The Happy Housewife: Mikako Tabe in “Taigan no Kaji”

Continuing on with Mikako Tabe’s string of wholesome roles comes “Taigan no Kaji: Kore ga, Watashi no Ikiru Michi!” with Tabe as Shiho Murakami, a mother of a young child who decides to give up work and dedicate her life to being a fill-time housewife, while her husband Torao runs an eatery.

For those of us from the X Generation and earlier, this is probably no big deal, but in current times where both parents strive to pursue careers while also juggling childcare, the Murakamis' choice of living can seem almost controversial!

Indeed, Shiho gets looked down upon and criticized by the the other mothers around her, including her next door neighbor, the business-obsessed Reiko Nagano (Noriko Eguchi) who looks upon Shiho’s withdrawal from the work force as a sort of failing.

There are also those parents like the stand-offish Tatsuya Nakatani (Dean Fujoika) who, while also trying to raise his child while his wife is away on business, is highly critical of Shiho and her methods, believing his stringent way is the only way to raise a child.

Of course, this is Mikako Tabe we’re talking about, so naturally her kind heart and caring sensibilities shine through even the harshest judgements, and even her hardest detractors come to realize that being a stay at home housewife can be as strong a choice as any prolific career!

talking it through with her neighbor (Misato Tanaka)

Funny how, whenever you see Mikako Tabe in any new drama, you can almost sense what kind of show it will be, she is like a female Jimmy Stewart or Tom Hanks where you know she will play an earnest character you will definitely like. Some of the most gentle dramas I’ve liked have starred her; Tsubaki Bunguten, Watashi no Kaseifu Nagisa-san, Ichiban Sukina Hana, all the way back to her sweet role of Sadako in “Kimi Ni Todoke”, she always charms, and this role of the kind Shiho is yet another fine one!

PS: If I thought it was surprising when I realized Morning Musume's Kusumi Koharu was the actress playing Hirona Yamazaki’s co-worker in the drama Jofu: Josei ni xxxxtte Hitsuyo Desuka, I was even MORE surprised to find out that the actress playing the gorgeous svelte wife of Dean Fujioka was none other than HIROKO SHIMABUKURO, she late of the popular 90’s group SPEED!

 Huh, had no IDEA she was acting, and to see her ALL grown UP was a particular shock! YES, as I've said often, time FLIES!!!

Below: LOL, the other wives' reaction when they see what a stunner Nakatani’s wife is couldn’t be any greater than if it was revealed that he was actually married to a member of SPEED, they’re THAT shocked!

Like Koharu Kusumi, I still think of Hiroko as a young girl in my mind, though she is five years older than Mikako Tabe and only four years younger than Noriko Eguchi!

Poisted by zdorama @zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Misato Tanaka is Back!

Just got the heads up on an upcoming drama called Sorezore no Dangai, starring Kenichi Endo, Misako Tanaka and...(drum roll) MISATO TANAKA! As some of you are aware, Misato Tanaka has been one of my big, big BIG fave actresses, ever since stealing my heart on the Asadora "Agri" (as evidenced by her permanent placement in the above Zdorama banner), but it's been YEARS since I've seen her in a starring drama!

I think the last thing I saw her in was the quirky "Face Maker" where she played the protagonist's deceased wife, and as the angry and manipulative Mother of Shigeyuki in "Ashi-Girl"a few years back....

Reading up, looks like Sorezore No Dangai is a remake of the 2000's drama of the same name starring Tomokazu "Mr. Momoe" Miura, with Endo playing the part of Shinichiro Shikata this time. And Misato is going to play Hatsumi, a role originally played by actress Eri Ishida!

Original theme song was "Motto Tooku e" by Misato Watanabe, the 2019 version will have a theme song sung by...Chemistry???

Not sure how BIG Misato's part is going to be, but news sites are already running articles on the pairing of the double Tanakas new venture! from Chunichi:

Funny, back in the day, I would ALWAYS get Misato Tanaka and Misako Tanaka mixed up, their names are SO familiar, can't believe it took THIS long to finally put them in a drama together!

Drama starts airing in August so I'm hoping there will be some forums where I can download the show. Not too hopeful that anyone will subtitle it, but I still want to watch it anyways, even if it's just RAWS.

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Notes on "Kemono ni Narenai Watashitachi"

I was FINALLY able to watch the latest Yui Aragaki/ Ryuhei Matsuda drama “Kemono ni Narenai Watashitachi” ( Weakest Beast). I had been dying to check this one out since its announcement, but strangely enough, until the last 5 minutes of this one hour first episode, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not!

I’ve mentioned before how much I hate dramas where the main character is put upon and picked on by people, ESPECIALLY those of the lazy and stupid variety (I think that’s why I love Ie Uru Onna so much, Keitan kicks those types right in the pants!), and for most of the show, Yui’s character of Akira Shinkai is exactly like that: an amazingly efficient and hard-working assistant who gets saddled with all the lazy people’s work and gets blamed for all the stupid people’s mistakes. 

But as the show goes on there is a shift in tone and you see the problems beginning to weigh down on Akira. And by the end decisions are made and I was happy to say DAMN, that's more like it! Now I can’t wait to see where this is going!

There seems to be an overall theme of people being used by other people and of people not being able to attain their dreams because of the pre-existing conditions set by others, and I’m sure as the show goes on we’ll be delving into each character’s story and arc.

So far the characters seem interesting enough, Yui is of course brilliant and you love her from the moment the show begins, but the rest of them will have to grow on me.

Kei Tanaka seems to be playing his usual unremarkable boyfriend character, much like his last in the Fumino Kimura “Ito Kun A to E”, his role of Akira's fiance Kyoya Hanai is much the same...am I supposed to be rooting for this guy?

 

Ryuhei Matsuda’s character of Kosei Nemoto is, I guess supposed to be the romantic foil  for Kyoya and Akira. But I dunno, he seems to be a kind of arrogant and unlikeable guy so far. Though Akira does call him out on his self-important posturing, so maybe that’s the point?

Rinko Kikuchi’s character of Kureha Tachibana doesn’t seem that much more interesting, but wow, she plays her with such gusto I love every scene she’s in! She's playing the (I think) love interest of Nemoto's but it's one of those "I love you but I won't say I love you" kind of deals....

I’m not even going to bother talking about the many, many irritating people in this show because they bug me whenever they’re on screen and I don’t want to waste more time on them, but special mention MUST be made of the hikkikomori clinger-on Shuri Nagato because she is played by Haru Kuroki of the drama Mi Wo Tsukushi Ryoricho, which you all know I love to pieces and this will be the first time I'm seeing her in another role!

Oh, and we’ve also got veteran actress Misako Tanaka as Kyoya’s mother. So nice to see her, and its funny- she’s always made a career out of playing goofy moms, only now, her “kids” are like, grown MEN like Kei Tanaka, LOL

 

So yeah, that’s about where it stands right now…looking forward to seeing how this develops in the coming episodes….

PS: There was this one really quick but absolutely HILARIOUS passage where Akira is getting jostled around on the train and gets smushed against the glass.  Trying to regain her composure, she sees her face left a mark on the glass and she embarrassedly tries to wipe it off, LOLOL

 

 

 

 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com