Okusama wa 18 sai

Unbelievably hilarious drama series starring Yuki Okazaki, and Tetsuo Ishidate as a married couple.

Asuka Takagi (Yuki Okazaki), and Tetsuya Takagi (Tetsuo Ishidate) are student, and a teacher at Hokushin Gakuen high school. Asuka is 18 years old, and secretly, they are married. No one except the school principal knows about their relation. They both try to please one another, but every time, interference comes from other students and teachers due to their outrageous popularity. All the female students, and faculties are after Tetsuya as love interest which creates confounding situation for Asuka. Same holds true but less frequently for Tetsuya as Asuka is also sought after by males students and a faculty. The students who don't know that they are already married sees Asuka as competition. This creates endless permutation of comical situation in their married life.

Original plot for this series came from a comic of the same title by Miyoko Motomura. This series catapulted Yuki Okazaki to become the prototypical modern idol in the Japanese entertainment business. There was clear demarcation of types of female idols before, and after the appearance of Okazaki, as she became the top idol of the early '70s. Since her appearance, half child, half adult looking stars became the main stay of Japanese entertainment industry which continues to this day. United States lagged Japan in this respect by approximately 30 years until the appearance of Brittany Spears.

Although young in age, Okazaki had much acting experience on stage, and TV, and puts a superb performance as a very young wife of an older husband played by Ishidate. Her comical chops were the main ingredient in the success of every episodes of this series.

The series was ground breaking in every respect, and can be said to have bootstrapped the modern Japanese entertainment industry, as it proved that talented (and not so talented) young stars are very bankable commodities. Japanese entertainment business has never been the same since, and owes a lot to Okazaki in this respect.

You have to see this series to appreciate the bombastic charm of Yuki Okazaki as a high school student. I'd say it has the same level of shock value as seeing Bruce Lee for the first time in the Green Hornet. You have to see it to believe it.