Sayaka and the Dream Team

 DREAM TEAM tells the story about a woman named Kana Enoki (a saucy Sayaka Yamaguchi) in a verbally abusive relationship with her husband Keigo (Yasuyuki Maekawa) who only puts up with it for the sake of their teenage daughter Tamaki (Maharu Nemoto). 

When her basketball coach Shoji Ando (Masato Ibu) from her high school days passes away,  she connects with two other former students who have equally been under his tutelage, the senior Yuko Tsuruga (Naomi Zaizen) and the junior Akane Miyosawa ( Nanami Sakuraba).

When the kindly widow of the coach Yoshie Ando (Kimiko Yo) offers to give her a place to live and get away from her problematic life, she at first declines, but after another confrontation with her judgemental and condescending husband, she takes daughter in tow and arrives at the doorstep of the lodging.

There she meets both Yuko and Akane who have similarly come to escape some situation in life.

Though the clash at first, they eventually come to an understanding, and they even find that their coach had dubbed the three of them his fantasy “Dream Team” because of their specific skills on the court, and has always believed that if they combined their efforts, they would be unstoppable!

They realize that together they can get through any problems that they come up against!

Hajimemashite Aishitemasu

Machiko Ono plays Mina Umeda, a woman who has devoted her life to becoming an established pianist under the judgmental thumb of her celebrated pianist father. She’s even told her husband she doesn’t want children so she can concentrate on her goals. But after years of trying, Mina is still struggling to get recognition for her skills and at 35 years old is realizing she has traded her focus on piano for things like family and kids.

She’s blessed with a very supportive and optimistic real-estate agent named Shinji (Eguchi Yosuke) who praises her no matter what her choices, believing in her piano skills while at the same time secretly hoping to one day have children with Mina.

 One day while Mina is listlessly playing her piano (after a typically horrible piano lesson with a bratty student), she hears rustling in the yard. There have been reports of someone (or some THING) going through the residents’ refuse, so she checks on the garden warily. 

What she sees, to her surprise, is a dirty and frightened little boy who looks like he has not slept or eaten in days. Sensing his hunger, she runs to the house and feeds him a doughnut before calling the authorities to take care of him.

Upon hearing the news, Shinji rushes to the hospital where he and Mina are met by a Child Welfare Agent named Machi Domoto (sternly played by Kimiko Yo) who tells them that she’s been investigating this child since she heard rumors of abuse by his mother. His mother has since fleed and the boy has been surviving somehow alone. As the mother used fake names when renting the place, they have no idea what her name is or what the boy’s name is, and tell the couple that the boy will probably end up with a generic name given by the government.

 Domoto assures the coiple that she will take over the matter of the boy, but fate steps in that evening when the little boy shows up AGAIN in their back yard. It seems he ran away from the orphanage and made his way to the only place he seems to want to be: at the Umeda’s home.

  Approaching the boy, they see he has wet himself and watching Mina bustle about cleaning him up, Shinji feels in his heart how wonderful a mother she would be. They once again call Domoto and she assured them once again that she will take care of things.

 

Shinji has clearly been touched by the boy’s predicament, and his unspoken wishes for a child come to the forefront of his thoughts. And the next day, when Shinji's sister Haruyo (Maki Sakai) and brother (Hayami Mokomichi) visit, Haruyo accidentally lets it slip to Mina that Shinji’s even entertained ideas of adopting the boy. This is heavy news for Mina, and they finally have an open discussion about things.

Shinii says that it can’t be a coincidence that this boy showed up at their house TWICE. Maybe something is telling them that adopting the boy is the thing to do. But Mina is aghast at the idea of the responsibility of taking care of a child, and no matter what Shinji says, she is adamant that they mustn’t do it. But when fate steps in and for the THIRD time the little boy shows up outside the Umeda’s home, even she cannot help feeling there must be a reason.

* * * * * *

Someone on d-addicts called Hajimemashite Aishitemasu a “Generic Tearjerker” and having watched the first episode I can’t argue that it isn’t, but nonetheless there is something about this drama that really moves me. I love Machiko Ono and it’s been awhile since I saw Yosuke Eguchi playing one of those sweet, ever-positive and ever-smiling characters like he used to back in the day, and the music, MAN, when the music starts up, the waterworks really open up here!!! I’m really looking forward to watching the rest of this show!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Deka In Drag: Masahiro Matsuoka in "Kaseifu No Mitazono"

Now that Kuroi 10nin No Onna has ended,I desperately needed another wacky show to take its place, and oh, how Kaseifu No Mitazono happily fit that bill!!! Starring TOKIO’s Masahiro Matsuoka as the titular housekeeper, this drama tells the tale of the capable crossdressing Mitazono who is part housekeeper, part detective and ALL AROUND BADASS!!

We are introduced to Kaoru Mitazono and her partner Emiri Hanada who are just being hired by a politician and his family, and it doesn’t take long to realize that while Hanada is a naive and innocent housekeeper, Mitazono is not only a person of incredible knowledge and skills, but someone who seems to have another, secret agenda. 

It’s not clear at first, but after some digging around and investigating, Mitazono discovers that each of the family has something deplorable to hide and her ultimate goal is to shake things up and bring all these transgressions to light!

Mitazono and his/her partner are employed by the MUSUBI housekeeping agency, and when we see them back at home base, we find that intimate knowledge of the families they are working for is a regular thing amongst these housekeepers. 

 “We know all their secrets, but are bound by discrection,” says boss Yuriko Musubi (the ever affable Kimiko Yo), nonetheless it doesn’t stop them from doing their own deductions and guessing when it comes to whatever sordid crimes their superiors are up to!

Gotta say, this show has already far exceeded my expectations- I thought this was going to be a silly romp with Matsuoka hamming it up in ladies clothing, but what I’m getting is a gripping and sometimes ever serious drama. The reason for Mitazono’s crossdressing is never revealed, with Musubi saying “well, everyone is into their own thing, right?” and so far from a slapstick show, it plays it rather straight.

Not to say there aren’t fun and hilarious moments, like when she is talking to someone (in this case the governor’s daughter, who has just figured out Mitazono is a dude) and at the end of the conversation, switching to his man voice and saying “Don’t You Think?” LOLOL Good way to make your point!

Love all the characters but special mention must be made of Fumika Shimizu as Emiri Hanada, OH MY GOSH, she is soooo cute. She plays the wide-eyed and innocent foil against the stern and steely eyed Mitazono, and man, even just watching her polish a mirrror, she is so adorable it makes me smile! I first saw her in the Satoshi Ohno drama Sekai Ichiban Muzukashi Koi  but it’s here that she really makes her mark on my heart!

I’ve always loved Masahiro Matsuoka’s dramas, Tengoku Ni Chiban Chikai Otoko (Heaven Cannot Wait), Yaoh (Night King), Yasuko to Kenji and even Manhattan Love Story are faves, and I think we can safely say that with Kaseifu No Mitazono, we’ve got yet ANOTHER winner!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com