Official Website
tokai-tv.com/utsubokazura
Broadcast
11.40 p.m., Saturdays, 5 August 2017
Station
Fuji TV
Story
18-year-old Saito Mifuyu is a simple girl who grew up in Nakano City, Nagano Prefecture. Her mother Sachie is seriously ill and does not have long to live. She has known about her mother’s illness since she was a third-year high school student. This year, she spent most of her time taking car of her mother and household chores. By the time she realised it, she had no future after graduation. Her mother told her not to worry, someone will definitely help her as long as she lives an honest life. Mifuyu feels doubtful and reacts slightly at her words. Sachie does not know that after she dies, her husband Koji will bring his lover into the home and Mifuyu will get driven out by the two of them. Eight months later, Mifuyu arrives in front of a big house in an exclusive residential district in Tokyo. This is the house of her late mother’s younger cousin Kashimada Naoko who had invited Mifuyu to come over to her house. When Mifuyu presses the intercom, she hears the curt voice of an old woman asking who she is. To convince the old woman Kashimada Hisako that she is not selling or cold calling, she shows the letter that Naoko had written. However, Hisako unexpectedly says that she did not hear anything about this and firmly closes the front door. An hour later, Naoko finally comes back with her friend Fukumoto Hitomi. Mifuyu can finally enter the two-family home. Hisako is Naoko’s mother-in-law. Naoko is cheerful and kind. But her next words astonish Mifuyu who had intended to live in this house. “So how long will you be staying? One month?” There will definitely be no help even if she lives an honest life … Mifuyu looks at her meagre belongings and the 30,000 yen she has to her name. 30,000 yen can buy at most one feet in the exclusive residential district where the Kashimadas live. It is a house blessed with “wealth” that Mifuyu herself cannot obtain even if she wishes for it. Thinking this outrageous, Mifuyu starts seeking to fit into the Kashimada family, and in the process completely changes into a Nepenthes woman who plays on the desires of her prey to attain her goals.
Characters
Shida Mirai as Saito Mifuyu
She has just graduated from high school. After her mother’s death, her father Koji immediately brought his mistress Haruka into the home. Haruka got pregnant and gave birth in no time. Her father remarried and she is displaced in her own family. At first, she is just a young girl who is bewildered by her circumstances, but before long, she turns into a Nepenthes woman.
Otsuka Nene as Kashimada Naoko
A housewife who was brought up in a wealthy family. She has a sophisticated, youthful appearance. She is well-off but makes remarks which demonstrate the disparity without meaning any offense. She is passionate about volunteering and joins activities to search for families to adopt cats from a shelter. Her “perfect family” starts to break up following Saito Mifuyu’s arrival, and that is when she begins to realise what she truly wants, but … …
Kokusho Sayuri as Fukumoto Hitomi
Kashimada Naoko’s friend. Their children attend the same school. Like Naoko, she is a well-heeled housewife who is involved in volunteer activities, but in fact, her life is ruined. She is on tenterhooks every day wondering whether this will be discovered by the people around her. Although she lives off Naoko, she somehow feels sorry for her.
Haba Yuichi as Kashimada Yutaro
Kashimada Naoko’s husband. He is an official of an association on secondment from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. An elite who is a graduate of a top university. His family does not even know the nature of his work but he has plenty of money. He cannot resist women but quickly grows tired of them. He currently has a mistress Tsuruoka Kyoko. He is the type who optimistically thinks that he can conceal his affair. He shows interest in Saito Mifuyu who has come to the house.
Maki Emi as Tsuruoka Kyoko
The mistress of Kashimada Naoko’s husband Yutaro. She gets financial and material support from time to time. She actually has a younger boyfriend. She is a woman who just wants ordinary happiness, and believes it is about time she end her relationship with Yutaro. But this method of taking the money in front of her simply cannot be stopped.
Yoshimoto Miyoko as Saito Sachie
Saito Mifuyu’s late mother. Kashimada Naoko’s cousin. She grew up in a wealthy family in Nagano City but got married to a poor Saito Koji. After that, she focuses on housework and wishes for her family’s happiness but she is betrayed by her husband and her life ends. She is Mifuyu’s beloved mother and in some ways, also an example not to follow.
Haruta Junichi as Saito Koji
Saito Mifuyu’s father. He treated his first wife Sachie like a housekeeper. He is now besotted with and completely henpecked by his second wife Haruka.
Hyunri as Saito Haruka
The second wife of Saito Mifuyu’s father Koji. She had an affair with him while Mifuyu’s mother Sachie was battling her illness, and got pregnant. She shows up at Sachie’s funeral while pregnant. After that, she married Koji and gave birth. She steals Mifuyu’s place and causes her to leave home.
Matsubara Chieko as Kashimada Hisako
Kashimada Yutaro’s mother. She lives alone in the two-generation home. She does not get along with her daughter-in-law Naoko and pratically does not interfere with her son’s life. However, she peeps at his family.
Scriptwriters
Fujii Kiyomi (Renai Jidai, Take Five)
Nakamura Yukari (Keiji 110 kg Series)
Original Work
Utsubokazura no Yume by Nonami Asa
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Tagged: Otsuka Nene, Shida Mirai, Utsubokazura no Yume
