The (Un)Talented Miss Takano: Nanao in "Munou no Taka"

Nanao as the titular Takano-san.

 The zany "Muno No Taka" follows two Office workers who are looked down upon by their co-workers for their weaknesses, yet they both harbor strengths no one else can see...

Michito Hiwada (Akihisa Shiono) is a man with a mind for graphs, statistics and numbers, and is quite good with his predictions and assessments. But he is a jumpy bundle of nerves, and with his stammering and sloppy appearance, makes no one take him seriously or even listen to what he has to say, a real shortcoming for someone in outside sales! Though he is smart about his work, his constant scoldings by his superiors makes him dread every day at work.

Tsumeko Takano (Nanao) is the exact opposite: Svelte, stylish and brimming with confidence, she is someone who commands respect whenever she steps into a room, and one cannot help but get invested in anything she has to say...

However, this assessment is literally only skin deep, as her company soon finds that outside of her powerful illusion of intelligence, Takano is incompetent at every aspect of her job, from filing papers, organizing files, or even simply making copies on the xerox machine! Nonetheless, she faces each day with a huge smile and a twinkle in her eye as if she's just made employee of the month!

The company's supposed star...

...who can't even STAPLE papers together correctly!

Supervisor Hatoyama looks over the mess....

...but clueless Takano thinks she's done a good job!

It's all he can do to keep his patience!

Though their immediate superiors (Arata Iura, Asuka Kudo, Honami Sato) are trying their best to work with them despite their glaring flaws, their section chief (Katsumi Takahashi) is on his last straw with them and has plans to fire them if they don't improve.

When he hears this, Hiwada talks it over with Takano, and is shocked to find that despite this news of her impending doom, she remains positive about her future with the company. For a guy like Hiwada who worries about every day, he wishes he had some of her confidence...the things he could do if he were only HALF as self-assured as her!

Then, like a bolt out of the blue, he comes up with an inspiration: Teaming UP with Takano, taking her WITH him to his sales meetings, and using her POSITIVE ENERGY to work the deal in his favor!

"How would you like to join me in sales?"

????

The company has huge misgivings about trying something like this, but Hiwada points out that if they don't try, they lose the contract and the two of them will lose their jobs ANYWAY!  So their very futures are riding on this!

And so it is that the two venture out as sales partners of sorts, planning on using the strengths of each other to "boost" their chances!  

Takano takes the lead, starting the meeting with confidence and energy, relaxing the clients and making them eager for the sales-pitch...

...and once they begin asking about the specific details, Hiwada steps in with his concise information and assessments. And when he starts to falter, Takano is right there to bring back up the mood of the room!

With this remarkable strategy, they unbelievably SEAL the DEAL!! it's the first victory for BOTH of them!

With their very first sale under their belts, their jobs have been saved for just one day longer, and this looks like the beginning of a BEAUTIFUL partnership! But how long can it last? And what ELSE might develop from this teaming up?  Only time will tell!

PS: If I have one gripe about this show, it's the huge inconsistencies in Takano's intelligence. Depending on the situation, they'll make her either moderately competent and in others so dumb  that it's impossible she can even life life normally. Like in some scenes, she's be wasting time on her phone or browsing the web, but in the next episode she doesn't even know how to work the computer, click on icons, open folders and use apps... she doesn't even know what the MOUSE is, and I'm like "Brah, I just SAW her using the computer just fine in the episode before!" Let's get CONSISTENT here! 

"That's a mouse"

My only explanation is that they're going to later reveal that her stupidity is all an act for some reason and reveal she's actually a genius who is only pretending to be an ignoramus to hide/repress something bad, or she's an investigative agent placed in the company to infiltrate some kind of corruption or something...Make a lot more sense than this fluctuating intelligence, but I guess we'll see!

Burn The House Down: “Mitarai ke, Enjou Suru”

Kyoka Suzuki and Mei Nagano face off in  “Mitarai ke, Enjou Suru”

A soft spoken and mild mannered young woman named Shizuka Yamauchi (Mei Nagano) seeks employment at the home of a rich and succesful woman model and online influencer named Makiko Mitarai (Kyoka Suzuki).

Though she is known as an impeccable woman of good taste and style, Mitarai is in actuality a messy and disorganized person, so she is need of someone who can clean her house, decorate tastefully, and cook meals, all covertly as to keep her image intact.

Yamauchi is excellent at what she does, and the house is put in perfect order. Though still standoffish towards Yamauchi, she is impressed with what she has done with the place, and  Mitarai agrees to hire her officially! 

But what Mitarai doesn’t know is that this Yamauchi has a hidden agenda for getting hired as the housekeeper. 

Yamauchi’s real name is Anzu Murata, and 13 years ago, she lived on this very property with her own family; Father Osamu (Mitsuhiro Oikawa), Mother Satsuki (Michiko Kichise) and little sister Yuzu (Yuri Tsunematsu), until a huge house fire destroyed their home and tore her family apart. Father shortly after divorced Mother, leaving her and the two daughters to struggle for themselves.

At the time of the fire,  little Anzu (young Anzu played by Tamaki Shiratori) spotted Makiko Mitarai among the onlookers… with a VERY satisfied smile on her face, as if all her wishes had suddenly come true! Because of this, she had always suspected Mitarai had something to do with the fire...

...and when Makiko went on to MARRY Anzu’s FATHER to start her OWN family with him (and all his wealth), her suspicions only grew. CLEARLY there is more to this woman than she lets on!

In the meantime, mother Satsuki becomes afflicted with a severe case of traumatic amnesia, where she cannot remember anything of the past and has shut down. Weak and confused, she must be regaled to a bed in a hospital, with her daughters looking over her.

Now as an adult and with 13 years of anonymity between them, Anzu plans to infiltrate the home base of her number one suspect in the ruination of her family: Makiko Mitarai herself.

Along with her little sister Yuzu and the computer skills of her friend (Kie Kitano) the resident "computer expert" of the drama), they hope to find clues and proof of Mitarai’s involvement of the house fire, as well as finding the truth of just WHAT actually happened all those years ago….

Belwo: Anzu trying to get close to Mitarai’s shut-in older son Kiichi (Asuka Kudo)...

….while little sister Yuzu uses her feminine wiles to get close to the younger son Shinji (Taishi Nakagawa). Seemingly friendly and cheerful, their only ture mission is to get as MUCH information out of them that they can- to bring Makiko Mitarai to jsutice!

A dark and brooding psychological revenge drama, yet I cannot help but think that not everything is what it seems at face value- in the coming episodes I fully expect people assumed to be friends turn out to be foes and even the ones painted as the pure evil ones turn out to be on the good side. In any case, I'm excited to see what develops!!!

 “Mitarai ke, Enjou Suru” is yet another NETFLIX exclusive J-drama (along with the Tomoya Nakamura drama "Hayabusa Shobodan") that I'm really loving this current season...looks like they are ramping up to become a great source of intriguing new shows!!!

Posted by zdorama@zdoramaagain.blogspot.com