Mop Girl
May 26, 2009 | 1 Comment | @andrewmarcec
“Mop Girl” is a ten episode series from Japan that ran on TV Asahi in 2007. DVD versions of this are incredibly hard to find since it is out of print, however I managed to get my hands on one through ebay.
Momoko Hasegawa’s life was saved by a random stranger off the street when she was a young girl. However, something strange happened when the woman touched her. A piercing ring sounded in her ears and the soft, chanting words of the woman told her she now had the ability to travel back in time, then she died. Twelve years later Momoko is twenty-one years old and working hard at achieving her dream of becoming a very successful wedding planner. There is one problem however, she is incredibly clumsy. After an unfortunate incident with a wedding cake Momoko is transferred to another section of her company, a “special” section according to her boss, The Little Angels.
Little Angels is a funeral home, and Momoko’s new job is as the “mop girl”, a person who goes to crime scenes and cleans up the bloody areas and organizes the deceased’s personal things. This is where she discovers the trigger to the power given to her twelve years ago. When she comes into contact with an item that the deceased treasured the ringing fills her ears and she travels back in time to the begining of the day to prevent that persons death.
I was first drawn to this show when I found that Katagawa Keiko was the main star of this show. I had previously only seen her in the fifty episode “one shot” series “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon”, and was curious to see how she performed in a series with a more broad character spectrum. She does not disappoint, Keiko manages to really nail the dramatic parts of the story spot on really helping me feel connected with the character. I think that is incredibly important especially when we are dealing with a show that not only involes time travel, which is difficult to successuflly pull off, but also we meet a new character that we have to want her to save. That is a lot to ask of an hour long show. The show also, as is customary for many Japanese shows, have some very over the top humor involved with it. Don’t let that scare you off though, it brings a refreshing smile to your face in a show that deals with something as serious as death.
With a very “Six Feet Under” meets “Quantum Leap” feel, I was upset to find how fast ten episodes goes once I started watching the series. I recommend this series to everyone who is looking for a welcomed break from their heavily acronymed TV schedule.
“Mop Girl” Opening:
Also, the entire series has been uploaded in sections to YouTube, here is part one of episode one:
1 Comment to “Mop Girl”
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Kira
May 26th, 2009You must really love this because I think this is one of your best reviews yet. It’s hard to make me want to watch any Japanese shows, but your review piqued my interest. I watched the clips and it actually looks pretty interesting. Still has that weirdo Japanese feel to it that I can’t get over, but other than that I like the idea. Maybe I’ll actually give this one a chance.