Turn to me Mukai-kun
Sincere guy Satoru Mukai (played by Akaso Eiji) had a perplexing break-up ten years ago: one which he never quite understood or came to terms with.
The days slipped by, and now Mukai-kun is thirty-three and he lives at home with his mum, his sister, and his sister’s husband Genki-san who runs a cool restaurant.
Mukai-kun decides that it is time to put himself out there and try for a new girlfriend.
In each episode he tries a new romance, learning from his mistakes along the way.
After many disappointments, Mukai-kun realises that he wants to get married to release him from the burden of having to date!
What I like about this upbeat, joyful series is not only do we see the romantic developments from Mukai-kun’s perspective, but we also see the events from the perspective of his love interest. Relationships are complicated, sometimes conversations and body language can be woefully misinterpreted.
There are quite a few actors in this series who I recognize from previous J-dramas – the cast are strong!
And of course there are great views of Tokyo too.
As always, I have two motives when I watch Japanese drama – an enjoyable story and an opportunity to practise my Japanese listening!
Ishiko and Haneo: You’re Suing Me?
In our next Japanese drama we meet the actor who plays Mukai-kun (Akaso Eiji) once again. He’s a quieter side character in this drama, but we’re in safe hands as the lead actor is Nakamura Tomoya, and he is always great in every drama I’ve seen him in!
In this amusing J-drama, Tomoya plays flawed lawyer Yoshio Haneoka: a man who dropped out of law school, who practises his looks of genius, but who, armed with an impressive photographic memory can notice the unnoticeable and delve deeply into legal cases.
Haneoka teams up with quietly brilliant paralegal and Toudai graduate (who has repeatedly failed her bar exams) Ishida Shoka. They are always on the edge regarding cashflow.
Tomoya’s awkward genius is soft and gently humorous. He has a fridge full of beer and nothing else, and a very quirky dress sense!
This gentle show rewards with its relationship banter and some brilliant photography of Tokyo. It has a Radwimps theme tune too!
Do let us know your favourite shows, as we are always keen to see more!
If you've enjoyed this blog, you might like our other blogs about J-drama :)
See you next time,
Cathy
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Sounds entertaining! Thanks for the recommendations.