The "Viki Original" you haven't seen yet

[ninjas_with_onions]

A quick recap of the story. Starting with MissWillows synopsis, I came up with a couple of ideas. One a darker drama where the power of the Kami is unleashed for a supernatural battle type drama with a ■■■■ the Kami/banished ending or a Kami is unhappy being removed from it’s natural habitat and needs to be returned.
The darker story was very unpopular so was immediately scrapped from the running.
Further refining the get Kami home arc, a time element was introduced that prevented the couple from immediately return the Kami, Japan in lockdown, couple can’t get permissions to enter the country. This delay element stretches it out from 5 episodes to a possible 16 episodes.
The 2 shamans were inserted to be an aide for the couple and also to be the vehicle for a “bromance” type of characters/dynamic.
Further refining the arc.

Summary

@ninjas_with_onions

I came up with some ideas about how the Kami would manifest in protest at being removed and to get the attention of the couple.
For the initial part when they don’t know about the Kami, it would start off mild, and would involve the four elements somehow. Such as a [water] tap being left on, which they dismiss as being forgetful. Then the [air] conditioner being screwy, blowing cold, then hot, then cold again.
To food catching on [fire] when cooking, clumsy. Then a burst [water] pipe. These events build up in intensity until the ground [earth] underneath a corner of the house suffers subsidence and a massive crack appears in one of the inside wall.
At which point the couple seek the help of the shamans. Who are able to communicate with the Kami and explain the need to return it to Japan, but the couple can’t yet and so it continues.
But the couple are not land owners, the ruling elite or warlords of a prefecture, so what would have been the general failure of crops in the land or the losing of a battle and subsequent invasion of a neighboring warlord resulting in hardship of the people. (flashbacks to explain this)
now translate to the Super-Wipe business that they own, the slow failure of the company from one disaster to the next (the agriculture/prosperity of the land) and the losing out to a rival cleaning product company (the battle with a neighboring warlord) highlighting the similar power/effect of the Kami both in ancient and modern times.”

For the next stage of development I was about to put together a post to get get some ideas from the inmates everyone at Badger Productions.
From the time the couple find out about the Kami and the events that had been going on with the elements aspect(via the shamans) the drama shifts to the Kami doing what it did in the past but using the Super-Wipe business a metaphor of prosperity of the land/battles.

Your post kind of pipped me to it but it does the same.
This is where I wanted to encourage people to share ideas like yours. Basic concepts, doesn’t need to be detailed that we can all offer ideas, have discussions over them, accept/reject/refine them.
This part of the drama has the potential of filling lots of episodes until the finale of the Kami being returned home!

These are my ideas for this part of the story.

• The rival cleaning company are “the baddies” they want to beat the competition (metaphor of neighbouring warlord battles wanting to invade the neighbouring prefecture) Their tactics becoming more and more underhanded as the power of the Kami slowly ramps up.
• The rival company’s vans are WHITE! Super-Wipes are (any other colour)
• The shamans are heavily involved at this stage of the story as they are the only ones with the gift of seeing and communicating with the Kami.
• The shamans act as go between for the couple and the Kami.
• The shamans are also the ones minimising the effects of the Kami so there is a gradual transition in increase in power/decrease in the success of the business, maybe in the form of thwarting each underhanded tactics of the rival company with the use of spells and talismans.

@vivi_1485

The kami ruin the couple’s married life and the couple has to salvage their relationship?

This is an excellent idea. It opens up lots of avenues for refining the story. Starting from @entwyfhasbeenfound synopsis whirlwind marriage high and gradually deteriorating as the power of the Kami increases. A kind of reverse romance story, genius!

As for your other weirder and weirder ideas, as the rival company’s underhand tactics increases in dastardliness, we’ll need differing levels of craziness, some of them can be adapted, like Ha-Nuel’s drug-dealing parents, are not actual drug-dealers but framed by the rival company to try and ruin the company’s reputation. So not weird at all!