WAH, didn't intend the long radio silence! Brain pudding, brb.

So anyway, there's this DRAMA. It's called Room of King. And you should all watch it! Only the last three episodes haven't been subbed, despite it having been out for two years already. SOBBB WHY

It's a very odd comedy about these nine people who get "scouted" by three bizarre real estate agents (one of whom bears an eerie resemblance to George Carlin) to share a ritzy apartment at low cost. This is part of some kind of game, and whoever "wins" the game - whatever that means - gets to keep the apartment all to him/herself and the others have to leave.

The premise didn't really sound all that much like something I'd like, but I checked it out anyway because my new tv boyfriend Mizushima Hiro plays one of the characters (Mori Jiro). But then! IT WAS BRILLIANT. It's actually really, really well written! It is bizarre and cracktastic, and also hilarious and charming, and touching in really unexpected ways. You guys, this show puts the biggest, stupidest grin on my face, for serious. It's feel-good in a really genuine, honest way, without being sappy (a propensity towards overabundance of sap being one of the things I tend not to like about Asian dramas).

The plot seems to focus the most on four of the nine roomies:



This adorably derpy fellow is Mori Jiro, a lazy but sweet-natured part-timer who discovers a latent ability for avant garde floral arrangement. He unintentionally acquires a rich lady sponsor who drags him off to France, where he covers flowers in ketchup. (No really, he covers flowers in ketchup.) His rich lady sponsor seems like she might want to devour him. I can't say I blame her.



This is Asada Asako, a bank teller who, in one of the crackiest scenes of the show, ends up a hostage in a robbery and is saved by a singing spectators. After that, she gets scouted by a talent agency for some reason. No, she doesn't really know what's going on either.



This is Hibiki Kyoko, a gynecologist specializing in VD and abortion. She is the head doctor at her clinic and keeps a small army of handsome male nurses who wait on her hand and foot. At first she seems merely a narcissistic queen, but as it turns out, the reason she specializes in VD and abortion is because she wants to help the women in those kind of difficult situations. She is receiving death threats due to the whole abortion thing.



This is Maji Max, a perpetually harried, famous stylist whose career is going downhill fast, mostly due to his scatterbrained inability to show up anywhere on time. He's a bit of a playboy. (Personally I think he and Hibiki seriously need to make out.)

Other characters include a really bad film producer, a NEET, a quasi-hikikomori IT worker, a really strange housewife, and a chef. (The chef gets ideas for his dishes "off of the wind" when he rides horses. I don't think he lives on the same planet as the rest of us.)

They are all SO ADORABLE, you guys, I just want to squeeze them. ;; Seriously, WATCH THIS SHOW. Maybe if there was more interest in the damn thing it would get subbed faster. Look, if you don't watch it Moriji will cry.



SEE, HE'S GONNA CRY. HOW COULD YOU MAKE HIM CRY.

ETA: You can watch it streaming here, or you can download it at jdramas (you have to join the comm to see the posts).