Just watched the first two episodes of the cute drama Pure! Ichinichi Idol Shochou no Jikenbo and it is really a hoot!
Minami Hamabe stars as Junko Kurobara, a seemingly sweet and spritely idol on the surface whom we find out to be conniving and very naughty underneath, and though she sports an innocent look about her, her days consist of plotting devious ways to get her colleagues into trouble!
In part this is because of jealousy- Junko is the least succesful of her idol counterparts and has to endure their tweets of “I just landed a new CM!” or “I just landed a movie!”, all the while pretending to be kind and supportive!
Her manager has found her a job to be a “One Day Commissioner” at a Police event in a small town where they do not know idols and are easily conned into thinking Junko is famous!
Upon arrival, Junko gives it her girlish gushing all, but she is immediately shown up by her costumed partner “Odenden” (LOL) and is soon bored and apathetic.
While wandering around the town, she happens to see a curious set-up in the doorway of an old warehouse. Upon stepping inside, she is greeted with a grisly murder (and gives one of the BEST high-pitched screams EVER) before passing out!
Back at the station, Junko sneaks into the Police meeting room (to steal snacks) where she first meets the arrogant blowhard detective Shusaku Todo (Masahiro Higashide) who is heading the investigation.
She doesn’t know what to make of the posturing detective, but when one of her collectables shows up in the possession of the murdered victim, she takes an interest in the case and, through her impish trickery, blackmails Todo into letting her join the investigation as the OFFICIAL One-Day detective!
Todo has his reservations about letting the rascally idol follow along, but whaddaya know, this idol has a sharp eye, good attention to details, and an uncanny ability to put two and two together! Seems they make a GREAT team after all!
Aw man, is Minami Hamabe KILLIN’ it in the role of the naughty Junko Kurobara, with her maniacal giggling throughout as she uses her mischievous skills to get to the heart of the case!
In fact, you know who Junko is like? Bugs Bunny! Like, you know that Bugs is a wiseguy troublemaker, but you can’t help being on his side and when Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Marvin the Martian or even that Opera Singer tries to act tough , you can’t WAIT for Bugs to use his tricks to give them the business!
She was so adorable and funny, she reminded me of Rena Nounen’ s wacky drama “Mirai-san” so much I had to check to make sure it wasn’t her! (It wasn't). But boy, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for Minami Hamabe from now on!
Such a fun show, I was BUMMED OUT to find NHK was only running three(!) episodes of this show. Awww man, I know that it’s the norm nowadays to have short runs but couldn’t they have given us at least five or six episodes?! I want more!!!
PS: The only reason this drama caught my eye in the first place is because it was the same name as the Emi Wakui drama from 1996. I assumed someone was making new subtitles for the old show, but when I clicked on it I found it to be another thing entirely-who knew I would get such a cute little show!!!
