Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi

 Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi~ The King and the Wicked Woman: A wildly uneven and tonally inconsistent story of a so-called wicked woman from a poor family who suddenly becomes involved in a sham marriage with an arrogant wealthy heir to a vast family fortune.

Kanna Hashimoto stars as Ayaka Haneda and Ryosuke Yamada stars as Togo Nitta, an Employee and Boss of a Wedding Planner service, both of whom seems mostly unlikeable to everyone save those closest to them!

 Out of the blue they suddenly announce their MARRIAGE PLANS, to the shock of everyone, but we will soon find that both Bride and Groom have their own secret agendas for the union to take place….

On the surface, it’s your standard ‘fake marriage” romcom set-up, but the writers can’t seem to make up their mind if the characters are supposed to be loud and outspoken or kindhearted and sympathetic and what is presented varies wildly throughout the show, as if no one could figure out what the true characters motivations and purpose is!

I’ll say ONE thing for this drama: it’s FULL of stars, most notably in the actors playing the Parents, with actress Ryo and Muga Tsukaji as Ayaka’s humble Mom and Dad...

...and regal looking Nanako Matsushima and Go Riju as Togo Nitta’s refined and affluent Parents

Also a handful other others like  Ryoko Kobayashi as Saya Okada and Ryota Bando as Kento Kamiyama. These are the people that the Wedded Couple ACTUALLY care for, guess we'll see how they play into this set up....

Kento Nagao as Ayaka’s caring brother (who also serves as narrator)…

And as the couple's respective assistants/juniors we have Yuki Morinaga as Akita Koji, Nitta's secretary...

...and Ryota Miura as Haneda's wide eyed and gushing kohai Koki Takemoto!

Despite its’ scattershot and willy-nilly approach to the story, I’m guess I'm interested enough to see where this whole thing goes...and besides all that, MY OH MY, Kanna Hashimoto looks simply dazzling in this one!! If not for ANY other reason, I’ll watch it simply as a showcase for how PRETTY Kanna can get!

PS: There was this great gag where they're showing how Kanna's character Ayaka has been popular her whole life, and show a flashback where an online news crawl had dubbed her the "Once in a 100 Years Beauty", obviously making fun of the similar dubious title bestowed upon the REAL Kanna not so long ago, AHAHAHA!!

This isn't the first time a drama has taken a dig at that lofty nickname given her, looks like it will be awhile til Kanna can ever live up to it...or live it down!

All The Single Mothers~ Eiko Koike, Ryo and Rei Okamoto in "Watashi Danna o Share Shiteta”

 Harumi Morishita (Eiko Koike) is a single mother with a young daughter Saki (Kokoro Hirasawa) who seems to have found the perfect partner in Kyohei Amaya (Hiroyuki Hirayama) - a succesful businessman who supports all her needs as well as a home!

His parents, unfortunately, won’t acknowledge a marriage since Harumi’s been divorced, so the  two live a common-law marriage. Not big on ceremony, this arrangement is fine for Harumi, but she will soon learn that there is a darker reason for his reluctance to marry legally.

One evening she gets a call from the hospital that Kyohei has been in a terrible mugging and is near death. She and her daughter rush to the emergency room and break down at the horrible sight of the dying Kyohei on the operating table.

The catastrophe is interrupted, however, when a woman named Kanako Ogura (Ryo) enters into the room- and they announce that SHE is Kyohei’s Wife!

Wife? WHo IS this woman? Harumi is SPEECHLESS when ANOTHER woman shows up to the emergency room, a woman named Akane Fujimiya (Rei Okamoto)  and declares SHE is Kyohei’s Wife!!

WHAT IS GOING ON???

Despite the doctors best, Kyohei sadly doesn’t make it, and the three families are sent outside to grieve. They are approached by a female detective named Tsukamoto (Makiko Watanabe) who is investigating Kyohei’s murder.

She then drops a bomb on them: In Kyohei’s contact book, he lists the three women as “Wife #1”, “Wife #2”, and “Wife #3”! Not only do these ladies find that they are ALL being juggled by Kyohei, they are all now suspects in his murder!

Tsukamoto suspects that if any of these ladies knew there were two other wives out there, the knowledge could trigger murderous intent in them! But being a murder suspect doesn;t faze them, as they have a BIGGER question in mind:

“Am I Wife Number 1???” demands Harumi, only to learn that Kanako is Wife #1 and that SHE is Wife #2! Akane learns that she is wife #3, but she consoles herself, saying it's obviously ranked by age and as the youngest, naturally comes in third! These ladies care more about where they place in the book than the problem at hand, LOLOL

Sensing the interview getting out of hand, Detective Tsukamoto says, “The number doesn’t matter…” to which she is cut off when all three ladies yell “IT MATTERS!” LOL!

Seeing that she isn't getting anywhere with these ladies, Tsukamoto lets them off for now...

The next day, Harumi is to find that the death of her so-called “husband” is only the beginning of troubles for her- all Kyohei’s properties are about to be seized by his relatives, and Harumi is to be kicked out.

He HAD made preparations in the event of his death, however, a residency at a Share house for single mothers where she can live with her daughter, and, without a place to go, the Mother and Daughter end up packing and going over.

Harumi doesn’t know how she feels about this, but she is STUNNED when she discovers that not only is SHE meant to live here…but the OTHER TWO MOTHERS are here as well!

She and her daughter make plans to leave, and that’s when Fumie Someya (A wonderfully dramatic Mari Natsuki) steps in. She’s the executor of Kyohei’s will, and makes it clear that she knows everything about all of them. She further reveals that in FACT, Kyohei has left a huge inheritance to ONE of the ladies…but which one IS it? Someya says it’s for the one who proves to be his one TRUE choice!

Thus the three ladies agree to live together and knuckle down til they can deduce who the chosen one is and at the same time prove to this lady of their worth and nab the big jackpot!

And in the meantime, Tsukamoto works towards finding the murderer....

Everything will be coming to a head soon enough!!!
Posted by Zdorama