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| Yukie Nakama as Naoko Yamada in TRICK. Simply Adorable! |
The first drama I ever saw actress Yukie Nakama in was the 1998 drama “Kamisama Mou Sukoshidake”, and she played a very, very, bad woman indeed. As Kaoru, the “unrequited love” character who stops at nothing to keep lead actor Takeshi Kaneshiro’s Keigo apart from Kyoko Fukada’s AIDS stricken heroine Masaki, she was so shady and diabolical, after one particularly nasty episode, a friend’s co-worker summed her up succinctly the next day, stating “that girl must BURN IN HELL!”
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| As the evil and conniving Kaoru in Kamisama Mou Sukoshidake,1998 |
I thought that this girl had a long and fulfilling career ahead of her playing dark and deplorable characters, but when the 2000’s came around, however, I was surprised to find that people had suddenly begun regarding Yukie Nakama as a cute and fun actress. HUH? That morose and evil girl from Kamisama Mou Sukoshidake was CUTE and FUN??? Couldn’t be!
Then I got around to watching the popular 2002 drama “Gokusen”, and it was here that I thought, "Okay, THIS must be the drama where everyone’s getting this notion that Yukie’s a likeable girl!" And Yukie’s portrayal of former yankee-turned-teacher Yamaguchi Yumiko was very goofy and likeable indeed!
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| As the Loveable Yamaguchi "Yankumi" Yumiko in GOKUSEN 2002 |
But though Yukie WAS goofy and fun in Gokusen, there was a drama (in fact, a whole SERIES of dramas) that preceded Gokusen by a few years, and it was THIS drama where Yukie had first established herself as the go-to-gal for funny, quirky and eccentric characters, and that was the 2000 drama TRICK.
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| Yamada and Ueda on the case in TRICK |
In this drama, Yukie plays a struggling magician named Naoko Yamada who becomes unwittingly partnered up with an oddball Physics Professor named Jiro Ueda (Hiroshi Abe) who hires her to help investigate people claiming to have psychic abilities, and either prove their abilities or debunk them.
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| Ueda (Hiroshi Abe) and Naoko (Nakama) |
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| Magic Attack! |
Holy TOLEDO, I had NO IDEA Yukie could be so, sooo darn ADORABLE! As the mumbly hoax-exposer Naoko, Yukie has found the perfect balance of beautiful, confident, self-conscious and silly, She is highly skilled at performance illusions and considers herself a pro, but her home life is the complete opposite, constantly fired, short on funds and living in a seedy apartment. When you see her, she is so staggeringly pretty, and yet her rascally personality is more of a silly, childish woman quick to poke fun and giggle at others. SO CUTE!
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| Beautiful Naoko and Stiff Ueda |
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| Mortified after Ueda brings her underwear in from the rain |
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| The Duo staking out the crime |
Although her knowledge of magic tricks and deceptions is what usually saves the day, she is treated more like an unwanted little sister who keeps tagging along with her brothers than an irreplaceable member of the team: Naoko is constantly (and hilariously) abused and belittled by her colleagues, especially toupee-wearing police detective Kenzo Yabe (Namase Katsuhisa), who sees her as a meddling affront to his profession, and whenever she is “in the way” of his investigations, she finds herself pushed out, hair mussed up and insulted by the excitable cop. Sounds mean, but so, sooo funny!
In one instance, Yabe thinks one of his teammates is a traitor and, suspecting Yamada, makes her stick out her tongue to see if she has a “forked tongue”, LOL…Yukie’s facial expressions as she’s forced to stick out her tongue are priceless…!
Trying not to appear like she is struggling in Tokyo, Naoko pretends that Ueda’s expensive high-rise apartment is hers when her mother (Yoko Nogiwa) comes to visit.
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| "Err, let me pop in quick and freshen the place before you enter, Mother" |
Unfortunately, Ueda hasn't bothered moving any of his things like exercise equipment, and the quick-thinking Naoko has to pretend they’re hers to train for her magic (LOL), and when she scampers onto the walking machine and starts rocking back and forth, I was dying with laughter, she was so damn CUTE!!!
And then there’s the banter between Ueda and Yamada: both respect each other, and yet, spend the entire day putting each other down and bringing up their shortcomings like an old married couple. There’s a running gag about Yamada being flat-chested and Ueda being overly endowed that keeps the humor in this show of a PG13 level, LOL!
As I watched this drama, I was happily surprised to find I was slowly but surely falling in love with Yukie Nakama, each scene she was in I found myself wanting to cuddle her up!! And pretty? My GOSH, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her prettier, the flowery print dresses with lacy blouses she dresses in really DOES it for me! Mmm, simple stunning! Ah Yukie, it took a long time, but you’re definitely aces in my book now!
PS: Thanks to Desertraven for the TRICK recommendation!!
