Air Dates: October 17th until ?? on Fuji-TV, Thursday nights at 10:00 pm
Episode four rating- 3.0%
Main Cast:
Yuko Araki as Yurika Nanba.... 27 year old woman who can't get over her ex-boyfriend
Kengo Kora as Makoto Saito.... the ex-boyfriend who disappeared for five years
Kenta Homano as Akio Yamashita.... businessman from Hokkaido who moved to Tokyo
Minami Tanaka as Mugi Kurusu.... radio announcer from Hokkaido
Yoshiko as Hiromi Suo.... nail stylist and Yurika's best friend
Shinya Kote as Ichiro Ando.... manager of Tilolien Real Estate
Kanro Morita as Masaru Osawa.... real estate agent at Tilolien
Mandy Sekiguchi as Tadafumi Shirai.... real estate agent at Tilolien
Sayaka Yamaguchi as Sakura Marunouchi.... Makoto's current roommate
Shuri as Chizuru Kaga.... young OL who has a crush on Akio
Rating for this episode dropped down to one of the lowest numbers I've ever seen. As you can see above it was 3.0% which is about half of what the first episode drew which had a 5.8%. First three shows were fairly good in my eyes but will admit this episode really dropped quality wise, wasn't a bad show but it's fallen into the same trap many rom-com dramas do.
Which is that it's become much less interesting and there was too much filler in this show. Know most dramas need flashbacks to describe events from years ago but bet in this show flashbacks took up a third of the show which is just way too much. Didn't take any screenshots of them so hopefully that'll mean a shorter recap. Will finish this show unless the downfall continues, I really like the cast which is why I won't give up on this show yet.
Wish we saw more of Minami as Mugi in this show. Have seen her in two partial dramas and think she does a solid job as an actress, we'll see more of her near the bottom of the recap. Right above is Shuri who plays Chizuru in this show, had never seen her before in a drama but she seems to be a very likable gal and she may not look it but she turned 29 in September. Chizuru is a OL at the same office Akio works at, he's been one of my fave characters whose role has gotten a bit smaller. As you can see she's confessed her love to Akio who doesn't rebuff Chizuru at first but also for now won't commit himself to her, bit more of the pair coming up.
To end the last episode off it appeared Yurika and Makoto may be an item again as he embraced her and for the first time in five years gave her a kiss. At that moment Yurika's best friend Hiromi suddenly arrived on the scene, when she asked Makoto if the two were dating again he told replied with an emphatic NO! Needless to say that shook Yurika up quite a bit as she doesn't know what to think. To me Makoto does want to get back together with his ex-girlfriend but for some reason is very leery about starting a second relationship with the same woman. He seems to be a decent chap but can't understand why Yurika loves him as much as she does.
Most of this episode seemed to revolve around Sakura which was okay as I do like her. She's played by Sayaka Yamaguchi who is an older woman but still very attractive, she's not married so perhaps I'll work on a post for her. Most of the flashback scenes I referred to in the beginning were of her or to be more accurate Sakura when she was a high school student. Back then she began going out with a classmate named Kazuma, they were an on and off couple for about a decade.
That's Kazuma in two of the above screenshots, after close to ten years without seeing him Sakura has recently run into her ex-flame. Problem is Kazuma got married but doesn't love his wife, he's also a father though the daughter is his wive's from her previous marriage. Sakura has been writing a popular romance series called " Beside You" and the sales have really dwindled as her writing has become much poorer. The series has been based on her high school relationship with Kazuma and the writing has become a bit depressing, her manager thinks it because of her living with Makoto though their relationship is somehow still platonic.
Above we see the Tilolien Real Estate agency congratulating Yurika as because of her selling her first house she's now been made a full time employee. What she's talking about is her boss Ando, him and the other two males were so uptight about Yurika working there as they're all worried about sexual harassment. The boss is being sued for that by an ex female employee and they had hoped no other woman would end up working there.
For the second time Yurika has been approached by Sakura who wanted to spend the day with her, last episode they had a dinner together. Sakura brought her to the locations her book series has been set in and Yurika is floating on air as she's remained such a fan of the series though many other readers haven't. Sakura was explaining to Yurika about why she started the series and how she's thinking of ending it. Seems Sakura is so much like Yurika as the two have wasted too much of their lives thinking about their ex-boyfriends.
