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| Matsushita Nao and Ishihara Satomi in Dear Sister |
When I read the synopsis for the new Ishihara Satomi/Matsushita Nao drama Dear Sister about two sisters, one who is smart and sensible (if a bit awkward in social situations) and the other sister slutty and ditsy (while outgoing and friendly), I knew EXACTLY which actress was going to be playing which! Satomi’s stellar “bimbo” role in Shitsuren Chocolatier and Nao Matsushita’s introverted character in CONTROL really made their casting as the eccentric Fukazawa sisters a no-brainer!
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| Matsushita Nao as Hazuki Fukazawa |
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| Ishihara Satomi as Misaki Fukazawa |
Dear Sister tells the tale of the straight laced Hazuki (Matsushita) working hard at her job with the plans of marrying soon, when her rebellious younger sister Misaki (Ishihara) shows up out of the blue to turn her organized life upside down! From disrupting her serene daily routine to getting between Hazuki and her fiance (quite literally at times),Misaki is a handful and a half!
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| with Hiraoka Yuta as Hazuki's fiance |
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| Misaki ingratiates herself into their evening activities |
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| Much to Hazuki's dismay and distrust! |
As they go through the days, the events that Misaki bring out convince Hazuki that maybe her life isn’t as great as she once thought it was…and though Misaki seems outwardly super-energetic and spastically peppy, she has a dark secret of her own, too! Now that they've reconnected, can their opposite personalities help each other out?
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| Above and Below: the Fukazawa Sisters: each with secrets of their own |
Hazuki's fiance is played by Yuta Hiraoka in yet ANOTHER of his identical roles as the shleppy mundane love interest for the lead actress. With so many other characters being set up as Hazuki's possible future romances (including Tanabe Seiichi and Hirayama Hiroyuki among others), you know it's only a matter of time before he's delegated to supporting character, LOL
Another great sighting is seeing former "Big Boob" gravure model and sometimes actress MEGUMI making an appearance here (God, how I loved her back when she was a frequent guest on G No Arashi!), this time as one of Hazuki's grouchy co-workers Naoko, too funny! Hope to see more of her in future episodes!
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| Megumi as Naoko |
Misaki herself seems to have only one true friend, a skater-boy named Hachi (Iwata Takanori of EXILE fame) who she believes to be gay, but if the way he looks at her is any indication, that sexual preference doesn't seem to apply with her! But she relies on him for sanctuary when she needs to get away, and can always count on him for a snuggle! Talk about being friendzoned...
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| "Let's see what Hachi's up to" |
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| Venting to her buddy Hachi (Takanori Iwata) |
This tale of the “Odd-Couple” sisters where the “slobby” one moves into the “neat” one’s home is not new (right off the top of my head I can recall Tomoko to Tomoko), and so far it’s a pretty standard story, but they almost seem to be self-aware that they’re in a clichéd type drama!
On that subject, there was this one really great (and rather endearing) scene that touches on this point, where Hazuki and Misaki have a major blow-up , ending with Misaki leaving...
As usual, as far as these plots go, Hazuki soon finds that Misaki was actually helping her out and so guiltily goes out looking for her in the rain. She remembers that whenever Misaki would run away as a child , she’d go to the park, and sure enough, finds her huddled in one of the playground crawlpipes.
As she sees Hazuki crawling into the pipe with her, Misaki poutily chides, “You’re late!” sweetly showing the bond that the sisters have that she KNEW Hazuki’d come looking for her to take her home.
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| "I was right, there she is" thinks Hazuki |
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| "You're Late!" pouts Misaki |
And to even further advance that self-aware angle, Misaki as-a-matter-of-factly reflects that “In all stories, whenever the little sister runs away, she always waits at the playground they used to play in!”. Nao can only agree.
So the two main characters are a treat to watch, but inasmuch as this is also a pretty generic romance drama (complete with unrequited love interests and cheatin’ fiancés), there are a LOT of elements to this show that are boring to me, so we’ll have to see how long the sheer antics of the two girls can sustain my enjoyment of this show! But, so far, so good!!!
Reminds me a bit of Actress Yuko Takeuchi, who not only has also made a career out of playing these snarky type geniuses as well (most recently in the drama "QUEEN)...
...But ALSO played yet another "Sherlock" type character in her HBO/Hulu series "Miss Sherlock" a few years back!
(Well, in Yuko Takeuchi's case, a cello, but ya know what I mean)
Oh, and make sure to have your "Doctor Watson" type character as well. I liked Shihori Kanjiya as the "Dr. Wato" supporting role (Well I admittedly have soft spot for her anyway)...
...but having a harder time with Takanori Iwata as the Doc sidekick...not really compatible at all. 
In fact, I wish they cast Maho Yamada (who appears in the Fujioka show as a police assistant) in the role as she's far more charismatic and "Watson-ish, IMHO.
