is a 2011 Japanese television drama series. The plot centers on a family that hires Akari Mita (played by actress Nanako Matsushima) as a housekeeper to upkeep their recently deceased mother's house, which has been thrown into disarray. Mita 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 10:00 to 10:54 pm. ' garnered an average viewership rating of 25.2%. Its last episode garnered a viewership rating of over 40% when it aired, making it the highest watched show of 2011 in Japan.
' won several awards, including "Best Drama" at the 71st Television Drama Academy Awards. Despite the show's popularity, its writer revealed that there will not be any sequels to the series.
The Asuda familyâÂÂa father, Keiichi, and four children ranging in age from 5 to 16âÂÂare 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.
Other characters include UraraâÂÂa 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 upâÂÂand Yoshiyuki Yà «kiâÂÂUrara'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, although she has her own problems.
' was first announced on August 12, 2011. It was announced that Nanako Matsushima will be the lead actress in the series, her first role in a television drama series after a two-year hiatus.
Nanako said that she was familiar with the writer of ', since they had collaborated on drama series like Great Teacher Onizuka and Majo no JÃ Âken (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".
' aired in Nippon TV's Tears Wednesday drama time slot, every Wednesday from 10:00 to 10:54 pm. Due to the popularity of the 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 ' was broadcast.
Writer Kazuhiko Yukawa announced that there will be no sequels to this series, despite its popularity. He said that he wanted "to leave [the remainder] to the viewers' imaginations".
' was extremely well received by 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" was attributed as a main factor that enabled Nippon Television to become the top broadcaster in Japan in 2011, beating the previous record-holder, Fuji Television.
In particular, the series' last episode achieved the highest viewership rating of 40.0%. At one point in the broadcast, the viewership ratings hit 42.8% in the Kantà  region. This makes this episode the second-most watched Japanese television program of 2011, after the 62nd NHK Kà Âhaku Uta Gassen. 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 viewership ratings of 30% were previously considered 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.
The theme song for ' 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 '. Main leads from ' 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 show's good reception. 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.
A South Korean remake titled The Suspicious Housekeeper starring Choi Ji-woo and Lee Sung-jae was produced in 2013.