Keyakizaka46: "Zankoku na Kankyakutachi" drama episode one recap

 Start Date: May 17, 2017 on NTV, airs Thursdays at 1:00 am for ten episodes

 Through two episodes the only characters have been the 21 Keya members in the show. All will probably have an important moment at least once in this ten episode drama so will list all of the members who are starring in the series. These screenshots list all of the characters along with their student number, these are from the final credits while Keya's tune "Eccentric" was playing.

 Thought that may make it easier for you to keep track off, can always change it in future posts such as have all 21 names written in order. Noticed there's been no reviews of this series yet though have seen some comments at a few forums and most were negative. It's only been two episodes that I've viewed but so far it's been okay and it could turn out to be a very fine show, least the plot has the potential to be very interesting.
 The title translates into English as 'The Cruel Audience', so far they haven't been too cruel but that could quickly change. Often say a recap won't be too long, don't think most will as so far it's a fairly simple show with no action but the first post to get you up to date usually is the longest.

 In Japanese Hengao means making strange faces, you'll soon see why that word is used in this episode. This drama is set slightly in the future and that's one of the few details that have been revealed to us. For instance the exact year hasn't been told, what school the students are attending or what grade they're in among other things.
 At school the other students don't know each other's name, just their class number and that's how they refer to each other. Except for #14 Miko(Neru) and #17 Yuzuki(Yurina) who are best friends since a very early age, from the impression we get the pair really care for each other. It's explained slightly in these screenshots why the students are only referred to as numbers but as mentioned very little of anything has been revealed.

 The show starts out at the conclusion of the gal's school day, going to presume that all ten episodes will take place between then and the next morning and we may never see a regular day. Going in a bit cold on what happened which is the way I like it, just makes sense that the students will never be allowed to leave the school.
 There's no teacher in the room but Yuzuki notices a laptop on their desk. When she and the other girls go up to investigate they find out something quite strange but that was only after they realized they were locked in the classroom. Lot of the subs you see in the screenshots aren't from the students talking but from a narrator who probably talks a 1/3 of the time.
 What the girls found out on the laptop as that they were being watched by a huge audience who can only see them via the laptop. The challenge is that each girl must get 10,000 'likes' from the audience if they wish to leave the room. How they're going to do that is unknown at the time but they can use any method they can think of.

 First method many students tried was using Hengao which flopped very badly. Their faces were not amusing at all and none of them were able to get to 10,000 likes though Miko came awful close getting 9,200. Next bright idea from Yuzuki was to do impressions, they're really aren't many options to amuse an audience in a small classroom.
 She went up first and once again failed to get the requited amount of likes. But after that the student's luck began to change as up next to try an impression was #13 Nanako(Fuyuka) who tried doing one of the celeb Rola. Finally a gal was able to connect with the audience and very quickly she was able to top 10,000 likes. Before you knew it the rest of the students went up giving impressions of anyone somewhat famous. Not all were successful but out of the 21 students in the room ten managed to get enough likes, the door opened for them and they were allowed to leave with 11 gals still remaining.

 In the bottom screenshot you can see what potentially may happen. Yuzuki had hit the 10,000 mark but after the other performances some of the audience took their likes back and she's still stuck in the room. When the door opened don't know why the students who didn't get enough likes just didn't rush out the open door, as far as we know there's no armed guards.
 These shows are only a little under 23 minutes long so only so much can happen in such a short amount of time. That segment with the ten students getting the 10,000 likes brought us close to this episode's conclusion. The gals are just moping around the room thinking what should they do next. One gal suggested they should learn each others name which was quickly shot down by Miko who is trying to keep the relationship between her and Yuzuki a secret.

 Can't say I have an opinion yet on this drama as it's only been one episode. Knew a little bit about the plot but not too much, going in without too much knowledge of a drama usually makes it a better watch for me. Wasn't as long of a recap as I thought it would be, most first episodes are when all of the characters and storylines are introduced so it often makes for a long recap. But we're in the dark about almost everything including the students as they're not allowed to reveal their names. What happens with the remaining eleven students is the next post which is the recap for the second episode.