Mama wa Idol (1987)

When Japan had money

A reason why I mostly watch Japanese media (anime and J-Drama) from the 80s is thanks to their obscene amount of money at the time meaning they could literally make the most random of projects financially feasible instead of now where they gotta stick to the main pool of genres because those are what makes money (yes I know this is a phenomenon all over the world but idc), semi 4th wall breaking shows that serve no purpose but pure entertainment (with of course some story) like this can be made, what a simple time… But I’m digressing so I’ll shut up haha.

Anyways Mama wa Idol was a good, light hearted show with an obviously unique spin on things; it didn’t have any overarching message it was trying to push besides I guess the difficulty to having kids accept remarriage (though that was practically demoted to a character trait of one character after ~4 episodes) no it was just Nakayama Miho (google her, literally plays herself) becoming a housewife in secret and the comedy that ensued. Some minor development was present but never really directly mentioned like Miho’s cooking becoming better (and other housewife tasks) and Kenichirou getting more used to his new mum (which happened in the background, realistic for a 20 year old). Over the 10 episodes the only 2 reoccurring things I found annoying was that crazy nosy neighbour and Shuichi’s (dad) vein popping annoying inability to firmly turn down women (plus his occasional thoughts on how to parent but I’m 20 with no kids, so I see things like the naïve Miho does meaning I cannot comment) but both of these are easily overlooked and are funny in their own right (at times). Ending was very wholesome too, love that they directly called out the stigmas in the idol industry plus the real live performance Miho gave.

From a technical aspect everything was done at or above J-Drama standards: typically great 80s music, unique acting, etc. no complaints there. Overall a fun and relaxing show highly recommend this to other old J-Drama fanatics, I will be buying this on DVD for sure.

Also I should point out: yes Miho at the time was 17 (I think she was implied to be 19 in the show) but not only was it poked fun at in the show at times (Kenichirou is older than her in the show and real life) no lines were also crossed, it was kept at a convincing distance for any scenes that could have hinted at intimacy. Also Miho and Kunihiko literally play the lead roles in another drama the very next year so they’re obviously comfortable with each other lol.

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