Title (romanji): News no Onna
Title (english): Newswoman
Broadcast date: 1/7/98 - 3/18/98
Number of episodes: 11
Genre: drama
Cast: Suzuki Honami, Takizawa Hideaki, Nagatsuka Kyozo, Fukikoshi Mitsuru
Plot: Aso Tamaki (Suzuki Honami) is the anchor for the evening news on Channel 2. When her husband dies in a car accident, she must stonily report the news herself. After the show, her husband's lawyer, Kubata-san (Nagatsuka Kyozo), arrives at her apartment. He asks her to take care of her step-son, Ryu (Takizawa Hideaki), until he can find the boy's only living relative, his aunt. Can a hardened news professional care for a teenage boy?
What is good: The interaction between the characters in the later episodes is quite heart-warming.
What is bad: The early episodes of the show are just plain boring.
Letter rating: C

Overall: Suzuki Honami and Takizawa Hideaki (the Tackey half of the duo Tackey & Tsubasa) perform beautifully. However, they are given very dull material to work with. The 'behind-the-newroom' scenes don't accomplish much beyond setting up where everyone stands in the politics of the workplace. Aso-san talks big in these scenes but she doesn't seem to actually do very much. Poor Ryu is stuck in the 'emotionally tortured teenager' characterization so he barely speaks through the first half of the series. Once the characters break out of their normal routine, everything changes and the series gets pretty interesting. Unfortunately, by that point, there's only 3 or 4 episodes left. I would have a difficult time recommending this series. Mostly because it takes so long to get to the good episodes that is doesn't feel like it was worthwhile overall.