dangermousie | Yup, still Mukodono...

I know who Sakuraba Yuichiro reminds me of: a grown-up Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club. They are both good-hearted, ditzy blonds with family issues and lots of money.

SQUEE.

How adorable/ridiculous/sniffly was the scene with him having to show up late for dinner with Sakura's family? I was both laughing and sniffling at the same time. Also, Sakura is just so sane, which is just as well because Yuichiro is basically a ten-year-old in a grown-up's body and a total drama queen. I ship them so HARD.

Basically, the reason Mukodono works for me is because yes, the sheer premise of a supposedly sexy superstar who is in reality a goofy dork who lives with his wife's family is part hilariousness and part girl-wish-fulfillment, but it also makes me really invested in the characters, from Yuichiro and Sakura to Sakura's crazy family or even Yuichiro's manager. I really want things to work out for them. Also, Nagase Tomoya seems to be really tall. Isn't it against the rules for Johnnys?

His manager tells him he can get married. But has to keep it a secret from the fans.

Sakura's Dad, meanwhile, is still trying to find out more about his daughter's weird suitor.

LOLtasticness of magazine's photoshoot.

Compare and contrast:

Sakura has burns on her arms because of absent older brother. I wonder what thr deal is with that.

Meanwhile, even though Yu should be at a dinner with Sakura's family, a movie producer is keeping him there and blabbing and blabbing.

Sakura (I almost typed 'Aki.' Man, I am a Pride fangirl) is not sure what's going on and her family is not happy.

He finally shows up and the family is understandably pissed off. Hey, they got a guy prostrating himself, they can cut him a little break. Well, not the Dad, clearly.

Drama over fooooood! (They are so not a Russian family. Even if they loathed him, they'd still insist on feeding him).

Yu goes a bit insane after being told Sakura prepared sukiyaki because it's what he wanted and starts stuffing it into his mouth and I am not a sukiyaki expert, but I think he is just eating it raw instead of frying it the way it should be cooked? Way to get food poisoning.

Looking like this, I am sure he can fool big girls too...

Sakura, who is totally not intimidated by her Dad, finally has had enough (I love that Sakura is not a pushover for anyone).

Awwww. Poor Yu. How very Tamaki with his kotatsu fixation. Apparently he asked for it because it's traditional family food but he never had it because his father ran off with someone when he was very little and it was just his Mom who had to run a restaurant and never had time to cook anything else.