What puzzled Yurika more than anything during their outing was why did Sakura really ask her out? Seemed she beat around the bush explaining her life to Yurika but then again it could have been because Sakura had wanted her to 'read between the lines'. To me what Sakura was really worried about was Yurika falling into the same trap she has for twenty years about an ex-boyfriend and being unable to give him up. That's certainly affected Yurika's life to such an extent as after five years has been unable to give up the thought of reuniting with Makoto. But during their outing Sakura did confide in Yurika about one other thing which is that she's about to give up the romance series as though writing them as made her popular she's been a wreck inside living a life that happened close to twenty years ago.
Unsure if the two have started a friendship but seems like they get along so well and would like to see them together more often. Sakura is also worried about her roommate Makoto as he's fallen into such a funk since that horrendous semi-date with Yurika on her birthday. Before I get a little further into that Makoto has been discovered by his work mate Shirai in that he's been living with Sakura. Makoto was informed it's a strict no-no for him to do that and wasn't sure why. But it eventually came out that Makoto had been the person who rented the apartment out to Sakura. At the time he fell in love with the place, so much he said one day he too would live in such a grand residence. Sakura told Makoto why wait, there's plenty of room if he wants to move in and she would just think of him as a roommate, that's how the pair ended up living together.
But according to the rules of Tilolien Real Estate it's not proper etiquette to move into a place with a client, the main boss doesn't know about it yet but will by the next episode. But that may not matter as it appears Sakura has asked Makoto to leave the apartment but did it in a very low key way. For the first time one night Makoto made an advance to her as they were lying in bed. Sakura wasn't mad and think she wondered what took Makoto so long, all us viewers wondered that too. But Sakura also wasn't too pleased and the following morning made the comment about Makoto finding his own place to live, that situation won't be resolved until at least the next episode.
We're getting close to the end and it was a longer recap than anticipated. Still wasn't that good of an episode but it became slightly better as I wrote this up. Sakura and Yurika did meet one other time after their trip to Sakura's high school, not much was said again but had the feeling Sakura was feeling Yurika out to an extent. She may be wondering if Makoto and Yurika have any kind of future together, perhaps before she sends her roommate on his merry way Sakura wants to make sure he may have a place to stay but would Yurika really let Makoto stay with her? I could be reading too much into that as for now Yurika can't get over him telling her best friend the two weren't dating.
At the beginning of the episode is when Chizuru confessed her love to Akio, though he said he didn't want them to become an item the pair still hung out with each other. Akio still holds some intense feelings for his ex-girlfriend Mugi, that's her above and she's recently moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido, she's now a DJ for Tokyo Bay Radio. Chizuru knew about that and as the two were strolling the streets one night they came upon the studio where Mugi worked at. It was a special show where the crowd could watch it from the street. Mugi noticed Akio standing outside and think she may have had thoughts about approaching him after her show.
But Chizuru quickly knew what Mugi's intentions were, as she watched from the studio Chizuru grabbed Akio and smothered him with a kiss, needless to say Migu was aghast. Don't know how that will turn out but the final scene has now arrived and it took place at Yurika's apartment. It was night and Yurika heard a knock at the door, of all people who should it be but Makoto. For a while he's been wanting to clear the air on what happened five years ago and is them getting back together again a possibility?
Yurika was a bit reluctant but did answer the door. She's been the one wanting the two to rekindle their old love but Yurika still can't get over Makoto's comments about them not dating after they kissed. Makoto tried to explain about some of his misdeeds but for now Yurika wanted no part of listening to his excuses. So to end this show off Yurika sent Makoto on his way as she couldn't bear to talk with him and it's an action she never thought she would do.
From the bottom screenshot looks like that's how the next show will begin, with Yurika winning a trip to an Onsen or hot spring. As mentioned in the beginning this episode was such a drop from the first three which often happens in these kinds of dramas, seems one or two shows in the middle fall flat on their face. Wouldn't happen if there were two less episodes and am presuming there will be ten of them. But there are a few potential storylines which could improve things so will continue to watch this show as I do enjoy the cast quite a bit, will have the next pair of recaps in two weeks.
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