Nanase Nishino: "Denei Shojo: Video Girl Ai 2018" drama episode eleven recap

 Air Dates: January 13 until March 31, 2018 on TV Tokyo, Saturday nights at 12:20 am

Main Cast:

Nanase Nishino as Ai Amano

Shuhei Nomura as Sho Moteuchi

Marie Iitoyo as Nanami Shibahara

Hiroya Shimizu as Tomoaki Furuya
Karen Otomo as Rika Omiya
Jun Murukami as Shimizu

Shigeyuki Totsugi as Yota Moteuchi

 Above video is a short promo one for this episode. The story picked up quite a bit in the tenth episode after a stretch that could have put you to sleep. The good times continued here and when we left off Ai was passed out in the backseat of Yota's vehicle. He had whisked Ai away and left Sho watching him drive away to an undisclosed location and a familiar face was about to greet Ai.

 That face shocked the current day Ai and myself too when we met another Ai Amano! Think her age is supposed to be in the forties though she doesn't look that old, Ai can't believe what's happening either. The older Ai who I'll call Amano was one of the first Video Girls, seems there's been many of them but their history wasn't discussed in detail. That's a shame as it sounds like it would have been an interesting story and perhaps the making of an even better drama.
 Amano had told Ai that she was able to be transformed into a human, she's been living as one for 25 years. However the machine that can do the operation is no longer usable and Yota has no idea how to fix it. Also during that short meeting Amano told Ai she was at a facility where they treated Video Girls who were overheating like Ai is now, it's also a lab where they study Video Girls. Another shame is that we didn't see any other Video Girls except for Amano.
 That overheating is due to her VCR machine on it's last legs, it's digital clock is flashing and it's showing that Ai has less than a week to live on Earth. Ai desperately wants to be transformed into a human too but Amano nor Sho's uncle Yota have the means to do that. For the time being Ai's high fever has gone down or at least she's been able to convince everyone that it has so she's allowed to return to Sho's residence to spend her final days.

 Wish that scene was longer or that there was another one with the two Ai's, thought Nanase looked so super duper with that long hair. Ai has now been returned to Sho where she carries on like nothing has happened, it's been a while since the two have been alone at his uncle's house. Sho is quite inept at taking care of himself which has been worrying Ai, what's he going to do once she's gone?
 Haven't discussed them for a while but the Anime Team of Sho, Tomoaki and Nanami is still intact to an extant. Their first project had featured a likeness of Ai as the main character, it failed in the competition the team entered but it did introduce Ai to Shimizu who we didn't see in the final two shows. Sho wants to do another anime project, not to enter in a contest but to have as a memory of Ai. Sho really wants to get it done within three days to play it for Ai, that's how much time she has left to live.
 Tomoaki is willing to work hard on the short film though he says it'll be impossible to finish. On the other hand Nanami, who is the main writer, has refused at first to help out. As we learned in the previous recap she's no fan of Ai and silently wishes she'd disappear sooner. When Nanami heard that Ai was spending her remaining days with Sho she secretly went over there during school hours, their previous confrontation was quite tame to what Nanami had to say to Ai this time.

 Nanami really tore into Ai about how she's been toying with everyone, not just Sho but herself and Tomoaki. Ai had told Nanami she wouldn't be seeing Sho anymore, that happened in the last episode when Ai was on the verge of making her Idol debut. But events, such as her high fever, prevented that debut and now Nanami is beside herself with Ai coming back into their lives. Nanami had been loosely dating Tomoaki but she ended that, she's always wanted to be with Sho and with Ai no longer on the scene it appeared the pair would finally be dating.
 Nanami's character improved the most during the series, at first she was a bit too quiet and wouldn't speak her mind but her demeanor changed drastically over the past few episodes. Sho hasn't heard anything about the Nanami's resentment towards Ai nor does he ever. During this time he was working with Tomoaki to get the anime ready before Ai's departure from the Earth which is now going to happen in less than two days. That brings us to the end of the eleventh show, final scene was of Ai and Sho talking about what to do on her final living day. Recap may have seemed short but all the details were covered and much more has been happening as I didn't need to stretch this out which I've had to do for many of them.

 Don't know how I've been doing it but hope I can keep doing recaps that are briefer like these in the future for other shows. Helps that this is only a 23 minute show but other recaps for episodes with this length seem to go on much longer than I would like. One more episode to go, did watch it already but didn't give any spoilers for it but will say this was the best episode of all twelve and the next post has the recap for the finale.