Mop Girl

Mop Girl was a show I had heard good things about but when I skimmed through ep 1, I wasn't very impressed. Goes to show how one should never judge a jdorama at a quick glance. Kitagawa Keiko stars as Hasegawa Momoko, our main character who has the ability to travel back in time/see the future in order to save someone's life or help them do something before they die.


Basically the first half of every episode sets up how a character dies and the the second half is Momoko running around trying prevent the death from happening. The premise is brilliantly simple and fun. Who among us would not like to be able to redo our actions with the benefit of hindsight?

Everyday I give thanks to God for creating maid cafes. If only I were in Japan...

One show Mop Girl really reminds me of is Trick. Tanihara Shousuke (who's been in too many shows) is Ohtomo-san, Momoko's colleague and partner in her adventures. Similar to Ueda Jiro from Trick, he is a narcissistic person who always gets into fights with Momoko except its Momoko who is always asking for his help. His obsession with gaijin women is probably the best running gag of the series. Tanihara Shousuke is always playing the forgettable nice guys in doramas but I think this is the first role I've seen him in which he completely ownes. I just love watching people who've payed their dues get their chance to shine.

I always wanted to see Koide Saori after Densha. Never dreamt it would be in maid costume!

The crux of the series, like Trick is the chemistry between the two leads and its just a pleasure to watch them argue and Momoko try to manipulate Ohtomo. Can't believe that Kitagawa Keiko was in the Sailor Moon dorama. I've only seen two episodes of the show many years ago but she certainly has the goods to be a good actress. Kudos to whoever decided to cast her as Mop Girl.


The stories are decent with episode 4 being the stand out episode. In fact, I would say ep 4 is probably the best single episode I've seen in a long while, thought its partly due to Koide Saori. (the idol from Densha) Yes, the show has only been subbed up to episode 5 so I went out and bought the HK English subbed version which is pretty bad. (the subs)


Can't really tell whether its the bad subs or just that the stories started getting boring after ep 5. It still picks up at the end though but nothing matches the greatness of ep 4. I would recommend waiting for the fansubs and avoiding the HK DVD. Usually I can survive with English subs translated from Chinese but the subs for Mop Girl are that bad. Maybe it would have been better watching them raw. Highly recommended. Now to look for someone who has the Sailor Moon doramas. :)