Heisei meoto jawan ~ dokechi no hanamichi

Mataro (Higashiyama Noriyuki) is in debt, deeply in debt, and it's his own fault. He's always looking for the get-rich-quick schemes and doesn't realize that whenever he cooks in his ramen shop, it comes out tasting awful. His wife, Satsu (Asano Atsuko) is the perfect woman for a poor family. She is always chipper, infinitely resourceful, and wonderful cook even with the cheapest of ingredients. They have five children, three in grade school and two not yet old enough for school, who are basically the audience's eyes into the family providing an in-between location between the angelic patience of Satsu and the constant scheming of Mataro. But there is no status quo for this series to return to. Like Job, things just keep descending. When something goes wrong, the family's situation gets permanently worse, and the amount of their debt continues to climb.

I was ready to give up on this series in the first ten minutes. I could find no sympathy for Mataro and the cheerfulness of Satsu was...inhuman. But as the point of view of the children came into the picture, the drama really began to grow on me. Hamada Gaku as Un had some lines with almost professional comic timing (perhaps he spent some valuable time learning the trade from Ishizuka), and the obvious self interest that dominated Tajima Honami's character brought the series down to earth. When the early episodes centered around the children's plight, everything seemed to click.

The backup cast was unfortunately forgettable for the most part, but there was a surreal episode-by-episode glimpse into a "normal" family's life (originally as a counterpoint to the poverty of Mataro and his family) that just shined in its one-tiny-scene-per-episode pace.

There were places where my lack of sympathy for the Mataro character plunged to utter contempt, but questions like, why is Setsu so cheerful in the midst of poverty, are eventually answered and the ending is rather well done.

And after seeing 101 kaime no puropozu, it was really nice seeing Atsuko in a series where she doesn't have to cry through most of each episode.

Good show.