This show is about a secret agent who decides she is tired of adventure and wants a quiet life with a husband and family. The question is, will that really make her happy?
The Secret Agent
Most of the episodes have preludes showing the background of our secret agent, Nami. She carries out her new plan insofar as she finds a husband and makes friends in the neighborhood, but then problems begin to crop up. Her cooking is bad and her husband starts skipping dinner. A running joke is that any vegetables she tries to chop up come out as strings.
The Friends
Nami’s two best friends are Kyoko and Yuri. Kyoko has troubles with an immature, selfish husband and a mother-in-law she has difficulty relating to. Yuri has a grade-school-age child and a distant husband who takes her for granted. Throughout the series we follow their efforts to cope and the trouble they get themselves into.
Through different cases each episode Nami tries to help women in her neighborhood with their problems, some more serious than others. One woman is being bullied by the other moms, there is a burglar, a kidnapping, an ex-porn star moving in, an abusive husband, and women trying to get revenge on a rapist.
Nami initially tries to help solve things diplomatically, and then falls back on her secret agent skills. My husband mostly enjoyed watching her beat up the bad guys every time!
You will be happy to know that there is a “hacker ahjumma” in this show, although since it is a Japanese show I guess we should call her “hacker obasan.” She is someone from Nami’s secret agent days.
The Husband
The husband, Yuki, is a well-off businessman who Nami meets at a party. His character doesn’t have as much to do as Nami’s two friends, but he is sweet and thoughtful and quite a relief from several other husbands in the story who are jerks. Yet in the back of our mind, we wonder when he will start noticing Nami’s activities.
Is this drama for you?
On the whole this is a fun watch. I don’t like shows that are too dark or violent, and if I were going to drop this one it would have been because of the story about the abusive husband in Episode 1. That one was the most disturbing, and the rest were easier to get through. The subjects of the cases-of-the-week though should tell you that this is not a show for kids; there are serious problems being addressed. The energy and cheerfulness of the lead actress made me want to keep watching, as well as the charm of seeing her be invincible. She carried the show and I loved her.
Nice to see a J-drama review here! Ayase Haruka was fun in this drama, and Nishijima Hidetoshi’s smiles are to die for. Didn’t like Nami’s two housewife friends, but it was indeed fun watching Nami kick ass and whoop the bad guys. That ending totally calls for a sequel!
Viki has added more J-dramas, so that’s why we are able to review more. We enjoy watching all kinds of Asian dramas and love to share our thoughts with our readers. We are so glad you enjoyed this review.
These two lead actors were in Yae no Sakura together as siblings. It’s a Masterpiece Theater type historical show; i enjoyed it but it was on Dramafever, may it rest in peace.
The plot sounds unique haha thinking of giving this a shot. Thanks for writing this!
This is a splendid show, mixing comedy, drama, some serious social commentary – that first episode about spousal abuse was really quite thoughtful, with a does of realism, some inventive plots with a story arc (actually more than one) over the whole series to complement the individual stories in the all too few 10 episodes. Above all, the luminous Aysase Haruka (Jin, Yae No Sakura, Our Little Sister, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit) is a presence you can’t take your eyes off. It’s not flawless, either in plot or characters – I found the arch villain a bit of a bore. But always entertaining and it’s too bad that, having set themselves up for a second season with the villain intact (unlike his henchmen) and an ambiguous ending, the producers have not been able to pull off a secon season.