Kaseifu no Mita (Housekeper Mita)

Matsushima Nanako as Mita-san

What do you do when you chance upon a 2011 drama with viewership ratings in the 20% range and with its final episode in the 40 percentile? You watch it to verify if the high viewership was well-deserved and understand its popularity. And there were no regrets spending my long weekend break enjoying each episode of the 11-part drama. 

Kaseifu no Mita was supposedly the comeback drama for A-list Matsushima Nanako after a two year hiatus. Boy, does Nanako san know how to choose her dramas! Was thinking that the role of a housekeeper isn't what you call glamourous, yet Nanako san chose this project. This probably says a lot about the quality of the storyline and character developments. 

 

The youngest of the Asuda siblings, Kii wanted to meet her mother who had drowned in this river.
The enigmatic Mita-san followed Kii's orders but was stopped in time by oldest brother, Kakeru.  

The Asuda siblings sets several challenges for Mita-san in a bid to have her do the impossible, smile. 

The Asuda siblings - Kaito, Kii, Kakeru and Yui. The scene where the siblings decided to leave the house after discovering how their father's adultery drove their mother to the point of suicide.

There's a very sad element to this show, and a very dark one as well. I mean, the very first episode already started out as the Asuda siblings losing their mother in what was believed to be a drowning accident. In order to get the housekeeping matters (household chores, cooking of meals, a little child-minding here n there) back in shape after the death of the mother, the father, Asuda Keiichi, hired the housekeeping service of Mita-san. Ta-da~! Therein the relevance of the title. The dark element veers its head in episode 8 when the truth behind Mita san's robotic and cold demeanour is revealed. 

Task-oriented and highly compliant with orders, Mita san excels in her housekeeping duties and the Asuda family are thoroughly impressed by it. However, when it comes to people relations, Mita san is so devoid of human emotions to the point where she basically acts like a robot - following orders to a tee (she will really kill someone if you asked her to). In normal human interactions and conversations, it is a social norm to share your thoughts about a particular subject e.g. should the children forgive their father who had caused so much grief to their mother; staying true to her robotic persona, Mita san does nothing of that. After the episode 8 revelation, we came to know the reason why Mita san took such extreme measures to rid herself of self-will and just follow the orders of the people she worked for. So sad... what happened to her was so traumatic that Mita san chose the extreme path of never smiling again, never to be burdened with emotions nor self-will as she erroneously believed that it led to tragedies.  

The "dame na oyagi" father asking for forgiveness from his children.
In this scene, he stopped his wishy washy nonsense and took the decisive step of reclaiming his position as their father.

The Asuda siblings going the extra mile to help Mita san overcome her sad past, and to smile again.

The Asuda siblings were a delightful bunch. Not in the ooooh look a happy, always laughing, always cheering others on kind of way but how they went all out to help Mita san overcome her past. Touched by how Mita san had played a crucial role in bringing the family back on track and back together again, (strange how Mita san does it when she is the way she is), the Asuda siblings went on a mission to have Mita san smile and be herself again. Very touching and typical Japanese dramas moments. So did they succeed in getting Mita san to smile again? 

Mita san finally showing some normal human expression in the last quarter of the drama series.

Mita san!!! You smiled!!! You finally smiled!!! 

  

Matsushima Nanako was amazing in her role as Mita san. Nanako san was able to keep her character's lack of emotions consistent throughout but what I thought was a true A-class act was how she was able to convey in her facial expressions the thawing of the ice-cold Mita san in very measured, very subtle ways with each time the Asuda family inches closer to family unity. That subtle and controlled acting would probably have been difficult for a novice actress. Anyhow, at the last episode, Mita san did smile for the children and because of the children. Look at that face, no over-acting!! Sasuga Matsushima Nanako!

Aibu Saki as the bubbly but extremely clumsy character, Urara. She's the maternal aunt to the Asuda siblings.

Thought this was a really pretty picture of Aibu Saki.

The perennial second female lead (or so it seems), Aibu Saki, is in this well-received drama too! I like Aibu Saki but for some reason the Japanese Broadcasting Stations always seem to cast her as the second lead or a supporting character like in Buzzer Beat and Miss Pilot. Why!?!? She is a good actress y'know! Does Aibu san not have the first female lead vibe? Is her talent management company not pushing hard enough for her? Is it because she portrays slutty characters well like in Buzzer Beat (we all know that slutty characters will never be the first lead or else how do you get viewers to root for the character?). If you notice, the female leads are the Aragaki Yuis, Horikita Makis and Ayase Haruka-types where the first impression you get is innocence and good-naturedness, qualities necessary for viewers to root for the characters. 

Well but I'm glad Aibu san played this character of Urara (what kind of name is that anyway!?) where she was always falling, always getting into some kind of accident and having flies in her cake or soup. Yet, Urara always tried her best to keep smiling and keep the atmosphere light-hearted. Urara's the sort where it irritates the hell out of you yet because of her good intentions, you can never really get totally mad at her. 

Mita san advising Urara against becoming like her, and that she need not always feel the pressure to be keep a cheerful appearance when she doesn't feel like it. Basically, to be true to oneself.

Farewell Mita san!

The parting scene was, as expectedly, a tear-jerker. I thought it was so uncharacteristically charming and nice of Mita san to give the youngest, Kii, an origami panda with the words - Kii no koto mo daisuki desu (I liked Kii very much as well), as a parting gift. 

Overall, I liked this drama as much as Hanzawa Naoki, another ratings master. Matsushima san and the rest of the cast were great in their roles (how do all those child actors do it!?!?!). As with most Japanese dramas, there's that triumph over difficulties, overcoming the odds spirit in the storyline, which I love and appreciate dearly. May Nippon Television (NTV) come up with more good quality and well received dramas such as these!