A sweeter and fairer Weather Woman
Normally, sequels in name only serve to promote a movie that might otherwise have weak acting, production values, plot, etc. However, Weather Woman Returns proves to be the exception to the rule.Here's the deal. This is a DIFFERENT Keiko Nakadai whose panty-flashing gains her fame. Where the original Keiko was a rough diamond vulgarly flaunting sex, this Keiko is a university student barely in her twenties. When her father, the director of Higashiyama-TV, dies of a heart attack, Keiko drops out of school to take over the financially rickety station in the village of Yamanaka. She believes in making their own productions instead of buying programs from Tokyo. The station motto behind her desk reads, "Higashiyama-TV, Hand-Made Television." On a similar note, the concept of a local station trying to gain viewers with their own programs is also reminiscent of the cult film UHF. Of her staff, Saito, her father's right hand, supports her and admires her tenacity. Yoshikawa insists that buying expensive programs from Tokyo would add to their near-zero ratings. Then there's Morimoto, a dopey-looking, non-committal, slow-talking stoner-type who is supportive of Keiko, though. Keiko's nemesis is the arrogant Megumi Hayashibara, the sexually insatiable owner of the rival Nishiyama-TV, now called Trendy TV, and a major creditor of H-TV. She spitefully sabotages Keiko's Fantastic Comedy Live special and ends up hating her outright. She treats everyone, even her right-hand man Sakaguchi, callously. Don't worry--Megumi gets her just desserts at the end, and how! Keiko and Megumi's differing personalities can be seen throughout the movie. H-TV is a bit cramped, with small cubicles, but its humble and modest. Trendy-TV is a decadent, garish, overblown palace. Keiko is dressed in tasteful clothes, and as for Megumi, she has some outfits that could get her sentenced to ten years by the fashion police. Keiko relaxes in natural hot springs to recharge her batteries, finding pleasure in the warm water, the weather, and the moon. Megumi lounges in a bubble bath, finding pleasure in herself. Finally, Nishiyama means "West Mountain," while Higashiyama means "East Mountain." So, it's west versus east. Language notes: the lame and tacky comedy troupe sent by Megumi to upstage Keiko. Although the subtitles refer to the troupe as Wanko Jerk... and the Meatb-----s, the actual words said are "Asokake Jijii to Shikko Jikko." "Asokake Jijii" means "Sweaty Old Man", "to" means "and", and Shikko means "to urinate." "Jikko" seems to be a nonsense companion word, like "consequences, schmonsequences." And on Murakami and His Nonsense Nines, the group actually requested by Keiko, Nonsense Nines is translated from "tondemonines," which is a play on the Japanese word "tondemonai," meaning terrible, unfortunate, etc. So, tondemonai, tondemoNINES, get it? Also, when one of the Wanko troupe does cheesy impressions with a towel, he sings, "Taoru de asobo!" It means "Let's play with the towel." The subtitles read "Man with a towel." It might just be me, but isn't the original better than the subtitled translation? Weather Woman Returns tops its predecessor in that the heroine, played by Misa Aika, is thoroughly likeable, polite, genuine, willing to accept responsibility for her mistakes and learn from them--the kind of girl you'd be proud to invite home to meet your parents. As she says, "Wouldn't it be nice to have a heart as clear as the sky?" A good story, with a gaggle of oddball supporting characters. 4.25 out of 5, rounded to 4.
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