Shotenin Michiru no Uebanashi 1
I said before that the last few roles of Toda Erika after SPEC had been boring, but this drama may finally be the role that I have been waiting to see her in.
The drama started with Michiru claiming the winning lottery ticket worth 200 million yen. The scene then shifted to a flashback of little Michiru and her mom praying in a church then flash forward to a very pregnant Michiru, still praying. A man claiming to be Michiru's husband was narrating the story.
The actual story starts in a small town in Nagasaki where Michiru is working at a local bookstore. It was her birthday that day and she had a little chat with her colleague, Hatsuyama Haruko (Ando Sakura) that her boyfriend, Kanbayashi Kutaro (Emoto Tasuku) who is a jewellery store heir, will be proposing to her tonight. In between chatting, she had been shooting flirtatious looks to a salaryman, Toyomasu Kazuki (Arai Hirofumi) whom we later find out that she is having an affair with. As she goes to her date, she meets her childhood friend, Takei Teruo (Kengo Kora) who has been studying in Tokyo.
In their date, Michiru expects Kanbayashi to propose to her but instead he gave her an expensive fishing rod as a gift… obviously, she was disappointed. He asked her if he can 'come over' that night but she said she's not feeling well. Takei watches Michiru from outside the restaurant. Later that night, Michiru gives Toyomasu a call.
The next day, Hatsuyama asks her if Kanbayashi had proposed to her. Michiru asks her if she could keep a secret and tells Hatsuyama that she has been having an affair with Toyomasu and has spent the night with him. She asks Hatsuyama if she can help her as Michiru wants to see Toyomasu off to Tokyo. Hatsuyama agrees on the condition that Michiru will end her affair with Toyomasu.
Michiru asks her superior, Sawada-san (Asada Miyoko) if she can go to the dentist because of a tooth ache. She agrees and was asked to run an errand of buying a lottery ticket. She was also asked to buy a ticket by Tateishi-san (Hamada Mari), her senior who was also having an affair with Toyomasu, and Hatsuyama. Outside the bookshop, Michiru meets with Hatsuyama and asks her to buy her a lottery ticket as well and lent Michiru her umbrella.
She arrived at the train station early and remembered to buy the ticket first. She was busy looking for Toyomasu that she didn't pay attention to the ticket seller and even forgot Hatsuyama's umbrella. She finally meets Toyomasu and he tells her that they won't be meeting until Fall. On impulse, she decides to come to Tokyo with him. Her colleagues became worried that she didn't return to work and was not answering Hatsuyama's calls, so they contacted her family. Her dad becomes extremely worried about Michiru's sudden disappearance. Takei sees them at Haneda airport and Michiru tells him that she's just accompanying Toyomasu because he isn't feeling well. They make fun of him, after that. At the hotel, Michiru receives a call from Hatsuyama asking her where she is and she's having difficulty responding.
As I said above, I have been waiting for another challenging role for Today after SPEC and this might be it. Michiru is someone who does stupid things impulsively. Someone who's looking for something extraordinary out of her ordinary life. Toda Erika was able to portray the role really well, imho.
Kengo Kora plays another mysterious role. He presents his character as someone who is extremely kind and happy facade but in a way they also showed him as a person with an ulterior motive. The other supporting cast members also displayed a very good performance/
It was a very interesting first episode. The way they have presented the story made me really curious as to what had really happened. I can't wait to watch more. ^^
Guuuuys! I'm super excited to write something about "Saikou no Rikon"!!!! I'm super in love with that drama! But I decided that I will re-watch the first episode before writing my reaction because I was super tired yesterday. "Saikou no Rikon" is soooo good!!! :D