I have to remind myself that April 1 only means what it means in certain countries, but modern Japan has taken to celebrating the pranking of that day as well. Which means this might be a hoax, but likely just a coincidence as Fuji TV placed the Rich Man, Poor Woman SP on its airing calendar for the evening of April 1, 2013. Can I get a whoop whoop down herre in da playground! Oh hell yeah this is going to be awesome. While China can’t get enough of drama sequels and Korea rarely does it (with Taiwan falling somewhere in between), Japan offers up a two-fer option of producing a sequel to a hit dorama or doing an SP (special) to tie up loose ends. In the case of the mega-hit Nodame Cantabile, I recollect that dorama got both a sequel and an SP (as did Hana Yori Dango, among others). It works in doramas because the length of their shows are so short (around 9-11 episodes), but for certain stories a sequel still fails to delight because its just rehashing the original plot but in a slightly different setting. For RMPW, the plot was never its strength, but rather we all watched for the delightful interactions between Hyuga and Makoto. If anything, the plot with the Asahina takeover of Next Innovation and Hyuga starting over detracted from the central cuteness of the OTP opposites attract chemistry by throwing in slightly makjang elements into the mix. With the upcoming SP, I don’t mind an Asahina redemption arc as long as the story by and large sticks with showing us Hyuga and Makoto clashing over the silliest of things in order to learn a little bit more about each other. Much as I would have loved another 11 hours with Oguri Shun and Ishihara Satomi, a sequel to RMPW would probably not be a good idea so I’m content with just the SP. Check out the first pictures below of the leads on set filming the SP.