Welcome to our first Nagase drama in the journey! I loved him in IWGP when I watched it back in the day so I was pretty excited to see him in another lead role. 

This drama was an absolute blast from start to finish. It has the silliness and comedic flair that I feel you can only find in Jdramas and then in contrast, there was tenderness and love in the life lessons the characters experience.

A side note, but I have to say so far on my viewing journey I have been impressed with how progressive a lot of the late 90s/early 2000s Jdramas have been. I don’t know if that is specifically related to Johnny’s/Arashi being involved, but they are all pretty solid in terms of how they handle more edgy social topics.

Aiba plays the younger brother of Nagase’s wife in this one. It’s so funny to me that although Aiba seems like a very playful and happy-go-lucky guy in person, he is always cast in these brooding roles. It’s not that I don’t think it’s good casting, the contrast is just interesting. I think he plays the brooding, cool guy well! We also have the return of “teen Arashi has a crush on older woman” troupe. Nagase helping Aiba out with that situation was one of my favorite story lines—to see the bros bonding over stalking Aiba’s teacher was very silly, but under it all you could feel how Nagase’s character really cares for his wife’s family (especially considering he doesn’t have one of his own).

This is the 3rd or 4th time there has been an orphan character in these Arashi shows, and as someone who is adopted and has been teased or treated differently because of it, I’m very much enjoying the representation. As usual, Arashi heals me in such a particular way.

There is a season 2 of this (without Aiba) that I’d like to watch at some point, but first I have 500 Arashi dramas to finish. All I can say is this show made me feel joyful, it made me cry a bit and touched my heart, and it gave me hope for love in both romance and family. Not sure what more you could ask for! This must have been a fun role for Nagase—an idol playing an idol. It’s definitely tied with Akimahende as top drama so far (both are similar in their chaotic silliness + tenderness formula). I also really enjoy this soundtrack, the theme songs were great but the instrumentals were even better! I spin it often.

End note: I was very sad to hear about Takeuchi Yuuko’s suicide in 2020. I took a long break from following the Japanese entertainment industry after 2016 or so, but I recently found out about some of the sadder stories that have unfolded since then. Especially during COVID, it seems many stars were really struggling (one of the most heartbreaking to find was Miura Haruma, an absolute favorite of mine). I think this made watching Mukodono a bit more somber, but I really appreciate Takeuchi’s acting. She has such a sweet and loving energy. Rest in Peace.