The (Un)Talented Miss Takano: Nanao in "Munou no Taka"

Nanao as the titular Takano-san.

 The zany "Muno No Taka" follows two Office workers who are looked down upon by their co-workers for their weaknesses, yet they both harbor strengths no one else can see...

Michito Hiwada (Akihisa Shiono) is a man with a mind for graphs, statistics and numbers, and is quite good with his predictions and assessments. But he is a jumpy bundle of nerves, and with his stammering and sloppy appearance, makes no one take him seriously or even listen to what he has to say, a real shortcoming for someone in outside sales! Though he is smart about his work, his constant scoldings by his superiors makes him dread every day at work.

Tsumeko Takano (Nanao) is the exact opposite: Svelte, stylish and brimming with confidence, she is someone who commands respect whenever she steps into a room, and one cannot help but get invested in anything she has to say...

However, this assessment is literally only skin deep, as her company soon finds that outside of her powerful illusion of intelligence, Takano is incompetent at every aspect of her job, from filing papers, organizing files, or even simply making copies on the xerox machine! Nonetheless, she faces each day with a huge smile and a twinkle in her eye as if she's just made employee of the month!

The company's supposed star...

...who can't even STAPLE papers together correctly!

Supervisor Hatoyama looks over the mess....

...but clueless Takano thinks she's done a good job!

It's all he can do to keep his patience!

Though their immediate superiors (Arata Iura, Asuka Kudo, Honami Sato) are trying their best to work with them despite their glaring flaws, their section chief (Katsumi Takahashi) is on his last straw with them and has plans to fire them if they don't improve.

When he hears this, Hiwada talks it over with Takano, and is shocked to find that despite this news of her impending doom, she remains positive about her future with the company. For a guy like Hiwada who worries about every day, he wishes he had some of her confidence...the things he could do if he were only HALF as self-assured as her!

Then, like a bolt out of the blue, he comes up with an inspiration: Teaming UP with Takano, taking her WITH him to his sales meetings, and using her POSITIVE ENERGY to work the deal in his favor!

"How would you like to join me in sales?"

????

The company has huge misgivings about trying something like this, but Hiwada points out that if they don't try, they lose the contract and the two of them will lose their jobs ANYWAY!  So their very futures are riding on this!

And so it is that the two venture out as sales partners of sorts, planning on using the strengths of each other to "boost" their chances!  

Takano takes the lead, starting the meeting with confidence and energy, relaxing the clients and making them eager for the sales-pitch...

...and once they begin asking about the specific details, Hiwada steps in with his concise information and assessments. And when he starts to falter, Takano is right there to bring back up the mood of the room!

With this remarkable strategy, they unbelievably SEAL the DEAL!! it's the first victory for BOTH of them!

With their very first sale under their belts, their jobs have been saved for just one day longer, and this looks like the beginning of a BEAUTIFUL partnership! But how long can it last? And what ELSE might develop from this teaming up?  Only time will tell!

PS: If I have one gripe about this show, it's the huge inconsistencies in Takano's intelligence. Depending on the situation, they'll make her either moderately competent and in others so dumb  that it's impossible she can even life life normally. Like in some scenes, she's be wasting time on her phone or browsing the web, but in the next episode she doesn't even know how to work the computer, click on icons, open folders and use apps... she doesn't even know what the MOUSE is, and I'm like "Brah, I just SAW her using the computer just fine in the episode before!" Let's get CONSISTENT here! 

"That's a mouse"

My only explanation is that they're going to later reveal that her stupidity is all an act for some reason and reveal she's actually a genius who is only pretending to be an ignoramus to hide/repress something bad, or she's an investigative agent placed in the company to infiltrate some kind of corruption or something...Make a lot more sense than this fluctuating intelligence, but I guess we'll see!

The Truth Is Out There: AARO: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office

Tatsuya Fujiwara and Alice Hirose in AARO

YATTAAAAA! After MUCH fervent wishing and finger-crossing, my prayers have been ANSWERED as AARO: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (Zen Ryouiki Ijou Kaiketsu Shitsu) has been PICKED UP and is being subtitled, and by NETFLIX, no less!!! Hallelujah!!!

On the streets of Shinjuku, Crime Investigators Aranami (Yusuke Santa-Maria), Ninomiya (Riko Narumi) and Kitano (Rio Komiya) are called to the scene of a bizarre and horrific sight: a body seemingly completely dissolved away, leaving only their worldly clothing, accessories…and blood behind!

This is the latest in a string of similar murders, and with all avenues being investigated coming to dead ends and without any other leads, the authorities consider the possibility of supernatural explanations, and thus a formal request is made to a govermnent department few know about except in hushed tones: Zenryoiki Ijou Kaiketsu Shitsu, the “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office”, Zenketsu or AARO for short.  It is THEY who are used to investigate things of the paranormal and unexplainable!

