Osen

Details
* Title: おせん
* Title (romaji): Osen
* Format: Renzoku
* Genre: Food, comedy
* Broadcast network: NTV
* Broadcast period: 2008-Apr-22 to
* Air time: Tuesday 22:00
* Theme songs:
o Opening theme: Odore by Micro (of Def Tech)
o Ending theme: Koi Uta - Koi Uta- by Tackey & Tsubasa

Handa Sen (Aoi Yuu) is the "okami" (proprietress) of a long-standing restaurant in one of the lower parts of Tokyo. Though she is normally airheaded and loves to drink, she has an impressive mastery of a wide range skills, from cooking to ceramics to calligraphy.

Ezaki Yoshio (Uchi Hiroki) is a chef, looking in a 5 star restaurant but he is not satisfy with his current situation. 10 years ago, he went to the restaurant (where Handa Sen is now the okami) and was encouraged by the previous okami (Handa Sen's mom). After much thoughts, he abandon his current position (high pay and good life) and went to the restaurant, hoping to become the top chef. Disappointment follows as he was ordered to start as the lowest grade helper in the kitchen and also with a salary of 50 thousand yen!

While the drama follows various events surrounding the restaurant, one of the series' highlights is its illustration of Japanese food and culture.

Source of Synopsis

Eps 1
Episode 1 of the drama is almost what is written above. The main focus is how Yoshio convinces himself to work in the restaurant.

Official Title: Natural Okami vs Queen of Microwave

Eps 2
Although in Episode 1, Yoshio sort of convinces himself to work in the restaurant, but episode 2 still shows his struggle in working in the restaurant for such a pathetic salary. In this episode, you can look forward to Yoshio's miso paste(the name was specially named after Yoshio as proposed by Handa)

Official Title: The fight between the mother and daughter is over the role of the okami? Bonding over the magical miso

Eps 3
In this week, the start of the show brought us to look at the banner hanging in front of the restaurant mentioning about their main dish. Although the staffs were puzzled as to why the banner must be placed in front of the entrance, they couldn't find any reasoning. The story behind the banner is the main focus of the show...

Yoshio encountered a man whom took advantage of him by getting a free meal from Yoshio. This man is Ryu, an ex-top-chef of the restaurant Yoshio is working at and Handa mistook him as her father. However, to her dismay, he is not. It turns out that Ryu was good with his culinary skills, but it's excellent presentation. Although customers was flocking to the restaurant, the food was not up to standard other than being nice for viewing. Thus, the restaurant long-time customers no longer supports the restaurant and the new customers are more likely a one-time customers. This was the reason why Handa's mother, the previous okami, replaced Ryu with the 2nd chef, Fujishiro Seiji (who is now the top chef in the restaurant). After being replaced, Ryu get involved in a fight which left his hand injured which he kept blaming the previous okami that she was the one who brought his downfall.

The incident was related to Handa in a reversed version but after knowing the actual version, Handa was still upset for Ryu. Fujishiro Seiji, who was also feeling down on knowing Ryu current's situation, decided to make a meal for him: first, to get Ryu's approval of his skills, and second, to get him back to his old self.

The last dish that was presented to Ryu was the dish that was written in the banner placed in front of the restaurant. It is a dish which Ryu had prepared for Seiji years ago which Seiji couldn't forget the taste and the dish was placed as the restaurant's recommended dish.

When Ryu was replaced by Seiji and had start to abandon himself, the previous okami wanted to make him realize that although he has injured his hand, he still can make excellent dishes. With the help of the entire restaurant staffs, Ryu finally regains his confidence and embark on the journey to sell the dish.

At the end of this episode, although all well ends well, but I can't understand why Ryu took so long to realize his mistake and to start all over again..

Official Title: The specialty tororo meal is the secret sign

Casts
* Aoi Yu as Handa Sen
* Uchi Hiroki as Ezaki Yoshio
* Sugimoto Tetta as Fujishiro Seiji
* Mukai Osamu as Tomekichi
* Suzuki Ranran as Teruko
* Kudo Risa as Fuyuko
* Morita Ayaka as Tamagoya
* Okumura Tomofumi as Kenta
* Takuma Takayuki as Hayashi Takashi
* Watanabe Ikkei as Chinpindo-san
* Yo Kimiko as Asai Shizu
* Yuki Saori as Handa Chiyo
* Matsukata Hiroki as Kinoshita Hideo

Source of Details and Casts

Official Website of Osen can be found here

Did you know?
The drama was aired after the drama 貧乏男子?

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