mi habitación: Dorama Review : Marumo no Okite

It's my first time in giving a drama review.
I spend my time watching Japanese drama lately. Why do I do it? I don't know...Sometimes life can be boring, or I need more life lesson that I haven't gotten yet. So, this typical slice-of-life drama suits me best since Japan produces this kind of drama a lot. Indonesia did it too,..Do you remember "Keluarga Cemara" and "Si Doel Anak Sekolahan"? Sadly nowadays there's nothing like those in our local TV. Our TV series is all about nonsense teenager love story, revenge and evilness with cheesy scenario...I'm done with this.

Ok, So "Marumo no Okite" literally means "Marumo's rules". The drama tells about Mamoru Takagi..a 30-something year old single man who works as a Customer Service at a stationery maker company. He suddenly find out that his best friend (a man named Sasakura) passed away and left his twin daughter and son (the kids are sooo amazingly cute). The twins sadly have to live separated, the boy (Tomoki) has to live with Sasakura's brother and the girl (Kaoru) is with Sasakura's sister. Mamoru doesn't want it that way because Sasakura told him before that the twins had been always together since they were born. In order to grant Sasakura's wish, Mamoru lets the twins live with him and takes care of them as if they are his own kids.
Here the story begins. The twins start calling him “Marumo” (they got his name wrong, so instead of “Mamoru”, they call him “Marumo”). The three of them, along with a lost dog that's miraculously able to talk named Mook begin to live in a small room as a family., their life’s filled with love, joy, pain, friendship, and many wonderful moments. You’d laugh, cry and then laugh again when watching this drama.

So, sorry for everyone who hasn’t watched it yet. What I wrote below may contain spoilers.

Main Characters

Mamoru Takagi (Sadao Abe)

Let me introduce our Marumo

A typical Japanese Salaryman who's taking care of the adorable twins. A kindhearted, clumsy, a little bit short tempered and sometimes selfish single man. His life's lack of romance but he secretly adores his tall and goodlooking coworker. He lives in a 2nd floor room of a kind restaurant owner named Yosuke Hatanaka. Sadao Abe played this role amazingly. He had what we call superb acting talent. I saw him before as an eccentric anaesthetist in "Team Medical Dragon". I think he could handle both roles perfectly.

Kaoru Sasakura (Mana Ashida)

Arrrgh...I don't know what I get to say about this cute little girl. I must admit that Kaoru (Mana Ashida) is heart of the drama. She's incredibly mature for children her age, rebellious, sensitive and protective over his twin little brother. We can say Mana Ashida is the most popular child actress in Japan. She had starred in many high rating dramas and even would have her first solo concert.

Tomoki Sasakura (Fuku Suzuki)

Here we have Tomoki, the younger twin...He hooked me up with his innocent, spoiled and dependant character. Fuku Suzuki, one of Japan's future actor played this role pretty well. By the way..May I pinch his chubby cheeks?

Yosuke Hatanaka ( Sera Masanori)

He's the owner of the 2nd floor small room that Mamoru rented. Though he looks like a yakuza, he has a very gentle heart. The twins call him "oyaji" (which literally means "father"). He keeps arguing with Aya-chan, his only daughter though he loves her so much. He also loves to learn from Marumo and the twins the meaning of being family.

Aya Hatanaka (Manami Higa)

Aya-chan is the only daughter of Yosuke Hatanaka. She just got divorced and decided to help in his father restaurant. She's good at making delicious and cute bento. She cares a lot about the twins and I can tell she slowly falls for Mamoru.

Besides the five main characters above, You will find other lovable supporting roles such as Mamoru's coworkers, the twins' mother who once abandoned them and the twins' cute classmates. No pure antagonist here, but you can still get hooked by this drama.

Why do I love this Drama:

Great casts and great acting. No Idol here, but this drama is still enjoyable to watch.
Neither devil like nor angel like character is here. Everyone is just human with the flaws.
So many heartwarming scenes
The twins...Nobody would ever hate them
Great soundtracks,esp "Maru Maru Mori Mori". I'm sure it will get stuck in your head once you listen to it. I love how everyone in the drama dance together in the end of each episode.
Great direction, plot and scenario ( I still consider Japan's drama scenario is the best among Asian dramas ).
I'm thrilled to see how passionate people in the drama work and coworkers are just like family, supporting each other.
Mook the dog. You may think it's strange to add a talking dog in the drama...but sure it works.
Little spark between Mamoru and Aya-chan in the last episode. I heard they got closer in the SP (this drama got an SP, I should watch it)
The food Aya-chan made.
The twins' outfits. Everything they wear just makes them look cuter.
I'm gonna stop this. I love almost everything about this drama.

The Things I hate:

The drama is too short (Actually all Japanese dramas are). I do miss all the characters (esp. the twins) after it ended.
I think Mana Ashida looks more natural in acting when she cries in silence. Crying out loud suits Fuku Suzuki better.
I'm not sure about this, but sometimes I saw Fuku Suzuki looked at the camera.

For the bonus, I'll give you some screencaps: