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| Abe Hiroshi and Yamaguchi Tomoko in Going My Home |
When I first heard that Yamaguchi Tomoko was going to be starring in a new drama after all these years, I was sooo excited, and when I heard her co-star was going to be Abe Hiroshi, I knew it was gonna be a great one! Then I heard that it was going to be about their child who sees imaginary people and their Father who believes in Little Forest People. From there my interest waned a bit, I must say. And even when I got my hands on the first episode, it took a while to actually get around to watching it.
I dunno, I thought it was going to be a wacky drama like Marumo No Okite, that drama with the talking dog (and since co-star Sadao Abe was in that one, too, it didn’t give me any reason to think otherwise!) But with the list of fine actors assembled for this one, I HAD to check it out, and what I saw when watching “Going My Home” was anything BUT wacky- if fact, it was one of the most thoughtful and slow-paced dramas I’ve seen in quite a while, and (so far at least) firmly placed in reality.
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| Abe Hiroshi as Tsuboi Ryota |
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| Yamaguchi Tomoko as Sae |
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| Aju Makita as Moe |
The Story of “Going My Home” concerns a TV Ad Exec named Ryota Tsuboi , his busy wife Sae (who works as one of those “Food Presenter” Photographers who make food look good) and their daughter Moe, who’s having a bit of a time in school because she claims she can see people who aren’t there. But the parents have no time to help as Ryota’s father collapses and the family must work around his state.
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| Yoshiyuki Kazuko, Abe Hiroshi and YOU as the Family |
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| Sibling Rivalry: YOU as sister Takiko arguing with Ryota (Abe) |
Visits to the Hospital become trickier because he must also get involved with his Mother, Sister and her Husband, and as Ryota sorts through his Father’s things, he finds that the man has many secrets including a mysterious woman (played by the always affable Miyazaki Aoi) who may or may not have been his mistress, and a "Best Friend" (Nishida Toshiyuki) who tells Ryota His father believed in Imaginary Little People!!
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| Miyazaki Aoi as Naho |
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| Nishida Toshiyuki as Osamu Torii |
The Aspect of the Little People or “Kuna” as they’re called here, is here less as a CGI sprite spiraling in to save the day, but more like James Stewart’s situation in “Harvey”, where the imaginary creature exists more as a powerful idea that moves the characters than any actual appearance (but hey, it’s only the first episode, so who knows!)
Rather than a Japanese drama, Going My Home reminds me of those old great Robert Altman movies where he’d take a few talented actors and actresses and put them into curious “vignettes” that seem almost like one-off shorts, but which together add up to a greater story. Watching stellar actors letting loose in these these wonderfully crafted and highly eccentric scenes is such a joy to watch; I find that even when the scene has little to do with anything, I find myself chuckling and entertained!
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| Bakarizumu and Hiroshi Abe |
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| Yoshiyuki Kazuko as Mom Tsuboi at her Haiku Class.... |
Scenes like the bus stop conversations between Ryota and his eternally depressed (think “Debbie Downer”) colleague, the cutaways to random Haiku Classes with Grandma Toshiko, and especially the fun verbal arguments Ryota has with both Wife Sae AND daughter Moe, these are brilliantly written scripts with such FUN dialog!!!
And GOD, I totally forgot how SEXY I think YOU is, but her role as Abe’s sly and bawdy younger sister instantly reminded me- she really stole the scenes for me- such a sarcastic, vibrant lady! The scenes with her and Mom Tsuboi giving it to Ryota are freakin hilarious!
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| Yoshiyuki Kazuko and YOU |
And while we’re on that subject, I have to say it’s awesome to see Yoshiyuki Kazuko still as commanding as ever! You know she’s the daughter of Agri Yoshiyuki, the War-time Hairdresser who was the inspiration for my favorite NHK Asadora of all time AGRI, right? Yep, I knew you knew, just checking! LOL!
Okay, looks like Episode Two is finished downloading, so I'm gonna hve to go and check it out! Hope the next episode is as interesting and fun as the first one!
PS: Okay, Who’s this sassy, sweet Young Thang playing the intensely spoiled and super-pouty Mano? Thought it’d be easy to identify her since she’s obviously a Gravure Model or Idol or something, but hours online have given me no clues! She sure looks familiar...looks a lot like Perfume's A-Chan, actually!
edit: LOL. It's just been pointed out to me that curvy Mano is played by none other than Ms. Aimi Satsukawa, best known (by me) for her roles in Funuke Domo~Show Some Love, You Losers and GALCIR! So awesome to see her again!
