First Impressions, Spring 2010: Tsuki no Koibito

Plot: Hazuki Rensuke, the president of a furniture company, is opening a new branch in Shanghai. He also is lucky enough to have three beautiful women in his life: a Chinese factory worker, his friend the designer and his girlfriend the model.

Kimura Takuya as Hazuke Rensuke: apparently catnip for women.

Episode 1 Recap: Hazuke Rensuke (Kimura Takuya of SMAP) is the president of Regolith, a successful furniture company. He's a perfectionist and a bit of a hardass but isn't really a bad guy (I mean, he's not pouring water over employees' heads or throwing papers at them so hard he gives them a papercut, like poor Doctor's boss in Sunao ni Narenakute). He's opening a new branch in Shanghai and has to deal with protests from the factory workers whose factory he demolished.

Liu Xiu Mei (Lin Chi Ling): never dirty, just adorably smudged.

One of these workers is Liu Xiu Mei (Lin Chi Ling, Chinese actress from Red Cliff). She and Hazuke meet cute at the demolished factory, with Xiu Mei overhearing him speak Japanese on the phone and telling him in Japanese to get off the site because it's dangerous. It's love at first きさま for Hazuke (Xiu Mei's teacher has taught her to use "kisama" [rude firm of "you," like bastard], which is pretty hilarious). She's taking care of her sick mother and they're foreclosed on and her mother gets kidnapped by the debt collectors! Is that how they roll in China? Anyway, it's just an excuse to make Xiu Mei desperate enough to accept Hazuke's offer of being the model for his company. There's some drama of oh no, I won't betray my fellow factory workers for you (Hazuke promises to hire them all after his store opens) and oh, will she learn how to be a proper model in time? (of course she does). Hazuke declares his feelings for her. Xiu Mei models successfully and gets clapped and cheered by all, including her old factory comrades. I still don't get how her modeling had anything to do with selling furniture, but whatever! She looked good!

Ninomiya Maemi (Shinohara Ryoko): more awesome than anyone else on this show.

Hazuke is also working with Ninomiya Maemi (Shinohara Ryoko), a designer for his company. She's an old friend of his, good at what she does, and is awesomely feisty. She befriends Xiu Mei and is asked out by Hazuke's vaguely creepy assistant, Sai Kazami (Matsuda Shota one of the F4 in Hana Yori Dango!) . She declines. I think she's supposed to be in love with Hazuke, but right now there's no real indication of it.

Onuki Yuzuki (Kitagawa Keiko) should look worried. She's definitely going to be the loser in this love polygon.

The last person complicating Hazuke's love life is Onuki Yuzuki (Kitagawa Keiko who I embarrassingly remember as Sailor Mars from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon). She's a famous model and her father is the president of Hazuke's rival company. She's also Hazuke's girlfriend (maybe fiancee? It was kinda unclear) but he seems to have no real interest in her. She hates Xiu Mei almost instinctively.

Sai Kazami (Matsuda Shoda): kinda sketchy, kinda awesome.

And...that's about it. The opening of the new branch is a success. The players are set up. The love square/pentagon/whatever this turns into has begun to form. Lots of character building this epsiode, not much action.

Not the way you want your boyfriend to look at you.

The Good: I kinda love that Xiu Mei calls Hazuke a bastard whenever she speaks Japanese. I also love Shinohara Ryoko as Ninomiya Maemi and think both the actress and character are pretty awesome. Frankly, she is the most compelling love interest of the three. I also like that Xiu Mei's Japanese is really easy for me to understand and people tend to talk to her in easier Japanese since it's not her first language. And when Onuki Yuzuki had to dress up as a panda and hand out fliers (she did say she'd do anything for her boyfriend), then started attacking someone who just threw the flier away, I definitely laughed out loud. It's never not funny to see a giant panda mascot attack someone and have to be held back by the other panda mascots. There's definitely some decent humor in this show.

I call it now: they will be the end pairing.

The Bad: It's a tad slow. Xiu Mei is supposed to be a spitfire, but I think she's kind of bland, especially next to Ninomiya. And I really don't have any investment in a Xiu Mei/Hazuke romance since I'm not a big fan of them as a couple (and it's just a tad creepy that he tells her she can't quit because she owes him a big debt for housing/etc. while training her to be a model...but really it's because he doesn't want to live without her! Essentially he's blackmailing her into staying with him. But she seems okay with it so...it's not bad?). Also, the plot doesn't seem to be rich enough to maintain a full season. But I could be proved wrong.

Still more awesome than everyone else.

The Verdict: Not my favorite drama of the season (I love Yankee-kun a lot more) but pretty good. And I can't repeat enough how much I love Ninomiya. My attention sometimes drifts while watching, but I stay focused for every scene of hers.