Wonderfully Sombre "Grace no Rireki"

Kikuo Hasumi (Kenichi Takito) is a quiet pharmacist living with his vibrant and positive wife Minako. Since they live a low-key life , Kikuo is shocked when Minako suddenly quits her job and makes plans to take a trip to France! He can’t understand why she would do this on what seems like the spur of the moment, but knows she knows best.

In her beloved Honda she affectionately calls “Grace”, she says her goodbyes before leaving for Narita Airport where she’ll board the flight for France. She worries that he’ll be lonely without her, but he assures her that being alone is like second nature to him and that she should enjoy her vacation!!

Kikuo sends her off with a smile, but what he doesn’t know is that this is the last time he will ever see her alive. Some weeks later, Kikuo gets word of a horrible accident involving a Tour Bus in France, and his worst fears are confirmed when he arrives and she is among the passengers who died in the tragedy.

For the next few weeks, Kikou is a wreck, and he spends his days lying listlessly in the house alone. It’s only when Minako’s car is returned to him that he is forced to come out and interact with people.

The Car is among the items willed to Kikuo by Minako, with the written hope he will use it and learn to enjoy driving it like she did. Kikuo has never driven before, so must take lessons before he can get behind the wheel of Grace. But when he does, he finds a curious thing in the car’s GPS tracking system… A record of a FULL  WEEK worth of traveling in Japan BEFORE her flight to France!

Where had she gone? And what was she DOING and why was it SECRET? Using the Car’s navigation, Kikuo decides to use the GPS to retrace Minako’s steps in the week before her death,  taking a long journey into the unknown! And as he does, he will connect with old friends,  befriend new strangers and make new acquaintances as he eventually uncovers the truth and learns the final gift of love Minako has left for him.

MAN, this was one heart-wrenching and bittersweet drama! Very sombre and slow paced, I had to take the drama in small doses to really appreciate what it had to offer. Loved going along with Kikuo on his spiritual journey and thought the ending was just achingly perfect!

This was a drama from last season that I only now finished, and have to say it’s one of the season’s finer ones!

When the Detective Your Housekeeper Hired Won’t Leave You Alone

 Detective Chikumagawa (Kenichi Takito) has been hired by the Sogawa Housekeeper (Miki Mizuno) to keep an eye on Ichika (Alice Hirose), the heir to the family fortune, and make sure no harm comes to her. But he has an additional incentive to keep after Ichika- she still hasn’t accepted the huge inheritance coming to her and his fee is still unpaid! Until he gets his payment, he intends to be directly IN HER FACE all day long!

 

Tantei ga Hayasugiru is probably my favorite drama right now, sadly the subbed releases are very intermittent and I’m afraid that it might even be on hiatus or dropped! Crossing fingers that we get some new episodes soon, I love it so much!

EDIT: Yup, it's been confirmed by the subber that this drama has been dropped. Sigh. 

An Ex-Yakuza's Work Is Never Done: Ninkyo Nuttiness in "Gokushufudo"

Tamaki Hiroshi as Ex-Yakuza Tatsu

 Tatsu was once a legendary Yakuza by the name of “Immortal Tatsu” who single-handedly took down an enemy organization …before leaving the business to start a family!

Now his focus is on the well being of his wife Miku (Haruna Kawaguchi) and their precocious daughter Himawari (Shiratori Tamaki) and his yakuza skills are now used to better his home life!

His Yakuza Tanto Blade, once a sign of fear...

...is now used to slice veggies...

...for making cute bentos!!

Sadly Wife Miku (Haruna Kawaguchi) is running late and can't stay...

...So breakfast ends up just Tatsu and Himawari!

A peaceful mealtime!

His fastidiousness has made him a hit with all the neighborhood wives, including Tanaka (Megumi) and Ota (Michiko Tanaka) who hilariously take advantage of Tatsu’s skills (and naive sense of camaraderie) to get him to help with all sorts of housewive things!

His past cannot help but creep back into his life, however. There is unrest within the Yakuza families and his former clan boss Kikujiro (Naoto Takenaka), Hibari (an almost unrecognizable Izumi Inamori) and Tatsu’s former kohai Masa (Jun Shison) are desperate to have him back and help abolish their foes.

Masa finds Tatsu out grocery shopping and cannot believe the once mighty warrior has been reduced to becoming a Mother Hen!

Tatsu would like to ignore things and stay committed to his family, but a confrontation with a rival gang lets him know that some Mob altercations are unavoidable and that he may have to step in…

This is a problem because though wife Miku is a scatterbrained and seemingly sweet natured woman on the outside (who can’t even make dinner without reducing the kitchen to rubble, LOL)…

…once she hears about Tatsu interacting with his old Yakuza colleagues, transforms into a LION and properly lays him OUT! Seems there’s ONE person whom Tatsu can only bow his head to, and that’s his lovely wife!!

So far seems like a pretty good dynamic, with shades of Ayase Haruka’s “Okusama wa, Tori Atsukai Chui” or Chiaki Kuriyama’s “Himitsu Chohouin Erika”, though a LOT more on the slapstick side!

Love the running gag of how lazy Miku can be in regards to housework, there’s this scene where Tatsu’s folding t-shirts and she tries to "help” in this utterly useless way that had me laughing out LOUD!

Also love the way that naughty Himawari keeps getting Tatsu into trouble by tattletaling on him, she is such a rascal! Loved her roles in “Nagi No Oitoma” and the recent “Kanojo ga Joubutsu Dekinai” and she continues her adorable troublemaking here!

PS: Jun Shison surprised me in this role as kohai Masa- when I first saw him in Heaven Gokuraku Restaurant, he was SO flamboyantly girly that I thought it was the ONLY kind of role he could play! Nice to see him in a straightforward role for a change!

Hey, come to think of it, he’s ALSO in Hanbun Aoi , as one of the manga employees!!! 

And speaking of Hanbun Aoi, Kenichi Takito is in this drama TOO, as another yakuza sprung from prison! Chalk up two MORE actors linked to that fateful asadora!

posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com