I really liked the original one starring Anne Watanabe as the outspoken Bank Employee who just CAN'T keep quiet whenever she sees injustice and corruption in the workplace, along with Takaya Kamikawa as her long suffering superior who needs all his wits to contain his feisty underling! In my original 2014 post, I wrote:
Hanasaki Mai ga Damatte Inai
Out of all of the new shows I’m watching, Anne’s show “Hanasaki Mai ga Damatte Inai (Hanasaki Mai Can’t Keep Silent!)” is the one I love the MOST so far!!!
When I originally read the synopsis of a clerical bank teller who gets put in a group that investigates Bank related problems and whose habit of speaking her mind gets her in trouble-and usually solves the cases-, I wasn’t too intrigued. I guess after that somewhat disappointing end to “Hanzawa Naoki”, I didn’t feel like another Bank series.
But after only 20 minutes into the show, I totally fell in love with Anne’s character Mai Hanasaki, she was so sweet, thoughtful and DETERMINED, I was totally sold on her and wanted to see her do her magic!! Blustery superiors and Jackass bosses are what we’ve come to expect from shows dealing with shady shenanigans and criminal dealings, it’s SUCH a TREAT to see this dorky and demure waif of a woman stepping up in defense of the weaker people, lashing out at them and taking them down a notch!!By the halfway point of the first episode, I knew this was a drama I was going to be watching to the end, and I quickly ran back and downloaded the entire series to watch!!! MAN, so good!
It has been 10 years, a decade since this show aired (with a sequel in 2015 for good measure) and I'm curious how they will be updating the show, if at all. Nonetheless, I am quite excited to see Mio Imada step into the role, not only has she proven she's got the chops for it, but it's about time she got another main headlining role! Her last was the fun Maririn in "Waru: Hataraku no ga Kakko Warui Nante Dare ga Itta?" (who, in a way, has similar elements to the Mai Hanasaki character as well!) and since then she's been mostly support characters.
With Hanasaki Mai starting in April and the NHK asadora "Anpan" starting in early 2025, looks like Mio's time has really come!
It's a great time to be a Mio Imada fan!!!