Ninkyo Helper
Information
Episodes 11
Aired Jul 09th - Sep 17th 2009
Theme Song Sotto Kyutto by SMAP
Story
Times have changed, and so have the yakuzas. Unless in the past, yakuza groups are full of elderly people. Tsubasa Hikoichi, is a clan boss, part of the Hayabusa Group, who wishes not to die as an old man, but young and in a fight, though that seems quite unrealistic, taking in count that what his group does for living is swindling elderly people through telephone calls.
When the boss of Hayabusa passes away as an old man, Takayama Gensuke, the new boss, puts Tsubasa and other branch leaders in a test to see who is more prepared to receive Takayama's old position (second boss): Yomogi Riko (boss of the Yomogi clan after her brother passed away), Kurosawa Goro (a wild, young man that respects Tsubasa a lot), Mugurama Masato (an intellectual, young man that looks down at yakuza), Nihonbashi Keigo (a man in his 40s, whose wife and daughter left him for being a yakuza) and Takayama Miyika (a young playboy with no idea of what being yakuza is, yet, he's Takayama's son).
All six are taken to an elderly facility, Taiyo Nursing Home, inside their enemy's territory, where they're just suppossed to work without causing any suspect. Even though none of them has an idea of what that test is supposed to be, they start working in order to gain the position, yet, each of them slowly starts to realize what it is to be able to take care of an elder person, and further more, all the circumstances that happens around that person.
At the same time, a company specializing on luxus elderly healthcare, Heartfull Bird, is starting to create franchises to spread their policies. Taiyo soon becomes one of their franchises, and they have to change their healthcare methods to the ones ordered by the president's company, Hatori Akira. Unexpectedly, Hatori's son, Ryota, seems to have an interest in that facility, more specifically, in Tsubasa Hikoichi, and soon finds out that Tsubasa is a yakuza. Being a bullied boy, and admiring yakuzas from the movies, Ryota follows Tsubasa to become his underling, in exchange of keeping his secret safe.
Characters
SPOILER WARNING!
Hayabusa Group Members
Tsubasa Hikoichi (35) by Kusanagi Tsuyoshi
He is a gang leader, who live of swindling elderly people with phone calls. He would rather be in the times where Yakuzas fought for their lives and their pride, and is rather annoyed with the fact that all their leaders are elderly people, that die of age. He wants to become the next boss, so, he starts working at Taiyo Nursing Home with no other purpose but to let the test time pass by. Eventually, he starts to become more involved with the people at the nursing home, though. Also, eventhough at first he's annoyed by Ryota always following him, he starts to care a lot about him, and slowly also in his mother.
Yomogi Riko (23) by Kuroki Meisa
She became the booss of her gang when her brother passed away, and she has to keep and hard postition, so that the men in her gang respect her. She's very tough and very interested in becoming the leader as well, for the sake of her gang. Raised up between so many men, she's not very feminine and has never been in a romantic relation, yet, as Tsubasa starts to change, she starts to get interested in him as well.
Kurosawa Goro (21) by Igarashi Shunji
He joined the Yakuza, because it was the only place where he felt he belonged to. He has a wild and brutal nature, so, no one wanted to be with him until he met Tsubasa. He admires Tsubasa a lot, and follows whatever he says. He seems interested in Misora, but she is always trying to escape from him.
Mugurama Masato (27) by Yuki Jutta
He's a young, smart intellectual who has never fought nor anything similar. He looks down on Yakuzas and believes that becoming boss of them would be something easy to do, which is the only reason why he's there. He's the less interested in involving with anyone, nor the nursery home, nor the rest of the yakuzas.
Nihonbashi Keigo (43) by Ukaji Takashi
He's the oldest one in the group, being already in his 40's. His wife and daughter left him because he wouldn't leave the Yakuza, yet, he's still cares a lot for both. He's rather a peaceful person, always carrying his kitty and such, but when he gets mad, he's very strong.
Takayama Mikiya (19) by Yabu Kota
Mikiya is a young playboy, with no interest in becoming the Yakuza boss at all. Yet, he's father is the new boss, and he is forced to join the group. Even though he has no interest first in being there, after meeting Yomogi Riko he decides to stay there to try to seduce her.
Takayama Gensuke (51) by Matsudaira Ken
He's the new boss of Hayabusa Group, and the one who selected the group to choose someone for his old position - second boss.
Heartfull Bird
Hatori Akira (37) by Natsukawa Yui
She's the president and founder of Heartfull Bird. She cares a lot about her son, but has very little time for time, not realizing the problems her son is facing at school. The reason she founded this luxurius elderly facilities, is because she feels guilty for leaving her sick mother by herself when she runned away to get married. During the drama, she also finds out she has an early demensia illness, and therefor, is scared of what might happen to her son.
Hatori Ryota (8) by Kato Seishiro
Ryota is Hatori's son. He is bullied at school, and looks up a lot to Yakuza because of old movies. When he finds out that Tsubasa is a yakuza, he asks him to teach him how to become strong, and follows him through all the drama. Even though Ryota is very young, he realizes whenever something is wrong with his mom, and suffers a lot seeing her like that. Whenever he's sad, he looks for Tsubasa.
Taiyo Nursing Home
Izumi Reiji (27) by Yamamoto Yusuke
Helper in the home, because he's tall and strong, he usually is in charge of handling problematic cases. He's very strict with the new volunteers, and watches for every one of their move. Actually, Izumi is also a yakuza, who voluntarily left to work at the nursing home, yet, Takayama Gensuke hired him to report him on how the group is doing.
Sonozaki Yasuhiro (53) by Osugi Ren - manager of the nursing home.
Misora Haruna (19) by Naka Riisa - helper in the home, she cares a lot for the elderly and encourages the group to work as well as possible.
Matsubara Hiromi by Tachibana Yukiko
Oshima Yusuke by Yamada Shintaro
Koga Kensuke by Takagi Manpei
Koga Kosuke by Takaki Shinpei
Togawa Yuka by Kai Marie
Nomura Aiko by Miura Myu
Pictures
Nihonbashi, Mugurama, Tsubasa, Yomogi, Kurosawa & Mikiya
Tsubasa Hikoichi
Izumi, Yogomi, Kurosawa*
Hatori Akira & Ryota*
Mugurama, Nihonbashi & Yomogi*
*pictures taken from the Official Site. Because Johnny's Entertainment doesn't allowed the use of their boys in Official Sites, I had to take the screenshots where Kusanagi (Tsubasa) and Yabu (Mikya) could be seen. I apologize for the crappy quality...
Opinion
I really loved this drama! I watched it mostly because of Yabu Kouta, but ended up loving everyone in the cast! I thought Kusanagi Tsuyoshi really did a great work with his role, he was an awesome actor and really deserved the prize he won for it! Kuroki Meisa was also great, I really loved her acting! Actually, the whole cast was really good, and I was really happy to also see Yuki Jutta there, and get more into Igarashi Shunji.
The story was great, because it was really funny, yet, it also had a very important message. It had very sad and emotional moments that even made you cry and realize what some people go through. People usually judge whoever has a parent in a nursery home, but watching this really makes you see that we have no idea of what the person and the whole family are going through.
It wasn't the ending everyone expected, but I thought it was far better. I was never very sure of how it would end, but I was quite satisfied.
Also, young Kato Seishiro brought a lot of cuteness to the story - the point of view of a little boy who has no idea of what's going on, just knows that things are going wrong, and yet, keeps trying to do his best.
For me, this was the best drama of the Summer 2009 season, ans possibly also of the year! Not my favourite, but definetely the best.
