Mildly alien to Western sensibilities, the Japanese 'idol' culture is predicated on notions of youthful innocence, 'cuteness' and, importantly, an unblemished character that is intended to serve as a role model for Japanese youth.
TV Taiyo have hurriedly had to find a replacement weather girl for their idol fronted morning show 'Morning Z' as their current one is about to be engulfed in an image tarnishing scandal. Enter Haruko Abe (pron. 'ah-bey', like the former Japanese PM). The serious and somewhat graceless Abe (played by Emi Takei), as the TV Taiyo production team quickly find out, is the very opposite of the cutesy idol they thought they were getting. Instead she is a genius weather forecaster who attained her meteorologist's license at the age of eleven and who eschews meteorological agency data in favour of standing outside and 'feeling' the conditions herself.
Meanwhile, detective Aoki has just sat down to share a coffee with his old friend Mikumo, a forensic pathologist with a 'weather girl' fixation. Mikumo is still dazed by the appearance of Morning Z's new weather girl who has made such an impression on him that he is replaying that morning's clip. Looking over Mikumo's shoulder, Aoki recognizes Abe as the rain cape clad girl who intervened during the previous night's arrest of a suspected arsonist, insisting that the suspect was innocent (it turned out to be ball lightning). Thus a connection is made between the police and weather girl Abe, leading to her involvement in the series of investigations that make up the narrative of this witty and well-honed mystery series
So how many different crimes can there be which can be solved with the help of weather related expertise? A fair number it turns out, especially if you lump in things like gas clouds from illegally dumped rubbish and rivers flowing backwards due to unusual atmospheric conditions. Even so, it's a shortish series of only nine episodes so the writers didn't have to overtax themselves - nor does it outstay its welcome.
Things I enjoyed about 'The Weather Girl Knows':
- Emi Takei's deadpan yet charismatic take on Haruko Abe (a complete contrast to the bubbly and excitable characters she often plays); think Saga Norén, but with emotional intelligence
- The observational satire of life behind the scenes in an 'idol' fronted daytime magazine programme and the associated 'idol' fan culture
- The ingenious use of meteorological phenomena as plot devices - even if there was some stretching of credibility now and then
- Some great supporting players, notably comedian Kuranosuke Sasaki as the weather girl obsessed pathologist and Mitsu Dan as the coquettish, geisha-like bar owner.
