Nothing Beats the Elites

     
       Sumire Iwaya (Koyuki), a journalist at a major newspaper. A career woman in a society that does not handle successful women well, Sumire suffers from depression and anxiety. She also has hobbies that are very un-feminine, such as being a fan of pro wrestling, K-1, and shōnenanime.

       After her fiancé leaves her for his mistress and Sumire is demoted at work, she stumbles across a young injured homeless man in a box outside her condominium. She takes him in and becomes attached to him. As a joke, she says she wants to keep him as a pet. To her surprise, the young man agrees. She names him Momo, after her beloved dog from childhood. Sumire provides room and board, and Momo provides unconditional love and loyalty. Sumire says there is no sex in their relationship, and she will only sleep with men who have the "three highs": higher pay, higher education and higher height (i.e. taller than her 170 cm.) Despite this, there is definite sexual tension in their relationship.

       Sumire later learns that Momo's real name is Takeshi Gouda (Jun Matsumoto), and that he is a dance prodigy who studied classical ballet but was too short to take the lead roles. He switched to modern dance, and lived a semi-homeless life before meeting Sumire. When it is revealed that he and Sumire know one another, Momo passes himself off as Sumire's second cousin.

       Complications arise when Sumire is reunited with the man with whom she was infatuated during her time at Tokyo University, Shigehito Hasumi. Hasumi meets all of Sumire's requirements. However, Sumire cannot quite open up to Hasumi-senpai, or give up her attachment to Momo. For example, Sumire lets Momo call her by her personal name, while she struggles to let Hasumi call her "Iwaya" instead of "Iwaya-san." Takeshi (a.k.a. Momo) starts to have feelings for Sumire-chan (Iwaya), as well and they began to have feelings that go way beyond those of a pet and its Master.

       When Hasumi meets Momo, he recognizes Momo's face but can't put a name to him. When Hasumi does some research on Iwaya-san's so-called cousin, he discovers that Takeshi was a child ballet prodigy and becomes friends with him. Takeshi, of course, has to keep the fact that he is also "Momo" to himself, even when Hasumi repeatedly brings the topic of Sumire's pet up in their conversations. 


          [This is the first Jdorama that I completed watching with my sister. I enjoyed every episode and wanted to have Momo as my pet. Sumire-chan's personality is very similar to mine, so I could relate to her character. I just love their love story.]