Just finished: Ohitorisama

This series from 2009 is a tale about a female teacher in her thirties who’s enjoying her single life. Then she’s asked to be a mentor for a substitute teacher, a young 23-year-old who is new to the job. To make things more complicated, they end up sharing her flat when he finds himself without a place of his own and no money.

You can more or less write the rest yourself.

With Maya Miki (Galileo), Wakai Sakana (Koi no Mon) and Matsushita Nao (Control) in supporting roles there’s plenty of pretty ladies in the background to balance Koike Teppei, the pretty boy in the foreground. The central pair of Teppei and Mizuki Arisa works well, and the two slowly grow together. He becomes less useless and dependant, while she comes to appreciate the pleasure in sharing things in life. Mizuki Arisa shows some nice comedy touches in her role but I admit I was often distracted by Maya Miki’s attempts at hiding her high hairline with some cosmetics.

This is entertaining but undemanding stuff: The usual mix of comedy misunderstandings as the two teachers try and keep their co-habiting a secret from co-workers, and also as they try to keep their feelings a secret from themselves. It’s another romantic comedy-of-errors in a work environment, and if you like that sort of thing, you can’t go wrong with this.