Led by the mysterious Tamio Ukino (Fumiyo Kohinata), he calmly hears the details of the case from above, accepts the investigation request, and begins putting the team in motion…

Koyume Amano (Alice Hirose) is a former PR agent in the Metropolitan Force who has been suddenly and inexplicably transferred to the strange and unknown department in the bureau called AARO. Amano has no IDEA what this department does, and doesn't even know where to FIND it! Situated in a little known undisclosed area, she is led by a trusted courier (Takaya Sakoda) to its’ location, a small building just beyond the old temple grounds.

Not knowing WHAT to expect, Amano makes her way into the base, where she is introduced to the lead agent of the department: Miyabi Okitama (Tatsuya Fujiwara) a man with a taste for the macabre and unexplained. As Amano takes a seat, she is told the legacy of AARO, and finds it bursting with MUCH history!

The department has supposedly existed since olden times as a dedicated group of people set out to investigate, understand and create defenses against everything occult and supernatural. Spirits, Haints, Mononoke, Yokai, the list is endless, and they document it all!

Whenever the government has something that they just cannot explain with rational reasons, AARO is sent in to assess and identify the problem, and this time they are tackling the aforementioned Shinjuku “Spirited Away” case, named thusly since the bodies have all seems to have been swept up and taken away!

Looking over the recent and past cases, amateur online enthusiasts have cited the God “Hiruko” as the being responsible for the deaths, but Okitama has his own suspicions that it is another entity called Shadow Man, as several witnesses have been quoted as seeing a dark shape running past just before and after the incidents. 

THIS is the case that Amano has been placed into, and she can only wonder just WHY she of all people has been chosen for such a task! But we will learn that she may have a gift for the unexplained as well!

From that point on, the AARO team of Okitama and Amano are formally brought into the official task force with Aranami and Ninomiya,  set to investigate the so-called Spirited Away murders/disappearances, and right off the bat the two teams are clashing, with Aranami’s side stuck on the cold hard “facts", whereas Okitama and the AARO team consider things of a more fantastic nature!

Yet, together this bunch of eccentric and hardheaded people must learn to work together to find out just what has been happening to the disappearing bodies, and with that in mind, the AARO team dives in headfirst, determined to solve the case no matter what!

While all this carnage and mayhem is going on, a mysterious girl (Riko Fukumoto) looks on from behind the crowds….just who IS this girl, and what does she have to do with the cases?

 We’ll have to wait and see!
Aw MANNNN, I’m SO STOKED that AARO is being subbed at last, I was REALLY ready to give up on this season, as this was the SOLE drama of the Fall that I was even REMOTELY interested in, and when I woke up today and found that it had been picked up, that MADE MY DAY and I didn't WAIT to jump RIGHT in!!!
So far, it’s been as interesting and intriguing as I’d hoped- From the beginning I figured it as a kind of “X-Files” type of show with Fujiwara and Hirose in the Mulder and Scully roles, and while not exactly like that, it has largely been just what I expected!

Of course, one of the the MAIN reasons for my huge interest in this show is the ever-lovely Alice Hirose, as she is one of my FAVORITE actresses right now, and OH WOW, does she shine here! So pretty, svelte and dedicated, her character of Koyume Amano would do Gillian Anderson PROUD!

In a previous post, I had mentioned my worries that Alice would be relegated to “the sputtering and clueless sidekick” who’d be only there to gawk at the lead’s eccentric and unorthodox ways, and while there is a tiny amount of that (when she voices her deductions only for Fujiwara’s character to invalidate her in front of everyone, Gads I hate this trope)... 

...when it comes time to do some butt-kicking, Amano is as bad-ass and cool a character as ANYONE on the team, a gal who can hold her own, and one to be respected! 

with Mirai Shida

Takin' down the thugs and taking names!

Now THIS is the kind of character I LOVE to see her playing and I can't get enough!

AARO is currently up to Episode 4 in Japan and Netflix is up to episode 2, so the "catch-up" wait for subtitled episodes will be about 2 weeks apart. That's time I have no problem with and know will be well worth the wait!

Can't WAIT to see MORE!

PS: Ooohh, and if that wasn't enough, we've got another visit to that famous "Love Distance" Apartment Complex! You just NEVER KNOW when it will appear next!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Your Monthly Keiko for November!!

 As we head into the winter season, we have Keiko showing off her “cool beauty” vibes for the month of November!

Happy Halloween!!!

 Pretty Satomi Ishihara wishes you and yours a spooky Happy Halloween!

Judging by the poster behind her, this photo was taken during her "Jimi Ni Sugoi~Koetsu Garu Kono Etsuko" shooting back in 2016, but the holiday message is timeless!