season, and so far it has been everything I’ve hoped for!!! Can’t wait to see more!!!

“Kazoku Dakara Aishitan Janakute, Aishita no ga Kazoku Datta”

Yumi Kawai with Aoi Yoshida

WONDERFULLY Sweet, Witty, and Touching drama with characters you immediately love and want to spend time with, “Kazoku Dakara Aishitan Janakute, Aishita no ga Kazoku Datta” (The Only Ones I Love Are My Family) HAS to be the “feel Good” drama of the past season!!!

I had no IDEA what I was in for when I dove into this, but I was instantly captivated not only by the characters but the AMAZING, colorful dialog that filled every scene- the writing style made me think of the genius writer/director Satoshi Miki  (he of such terrific stories like “Instant Numa” Adrift In Tokyo” and the excellent  2013 series “Henshin Interviewer no Yuutsu”)!

Half expecting it to be Miki, I was to see it was screenwritten and directed by Akiko Ohku, she of the wonderful “Ano ko no Yume wo Mitan Desu” series (which I also really, really loved), and the Alice Hirose “Shitsuren Meshi” foodie drama!!! And now you can add this drama to her list of terrific little stories!

A “Work of Fiction but based on A True Story”, Kazoku Dakara Aishitan Janakute is based on the autobiography of a girl named Nanami Kishimoto (Yuumi Kawai), a girl with a LOT on her plate for a teenage high-schooler: Her father (played in spirit by Ryo Nishikido) passed away when Nanami was a youngster, leaving her eccentric Mother Hitomi (Maki Sakai) to raise both her and her little brother Sota, who is suffering from Downs Syndrome. Add in an eccentric Grandma Yoshiko (Miho Jun) dropping in, they have a lot on her hands! 

The family's early days are spent mostly worrying about Sota's interaction with the "real world", though big Sis is skeptical that he can do things alone just yet...but Mom is optimistic!

I love these scenes, you can tell how loving this family is just through their actions.

At school, Nanami is caught between hanging with the “cool” kids...

 ...or following her own quirky path, of which her equally awkward friend Tamaki (Momoko Fukuchi) wholeheartedly encourages. 

As two people from poorer families with broken homes that have a strange camaraderie with each other, making for some sweet moments and HILARIOUS scenarios! Whenever it's the two of them, it's  like "Square Pegs" for the new generation!!!

In the romance department, Nanami has been seeing a boy named Asahi (Ryunosuke Shimamura) and things have been going swimmingly...

...that is until he happens to see her at the convenience store with her little brother!

He is taken aback by the fact that Sota is mentally handicapped, and is soon thereafter ignoring Nanami's calls.

Confronting him one evening at his home, he says that he had planned to marry her one day but can not confidently say he is prepared to take care of her brother and has reconsidered their relationship. This confuses Nanami, who isn't even thinking about something like marriage. But she agrees to distance herself.

And just when things can't get any MORE overwhelming, Mom Hitomi suffers an attack, leaving her lower body paralyzed. She must be confined to a wheelchair, and this development will also take its toll on the little family.

But never fear, our Nanami is a trooper, a concise and thoughtful girl with a great head on her shoulders and all the attitude and SASS one can muster! We are confident she will see these things through and are cheering her on!

REALLY loving this little show- funny because when I has originally seen it listed among the new dramas for the past season I didn’t think much of it- seemed like too much of a serious drama for me...

But the subbing team was diligent in posting up little excerpts from the show as they worked on it on facebook, and it was those clips that piqued my interest and made me want to give it a chance- a chance that I’m SO GLAD I took!