I am Mita, Your Housekeeper
I am Mita, Your Housekeeper, known as in Japan, is a 2011 Japanese television drama series. The story revolves around a family who is grieving over their mother's recent death. They hired Mita as a housekeeper to upkeep the house, which has been thrown into disarray. Mita, who is played by actress Nanako Matsushima, will do anything that her employer orders her to do, except smiling or revealing her past. This television series was broadcast from October 12 to December 21, 2011, as part of Nippon Television's "Tears Wednesday" time slot, which airs  every Wednesday from 10pm to 10:54pm. On average, "Kaseifu no Mita" garnered a viewership rating of 25.2%. Its last episode garnered a viewership rating of over 40% when it was aired, making it the highest watched show of 2011 in Japan (The last TBS drama breaking 40% viewing was "Beautiful Life" in 2000). "Kaseifu no Mita" won several awards, including the "Best Drama" award, at the 71st Television Drama Academy Awards. Despite the popularity of "Kaseifu no Mita," the scriptwriter revealed that there will not be any sequels to this series. Plot. The Asuda family, a father, Keiichi, and  four children ranging in age from 5 to 16, are still grieving over the death of the mother, Nagiko. Through an agency, the father hires a new housekeeper to take charge of the housework. They get Mita, an impassive person who does her job impeccably, but speaks in monotones and completely suppresses her emotions. The agency owner warns the father to be careful about what family members ask Mita to do, because she will do anything that she is ordered to do, even going as far as to kill someone. The only thing she will not do is a task  that requires her to smile or to speak about or reveal her past. During this period of time, the family becomes fragmented, as they each blame themselves for the mother's death. Mita helps guide the family through these problems, though she does not explicitly give them advice. Eventually, the family manages to come to terms with their mother's death. They in turn help Mita to overcome her extremely traumatic past, because of which she cannot smile or speak her mind. Thanks to their constant care for her, Mita gradually starts to discover love again. However, Mita knows  that she cannot become the stepmother of these children, and thus takes the drastic step of becoming a cruel and ultimately short-lived stepmother. In the end, Urara, the children's aunt, becomes their stepmother. Mita then reveals that she cannot work for them anymore, since she has found employment elsewhere. On Christmas Eve, the family finally managed to make Mita smile during their last dinner together. With the family having found their priorities in life, Mita leaves the family on Christmas Day to work for yet another household. The characters include Urara, a kindly and well-intended  woman who is the sister of the deceased mother but is also something of a klutz with a knack for showing up at inopportune moments and messing up, and Yoshiyuki Yuuki, who is Urara's father, the children's grandfather, who holds his son-in-law responsible for his daughter Nagiko's death. His anger and frustration gradually dissipate over the course of the events of the series. There is also a nosy and unpleasant neighbor who behaves in quite a cruel way to the Asudas, despite that fact that she has her own problems. Production. "Kaseifu no Mita" was  first announced on 12 August 2011. It was announced that Nanako Matsushima will be the lead actress in the series. This is her first role in a television drama series after a two-year hiatus. Nanako said that she was familiar with the scriptwriter "Kaseifu no Mita", since they had collaborated on drama series like "Great Teacher Onizuka" and "Majo no Jōken" (which are Nanako's signature works), though this was the first time they had collaborated on a family drama. She added that she was "happy to challenge a new genre." Broadcast. "Kaseifu no Mita" was aired in the  Nippon Television's "Tears Wednesday" drama time slot, which is aired every Wednesday, 10 to 10:54pm. Due to the popularity of this series, episodes 9, 10 and 11 all had an extended broadcast. Before the final episode of the series was shown, an hour-long special program featuring special behind-the-scenes footage of "Kaseifu no Mita" was broadcast. Scriptwriter Kazuhiko Yukawa announced that there will be no more sequels to this series, despite its popularity. He said that he wanted "to leave [the remainder] to the viewers' imaginations". Reception. Kaseifu no Mita was extremely well received by the Japanese  television viewers. It garnered an average viewership rating of 25.17%, the highest of any 2011 Japanese television dramas. In addition, the "Mita" effect is attributed as one of the main factors that allowed broadcaster Nippon Television to become the top broadcaster in Japan in 2011, beating the previous record-holder Fuji Television. In particular, its last episode achieved the highest viewership rating of 40.0%. At one point in the broadcast, the viewership ratings hit 42.8% in the Kantō region. This makes this episode the second-most watched Japanese television program of 2011, after NHK's 62nd Kouhaku Uta Gassen program . The episode also ranks as the third-most viewed in the history of Japanese television dramas, excluding NHK's "Asadora" and "Taiga" dramas. Oricon noted that previously, viewership ratings of 30% were considered as the norm, but in modern days, viewership ratings of 40% can be considered "divine". Additionally, this episode achieved viewership ratings of 36.4% and 34.6% in the Kansai region and Nagoya respectively. Theme song. The theme song for "Kaseifu no Mita" is "Yasashiku Naritai" by Kazuyoshi Saito. This was revealed in an announcement made on September 29, 2011. "Yasashiku Naritai" was the first song Kazuyoshi provided for  a Japanese television drama since the 2009 NHK drama "Limit -Keiji no Genba 2-". Main leads from "Kaseifu no Mita" were also featured in the song's music video. The song later became Kazuyoshi's 39th single, released in Japan by Victor Entertainment on November 2, 2011. The single debuted at the 6th position on the Oricon Singles Chart, with its sales boosted by the good reception of "Kaseifu no Mita". It sold 70 thousand copies by December 27, 2011. A number that grew to over 2.5 million physical and digital copies by 2013, making it one of the best -selling singles in Japan. "Yasashiku Naritai" won "Best Theme Song" at the 71st Television Drama Academy Awards. Remake. A South Korean remake titled "The Suspicious Housekeeper" starring Choi Ji-woo and Lee Sung-jae was produced in 2013.