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

Mugi and the Gang in “Reversal Orchestra”

 “Reversal Orchestra”, the story of a recluse former prodigy violinist named Hatsune Tanioka (Mugi Kadowaki) who, for unknown reasons, left the stage 10 years ago and never returned. 

She now ekes out a life as a mere OL in the Public Office, careful to keep her famous past hidden, even when when asked if she knows or cares for classical music. 

She is content living a quiet life with her sister Kanna (Yuri Tsunematsu), though she still teaches violin to young students on the sly. And though she won't admit it, Hatsune still enjoys playing for herself when there's no one around.

 

In the meantime, a famous conductor named Asahi Tokiwa (Kei Tanaka) performing in Germany, is brought back to Japan by his father (Namase Katsuhisa), the town's Mayor, with the request/order of taking over as conductor of the city’s orchestra and whipping them into shape for a grand opening of a brand new Symphony Hall he is in charge of.

"Do this favor for your Father!"

Agreeing at last to his Father's demands, Tokiwa meets the Orchestra. But he is severely  unimpressed with the musicians he is suddenly saddled with, citing them as lazy and unprofessional. But he hears promise in their playing and knows that with a proper group leader, they can, perhaps, become something.

The slapdash Orchestra discovering the plans for the new Orchestra Hall: Kumi Taiuchi, Mari Hamada, Loic Garnier, Ryota Bando, Mitsuru Hirata, et al looking on. Will they be invited to appear at such a residence?

Tokiwa needs to find that special spark that will ignite this team of motley players, and hope comes his way when, judging an amateur violin competition, he is impressed by a young student and discovers her teacher is the elusive Hatsune Tanioka!! Judging by how well her student plays, he knows Tanioka still has the touch to make his dream orchestra a REALITY!

"Hey, this girl is pretty good!"

"Her teacher is Hatsune Tanioka??"

But first he will have to convince her, and as we spend time with them, we find out the reason Hatsune has left the profession all those years ago, and why it is impossible for her to return…or is it? 

Hoping her love of music will bring her back, Tokiwa is betting his future on her!

You all know how much I adore Mugi Kadowaki, ever since first seeing her as the shy ghost in “Omukae Death”, she has been stealing my heart with her eccentric roles of introverted teens and psychopathic predators to everything in between, but even I’M amazed at how quickly her star has been rising! She is slowly but surely becoming a A-list headlining actress, and I for one am ecstatic to see it!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com