Oh! my girl!!

Japanese title: オー！マイ・ガール！！

9 episodes

Aired on NTV
From 2008 October to December

Main cast:

Hayami Mokomichi: Yamashita Kotaro

Yoshida Riko: Sakurai Anne

Kato Rosa: Fuji Mineko

Tomosaka Rie: Yasuno Makiko

Okada Yoshinori: Ishida Ken

YOU: Ozora Hinako

Furuta Arata: Sugawara Hirofumi

Kaga Takeshi: Ishizaka Kazuo

Notes:
- Hello Little Hotaru! And you, co-worker from Star no Koi! Oh! And from Star no Koi there is also in one episode the manager!
- Rewatching

 

Review: +

Title : That’s the kind I remember: generic and nonsensical. Besides, the exclamation marks are ridiculous.

Boy : He works for a magazine writing article but his dream is to publish a novel. Meanwhile he writes cheesy « cellphone novels » which is something you write with your phone on an online platform. He’s an idealist (cynics would say « loser »).

Girl : She’s his 6-years-old niece and before you think "What’s this drama? That'’s illegal and creepy." this drama is not romance. I don’t know what this genre is called but it is the one in which a grumpy old man begrudgingly befriends a neglected cute kid. Except, here, the man is young and handsome.

Back to girl, she’s a child actress, she’s spoiled, she’s very poised with people, unfazed by her fame and a true professional. But she’s still very much a kid : she throws tantrums, sulks and needs to be taken care of.

Girl : She’s Girl’s manager/assistant. Mmm, now that I think about it, she doesn’t have much of a personnality besides doing her best at her job. But it wasn’t distracting while watching and she’s a likable character who felt real. (+)

Plot : Each episode is self-contained while building the overall story. People grow, learn things, there are real emotional stakes, it doesn't strain plausibility too much. (+)

Other characters: There is a single mother who's a co-worker of Boy and his confident. His boss who's too lenient with Boy considering that he skips work a lot. The enemy, a fellow journalist who takes his job seriously so though his personality is quite bad, you understand his frustration with Boy. Finally, there are Girl's mother who is really selfish and the President of their agency. Oh, I almost forgot the neighbours - I think they're supposed to be funny but they were more annoying to me.

Funny Factor? A little.

Music: Good.

What the...?: Girl and her mother live together and no one has figured out that they are related?

Bottom line: Though I was totally shipping some characters, it's more a family show than a romance. It's an enjoyable drama that delivers emotional moments and did not make me cringe. (+)