Suika

Watermelon, anyone? NTV network is serving Suika Saturday nights at 9 p.m. this summer. I sampled the second episode on July 19 and found it had a distinctively different taste. It could probably use a little salt, but it is worth trying.

With most watermelons, you really don't know what you are getting until you cut them open, and this one is the same. It will take a few more episodes to figure out exactly what is hidden inside this plot, and I still haven't figured out why the drama is named after a watermelon.

The story is set in a large, dilapidated house that serves as an old-fashioned geshuku (cheap lodging) of the type that was popular in the mid-20th century. This one has a nice garden, a hole in the first-floor ceiling and shared cooking facilities.

The eldest resident of the building known as "Happiness Sancha" is Natsuko (Ruriko Asaoka). Now a university professor, she has lived continuously in the same room since her university days more than 20 years ago and has lots of stories to tell, if she decides to do so. She can be tough with her students, but at home she is a wise, maternal presence.

The other long-term tenant is 27-year-old Kizuna (Rie Tomosaka), a struggling manga artist whose twin sister died four years ago. Obviously, some secrets lurk there, too. Kizuna has lots of quirks like using the closet as a bed and not allowing anyone in her room. Tomosaka is always good in such roles.

The manager of the boarding house is Yuka (Mikako Ichikawa), who is just 20 years old. A young lady without any dreams for the future and who displays minimal emotion, she has been asked by her father to take care of the building.

The newest tenant is Motoko, a 34-year old bank employee with a domineering mother. She has worked for 16 years but still lives at home and has almost no excitement in her life. She finds it hard to speak up and cannot break away from her parents until the day when some vicarious excitement does come her way.

Her colleague at the bank, Baba (played by Kyoko Koizumi), has just absconded with 300 million yen of the bank's cash. All of Japan is looking for her but the media needs a picture. A weekly magazine reporter, whom Motoko first mistakes for a stalker, approaches her and offers her 50,000 yen for a photo of her former pal, but a TV reporter has already gotten to her mother and procured a photo for the bargain price of 10,000 yen.

This violation of her privacy (and, as she later admits, the interference in her more lucrative financial deal) finally propels Motoko to pack up and leave. She ends up as the newest tenant at the boarding house.

The only significant male character in this drama appears to be a magazine editor named Mamata (Katsumi Takahashi). He is a friend of Yuka's dad and also one of Natsuko's old students. He likes to hang around the apartment to escape his powerful wife, who does things like paint his toenails red while he is sleeping to punish him.

So far, none of the characters is particularly lovable, inspiring or even very realistic and the plot does not seem to be going anywhere in particular. Could this one end up as a jar of watermelon rind pickles?

Could be, but there is something about this tale that suggests that if the viewer hangs around long enough they will be able to watch at least one of these characters find some happiness at Happiness Sancha. One and a half stars to start.

Synopsis: Daily Yomiuri On-Line