JAPANESE DRAMA DATABASE: Okusama wa Majo


[Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri, Wm. Penn, January 22, 2004]: ne of the more interesting attractions of the new season was to see how TBS planned to adapt the 1960s U.S. sitcom Bewitched to early 21st century Japan. We got the answer on Jan. 16 at 10 p.m. on TBS. It is not a time slot I will be visiting again soon. Nostalgic fragments of the familiar theme song float by as Arisa (Ryoko Yonekura) rides her broom into Tokyo but the adapted script deserves to be flown to the moon and left there. Arisa and Joji (Taizo Harada) are no Samantha and Darren but they might suffice were the script and supporting cast not so out of character with the original. Mari Natsuki is far too sharp and attractive to play Samantha's kooky, scatterbrained mother and Naoto Takenaka is all wrong for Darren's, er Joji's boss. No stars for this one.

[Excerpt from Channel Surf, Japan Times, December 19th regarding the Christmas Special]: Ryoko Yonekura returns to the airwaves as Arisa, the housewife-witch patterned after Samantha of the old U.S. sitcom "Bewitched," for a special Christmas show. In "The Plan to Rescue Santa Claus" (TBS, Tue., 9 p.m.), Arisa and her daughter, Tsubasa, return to the world of mortals and husband Joji after a five-year stay in the land of witches, where Tsubasa received her education.

In the meantime, Joji's boss, Suzuki (Naoto Takenaka), has grown despondent because his wife has left him. Tsubasa returns to regular schools for mortals and tries to rekindle her friendship with Suzuki's son, Shotaro, but the boy claims he doesn't remember Tsubasa.

Shotaro also says he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, and when Tsubasa informs her busybody grandmother of this, the old lady decides to produce the real Santa Claus as proof that he does exist, using magic "that can only be utilized on Christmas Eve."

[TBS SYNOPSIS]: The wife is a witch! But she likes humans and she loves her husband. Arisa (Ryoko Yonekura) is fascinated by humans. So much so that she leaves the magic world. But the broom she uses is faulty and she winds up in Japan. There she meets Joji Matsui (Taizo Harada) who works at an advertising agency. Joji has been assigned by his boss Ichio Suzuki (Naoto Takenaka) the difficult task of winning over Shiori Nomo (Asami Ishikawa) who is in charge of corporate communications at a client.

However a little word from Arisa helps Joji win over Shiori and his agency gets the opportunity to pitch. Arisa and Joji fall in love and marry. Arisa swears never to use magic again as she and Joji begin their strange witch/human married life. However, Arisa's mother, Daria (Mari Natsuki) wants to take Arisa back to her world and uses magic to be a nuisance to the new couple. Arisa has to take care of Joji's boss Suzuki who drops in all the time, the prying eyes of their neighbors (Manami Fuji & Shiro Maggy) and the interference of her witch mother. The original hit series aired in the U.S. from 1964 and in Japan from 1966. We have taken the best episodes from the original and added a Japanese spin to things like the Arisa and mother-in-law relationship in a complete remake of the series. It is a classy retro fantasy drama for all the family.

STARRING: Yonekura Ryoko, Harada Taizo, Takenaka Naoto, Fuji Manami, Ishikawa Asami and more.
THEME SONG: "Magic in Your Eyes" by Tommyfebruary6, "One True Love" and My Sweet Home" by 10,000 Promises
NETWORK: TBS
DURATION: January through March 2004, Christmas special aired on December 21, 2004.