Just can't cope, without my soap!

My Japanese morning soap with English subtitles "Watashi no Aozora" on NHK is finally gettin' interesting. Up till now it's been pretty frustrating, and I've been having a hard time liking the annoying and somewhat dumb heroine in this serial, but I've continued to watch every morning at 7:30 am in hopes that it would get better. Different from the other few shows where I was crushing big-time on the young female Japanese heros like Eri in "Churasan" or Konoha in "Honma Mon."

Here's the storyline: Nazuna was left at the altar on her wedding day. The kicker was that she had found out she was pregnant, but had planned to surprise her husband-to-be (Kento) with the news at the reception. A woman in a red dress barges in to the ceremony and takes Kento away before the wedding was completed. Kento was an injured retired young boxer who took off to America to have eye surgery. (I think I may have mentioned all of this in my April blog - the show started on 4/27).

Nazuna decides that she is going to keep the baby. While Kento's eccentric karaoke bar singing father is sympathetic and supportive, she is disowned by her father, an old-fashioned tuna fisherman who thinks it's immoral to be an unwed mother. Nazuna has the baby, and decides she's going to go to Tokyo with the baby to find Kento. After much difficulty, she finds an apartment and a job. She befriends this anti-social wierdo, who is in love with her. Kento sees her with the weirdo and assumes that she has married the weirdo and had his baby. She finally finds Kento, learns that he is still with the woman in the red dress, and secretly watches him box his first big match. He loses miserably. She gets drunk and decides she never wants to see him again, that he abandoned her to selfishly become a boxer and that he is a loser. Nazuna's brother, a blond haired rebel dropout who wants to be a fish delivery guy, finds Kento and tells him he needs to speak with Nazuna.

In the meantime, Nazuna's father finally sees the baby after 1 1/2 years, and decides he is going to be the next fisherman to carry on the family line. He tells Nazuna that he and his wife will raise baby Taiyo and that she needs to talk to Kento, which she is against. The next day, her father takes Taiyo out to sea, without telling Nazuna. It really is a cute baby. She decides to go back to Tokyo... in the meantime, Kento has decided to go to Nazuna's father to find out where she lives and what she wants. The woman in the red dress tells her father (Kento's coach) that she will kill Nazuna if she steps in the way of her being with Kento.

They see each other on the dock... first time since their wedding day. She says, "Kento, this is your baby." - To be continued. (Episode 20 - yesterday)

Today's episode 21: Kento wants to meet his obligation to her and the baby and wants to live together. He doesn't say that he loves Nazuna, but he says he has a duty to be a father to the baby. She declines - she tells him that he is selfish, he abandoned her and put boxing first, and once he fulfills his obligation, he will leave again. She knows that he is using the other woman, and stringing her along to support him in his boxing. He seems genuinely sad, but she seems to have made up her mind that she and Taiyo are better off without him.

If you want to join me in watching the show... I'd love to have someone to talk to about it. It's M-F 7:30 am on channel 18 (International Channel - NHK) or channel 69, depending on your TV, in Southern Cal. It's VHF, not a cable station.