Japanese Drama - Kaseifu no Mita

It has been a long time since i last watched Matsushima Nanako's drama and she is one of my favorite Japanese actresses and her best and most memorable drama should be the 1999 romance drama "Majo no Jouken" where she acted as a teacher who falls in love with her student against her family's objections. I also love watching her in medical drama "Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji 3 & 4" and started watching this new drama because of her. "Kaseifu no Mita" is her first drama series in two years, and she’ll be playing a role different from her usual parts. Other actors will include Hasegawa Hiroki, Aibu Saki, Kutsuna Shiori, and Shirakawa Yumi. This will be Matsushima’s first time starring alongside Hasegawa. The drama attracted an amazing 19.5% viewer rating from households in the Kanto region of Japan when the first episode premiered in Japan on 12 October 2011. The best single-episode rating during the summer season was 17.0%, which was a Wednesday drama as well.

Matsushima, who’s known for her ‘nadeshiko‘ characters in the past, will play the role of ‘Mita Akari’, a quiet, impassive, and cold-blooded housekeeper. She expressed, “I’m excited to see how everyone will view my character.”

In the drama, Mita observes the problems that occur in her workplace from an objective point of view. Yet, she solves every problem with an expressionless, cool-headed mindset. While Mita delivers an almighty 120% customer satisfaction rate, her age is unknown, she has no family, and she chooses her jobs herself.

The script is written by Yukawa Kazuhiko. Matsushima stated, “I’ve worked with Yukawa-san in ‘GTO‘ and ‘Majo no Jouken‘, but this will be the first home drama,” showing her excitement on the challenge of the new genre. Meanwhile, Yukawa commented, “I’m excited for everyone to see this terrifying side of Matsushima-san that nobody has seen before.” Singer-songwriter Saito Kazuyoshi sings the theme song for the drama.

Hasegawa will be playing the head of the Asuda family, ‘Keiichi’, who has lost his wife and raises his four children alone. Aibu’s role is Keiichi’s sister-in-law, ’Yuki Urara’, a troublemaker who visits the Asuda family. Kutsuna will play the part of Asuda’s eldest daugher, ‘Yui’, a high school student who wishes to leave home. Shirakawa’s character is Mita’s boss, ‘Director Harumi’, who is the only person that is aware of Mita’s past.

In Matsushima's latest drama which airs in Japan every Wednesday, Matsushima plays a mysterious housekeeper named Mita Akari, whose age is a secret and who is completely unsociable. She behaves like a robot with no feelings and expressions and appears detached from whatever is happening to the family she works in. However, she is perfect in her housework, and through her work she resolves hidden issues among the family members of the homes she is dispatched to. Despite her client's eventual wishes to keep her as a permanent housekeeper, she always moves on to the next job, where a fresh set of domestic problems await.

In the first episode, she is sent to the Asuda Family and their mother has suddenly passed away leaving the household in a mess. However, she doesn’t get along with the Asuda family, and solves each problem with her excellent housekeeping techniques while observing cases as an outsider. Mita impresses the family as she cooks like a pro, does the work of housewives such as sewing and laundry, is good at all sports and can even give private tutoring for the university entrance exams!  She arrives one morning after the 49th day of the mother's death and begins to live with the father, Keiichi (Hasegawa Hiroki), and 4 children. Before long, problems within the family are revealed and the Asudas are on the brink of breaking up. She confronts the issues, and saves the family through her flawless work and cold, drastic measures. In the process, she starts to regain the feelings she had lost....

You can watch it online at (http://www.dramacrazy.net/japanese-drama/kaseifu-no-mita/).

(Source: http://www.ntv.co.jp/kaseifu/index.html)
(Source: http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Kaseifu_no_Mita)
(Source: http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/08/matsushima-nanako-to-star-in-new-drama-kaseifu-no-mita/)
(Source: http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/10/drama-prime-time-report-%e2%80%93-october-10th13th/)
(Source: http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/09/saito-kazuyoshi-to-sing-for-matsushima-nanakos-upcoming-drama/)

Final Episode Of “Kaseifu No Mita” Reaches Average Rating Of 40% (Updated 30 December 2011)

I have enjoyed watching Japanese family drama "Kaseifu No Mita" and it received superb viewership ratings for its final episode in Japan. I was impressed with actress Matsushima Nanako's portrayal of the main character housekeeper Mita San and looks forward to her new Winter 2012 drama "Lucky Seven". Alot of viewers in Japan were hoping for a second season and i also share the same sentiment after watching the final touching episode and finally seeing Mita San smiling and hope to see how she helps more problematic families in her own unique ways. However it seems the writer of the drama has no plans for a sequel and i have to agree that the ending was a good one to end off the story. I managed to find out more information about the final episode of the drama from (http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/12/final-episode-of-kaseifu-no-mita-reaches-average-rating-of-40/) and you can read it below:

Matsushima Nanako’s stoic housekeeper role in Nihon Television’s  ’Kaseifu no Mita‘ has been garnering a lot of attention.

The anticipated final episode aired on December 21st, and managed to draw in a whopping figure  of 40% in viewership ratings within the Kanto region. It also received an average of 36.4% in the Kansai region and 34.6% in the Nagoya region, making it the first time in nearly 12 years that a drama has surpassed the 40% mark.

With these ratings, ‘Kaseifu no Mita’ is tied for 3rd as the drama with the highest ratings of all time. The top three dramas in this regard are ‘Tsumikikuzushi Oya to Ko no 200-nichi Senso‘ (TBS 1983) with 45.3%,’Beautiful Life‘ (TBS 2000) with 41.3%, and ‘Netchu Jidai‘ (1979 NihonTV) with 40.0%. ‘Kaseifu no Mita’ has tied with third place, surpassing the TBS drama ‘3 nen B gumi Kinpachi Sensei‘ (39.9%).

According to media research, this is the first time since 2000 that a drama has exceeded the 40% viewership rating. The last time a drama achieved this rating was when TBS aired the final episode of ‘Beautiful Life‘ back in March of 2000. 

To get an idea of how far ‘Kaseifu no Mita’ has come, the series began with an average first episode rating of 19.5%. It continued to improve as the series progressed, leading up to the final episode. Although the final episode received an average of 40%, the final scene gained the highest viewership rating, with 42.8% in the Kanto region, 39.0% in the Kansai region, and 36.7% in the Nagoya region. This was during the final moments of the drama where Mita, played by Matsushima, bids farewell to the family that she served. 

As a whole, the drama received an impressive average rating of 25.17%. Despite being in an era where people are watching less television, the drama turned out to be a blockbuster hit. Nowadays, a drama with 15% or more viewership ratings is considered to a hit, and a drama exceeding 20% is considered to be a huge hit. Currently there are no plans for a sequel or a movie adaptation, but fans are already pleading for more Mita-san. For those that can’t get enough of ‘Kaseifu no Mita’, the DVD and Blu-ray box sets are scheduled to be released on April 18, 2012 in Japan.

(Source: http://www.tokyohive.com/2011/12/final-episode-of-kaseifu-no-mita-reaches-average-rating-of-40/)