Bijo ka Yajuu (Beauty and the Beast)

Possibly the main competition again Kimura Takuya's "Good Luck" for the best drama of January-March 2003 is "Bijo ka Yajuu" starring Matsuhima Nanako. In this drama, Matsushima Nanako plays a type A characte (Tamiya Makoto) (graduated from Harvard, rising the ranks in career) while Fukuyama Masaharu plays a character (Nagase Hiromi) of a person who has a reputation of a guy with bad behavior and force to work in the news department with Makoto.

[from Daily Yomiuri, Wm. Penn, Jan. 16, 2003]: Makoto (Matsushima) is the cool, savvy product of an elite upbringing, with all the right connections and an MBA from Harvard to boot. She has been brought in as chief producer of the JBC News program with a pay-and-benefits package that would make Jack Welch jealous. She also has been given complete hiring and firing authority over the staff of the hapless news report, which brings in ratings of a meager 5 percent. She believes news is a "show" and she can perform rating wonders on this very sick patient.

Enjoying life is the motto of playboy Nagase (Fukuyama). Caught up in some sort of scandal on the variety show circuit, he has been transferred to a director's slot on the JBC News. In interviews with the staff, Makoto quickly pegs most of them as lazy elitists. They are happy to toss government press releases to the public as news. They take more care in arranging their after-hour party menus. The staff are worried about their jobs, but figure it will be either the casual Nagase or the "oddball" photographer, who is always off filming wildlife pieces, who will be fired first. The cool Makoto's first decisions are to let Nagase bring in a cheery new weather girl and suspend the photographer.

Her first night running the show, she thinks she has a sure scoop. By using her father's connections, she has lined up an exclusive interview with the old-style politician everyone thinks will win a big election. He is sitting in the studio waiting to go on-air when a relatively unknown environmentalist, who has campaigned to save a local owl habitat, among other things, pulls off a surprise landslide win. JBC is stuck with a has-been in the studio. Makoto panics, but Nagase remembers their photographer has film of the owl campaign and whizzes it on air. It's a coup and ratings go double-digit overnight.

Screenwriter Tomoko Yoshida appears to be a rather fresh face and it shows. The script for episode one was heartwarming without falling into the usual trite scriptwriting stereotypes. The interplay between Matsushima and Fukuyama is also good and the dialogue sharp. A hint of romance has already been established. It turns out the pair knew each other exactly nine years and three months previously. Just how well they knew each other has yet to be established. By the end of episode one, Makoto's flaws are beginning to show. She is smart, but is she too cool? Nagase starts out as a bit of a silly cad, but turns out to be a little deeper than he looks. Four stars so far. Let's hope it is not one of those one-week wonders that fades by episode two. Have often wondered whether it is the writers who fade, or the directors and producers who can shred a promising script so quickly.

[FUJI TV Synopsis]: After graduating from the Tokyo University School of Law, Makoto Tamiya goes on to Harvard University where she earns an MBA. She later works at one of the "big three" networks in the United States as a news reporter. While covering a story on an international symposium in Paris, Makoto is scouted to work for JBC Television in Japan. The news producer at JBC wants to use Makoto to help raise low viewer ratings. He persuades her to work for him for an absurdly high salary, and also gives her the right to hire who she needs. While Makoto is being brought in to be the savior of the News Department, one man gets transferred from the Variety Department. His name is Hiromi Nagase. Since joining JBC Television, all he has done is variety programs. Although Hiromi has done everything he possibly could to ensure his programs are a success, his boss just could not could take any more of Hiromi's behavior which ranged from getting caught up in scandals with female television personalities, punching-out assistant directors, to taking kickbacks from production companies. His boss finally tells Hiromi to make a fresh start in the "hard nosed" News Department. So now the News Department has Makoto who thinks high ratings are the meaning of life, and Hiromi who values the success of a program as just a tool for the full enjoyment of life. These two totally different personalities mix it up and somehow reach a mutual understanding, creating a delightful "light comedy" for adults.

STARRING: Matsushima Nanako, Fukuyama Masaharu, Watanabe Ikkei, Yajima Norito, Sasaki Kuranosuke, Shiraishi Miho, Nagai Masaru, Suzuki Papaiya, Fukaura Kanako, Kodama Kiyoshi and more.
THEME SONG:  By Tokyo Ska Paradise
NETWORK: TBS
DURATION: January 9, 2003 through March 2003
REVIEWS:

It was unfortunate that this drama was getting less hype because Kimura's drama "Good Luck" was dominating the ratings and pretty much taking most of the hyepe. Although this was high in the 19 to low 20 percentile range, nowhere near the front runner. This was a unique pairing up with Matsushima Nanako and Fukuyama Masaharu. A chemistry I really dig! A very good drama. - KNDY