First a full disclosure that up until this past month, Takeuchi Yuko was one of those actresses that I’ve always kind of known about, but never really took notice of in any of the things I’d seen her in. Whenever anyone’d mention Yuko’s name, I kind of said like, “Hmmm, yeah….I think I remember that girl…”, with only the vaguest image of her face in my mind.
But recently, it started to seem (At least to me) that Yuko was starting to appear pretty regularly in a LOT of the new shows that were coming out, and when Car mentioned to me that even Kazunari Nino (of Arashi fame) particularly loved Yuko and her work, I thought that I had better start paying more attention to this girl!
So it was that when they began uploading episodes from the new Yuko Takeuchi Show NATSU NO KOI WA NIJI-IRO KAGAYAKU (co-staring Nino’s fellow Arashi-er Matsumoto Jun), I made a point to check it out and find out once and for all what all this hubbub was about this actress!
My initial impression of Yuko (as her character Kitamura Shiori) was nice but decidedly unspectacular- Yuko was very believable as country bumpkin Shiori and her carefree demeanor was intriguing (to say the least), but once she came into town and began working as a talent manager for Jun, It seemed like they kind of lost focus of the character and I have to say I kind of lost interest. A story of a harried work girl who stumbles upon a small but established family-owned restaurant with food that instantly touches her heart the very first time she tastes it, the drama reminded me more than a little of Nakayama Miho and Karasawa Toshiaki’s OISHII KANKEI, which in MY book is ALREADY a good sign! Focusing on both the joy of fine cuisine as well as the relationships between the family and co-workers, this was a show that grabbed my attention from the very beginning, and I remember telling Car, “Hmm, I think Lunch No Joou might be the next BIG drama on my list!” And it the drama itself wasn’t gonna be on my list of greats, the lead actress sure was! WOW, for the first time, I finally “Got” Takeuchi Yuko!
I don’t know if it was the way she held herself as a pretty-but-tomboyish girl or the pretty outfits they dressed her up in or the story and acting in general, but BOY the role of confident and sassy Mugita Natsumi seems to have been TAILOR MADE for Yuko’s talents! Yuko manages to steal every scene she’s in, and that’s quite a feat to sustain throughout an entire drama, especially one that ALSO features Misaki Ito!
Watching her at first I though she seemed like a Masami Nagasawa, but by the end of that first episode, she’d fully won me over as a radiant and charismatic actress in her own right, and that night, I laughed to realize I couldn’t get her out of my mind!
While getting totally infatuated with Yuko while watching another episode, I remember actually trying to figure out just what it was that made her so darn attractive to me, and one very good reason is Yuko’s ACTING and Line-Delivery. Every line she utters is said in this coy and mischievous tone to it that just makes me smile and think what a cool person this would be to hang out with! When she’s in a zany situation, you have to laugh out loud, when she’s sad, you really feel her pain, and when she’s playful, she’s REALLY playful!
Point Two: Her Outfits. I’ve reiterated many, many times (is what I just said redundant?) I just LOVE a pretty girl in pretty clothes, and whoever decided on Mugita Natsumi’s personal fashion sense seems to have tapped into EXACTLY the kind of stuff I JUST LOVE! Flowery Blouses and jeans are Natsumi’s usual ensemble of choice though she does throw in a pretty cocktail dress or two, but what REALLY moves me from episode to episode is her WORK OUTFIT! With a white blouse matched with a modestly short black skirt, the thing that makes this combination TOTEMO SAIKO for me is that leather choker she’s wearing around her neck, GAHHHHHH…SEXY, SEXY, SEXYYYYY! 
