| Outline |
Ijiwaru BasanIn the late 1960s in a Japanese town, lived an old woman named Ishi Ijiwaru. Her reason for living was to annoy people by being mean and playing pranks. She repeatedly played pranks aimed at family, friends, and even complete strangers passing by that she was known as the “mean old lady (Ijiwaru Basan)”.Three generations lived in Ishi’s home, her eldest son, his wife, and their three kids and they appear as victims of Ishi’s pranks. The story focuses on this family and is written with parallel storylines with each episode being a self-contained complete story. Ishi is disliked by many but is generous with children and animals, making her close to her elementary school-aged children and other kids. She gives them little rewards and interacts with them as her prank partners. She is also close to her pet Lassie who helps with Ishi’s pranks and at times, Lassie even sets up pranks. The story develops with Ishi scheming a prank on a particular person and at times, executing the plan with her prank partners; her grandchildren, other children, and Lassie. The results are various. In some cases, Ishi feels regret towards the retaliation from her pranks, while in other cases, the pranks ending up helping people, and in some cases, the pranks and mean acts towards criminals and crime organizations lead to a crime being prevented. At times, there is ironic content with an appearance of a character whose actual existence is to be a target of the pranks.Throughout the episodes, the theme of rewarding good and punishing evil develops where “Ishi enjoys pranking freely and the results of the pranks urge reflection” and “characters with ill intentions are punished through Ishi’s pranks and mean acts”. This composition makes this a “family-oriented comedy drama”. |
