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Hajimemashite minna san....welcome to my site on my fave Japanese Pop Culture likes such as dramas, movies, magazine scans, promo events etc. Mainly concentrate on my faves...Risa Watanabe... Kyoko Saito... Yui Kobayashi....Nana Owada.... Nene Shida.... if you're a fan at all of any of them then you've come to the right place(!) but many others are featured here besides them. Do mainly quick reviews on things I've watched, try to make the reviews brief, quick to read through with not too many spoilers, just whether they're good or bad and why I thought so plus whether you may find them enjoyable. Many, many screenshots are included from everything I've watched plus any video trailers if they're available. Hope you find something that interests you, don't hesitate to comment, arigato gozaimasu!

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Thursday, November 8, 2018

Bungaku Shojo drama: Episode one recap




 Air Dates: September 9th to October 28, 2018 on MBS and TBS Sunday nights at 12:50 am
Director: Smith....  Episodes from J-Raw.... subber: miamaw

 Main Cast:

Aoi Morikawa as Kanako Tsukishiro.... 26 year old who is the new editor for Kagaya
Yuu Shirota as Saku Kagaya.... popular writer whose book sales have been rapidly decreasing
Masaki Nakao as Chihiro Mochizuki.... editor in Kanako's office, he has a huge crush on her
Rika Izumi as Mitsuki Ariake.... rival editor from Sekibun Publishing
Masahiko Kawahara as Ko Mishima.... editor in chief of Ryokusen where Kanako works
Yako Koga as Akari Mishima.... Ko's teen daughter and inspiring writer
Taikou Katoona as Maki Nanase.... office worker at Ryokusen
Keito Tsuna as Ryunosuke Kawabata.... office worker at Ryokusen

 Romance dramas aren't usually ones that I view as very few the past few years have been watchable. This one though looked to be a bit different, has kind of a quirky and funny plot to it and so far it's been one of the best series I've seen this year. Been enjoying this show so much zoomed through the first four episodes and have all of those recaps for today.
 One main reason for watching this drama was that Aoi has the lead role in it, she may be my current fave actress and what a superb job she's done in this series so far. Will have a different video for each of these posts, today's is a promo message from Aoi which also includes a long behind the scenes segment. In this show as you'll be able to see by the screenshots she looks so much like Nanase Nishino which is a very good thing, especially with her new hair style.




 There's a lot of screenshots like that above middle one where Kanako talks to the audience, often she seems to be in her own world as her imagination endlessly runs away on her. Kanako is a 26 year old worker at the Ryokusen Publishing Company, she's been there four years but is still stuck in the general affairs department. Kanako is a bit of an oddball as many people at the office can't understand her, as mentioned she's 26 in age but has never been in love with anyone nor has she gone on a date as her first and only love have been books though she herself isn't much of a writer.
 As the beginning of this first episode she's called aside by her main boss Mishima, he's offering her a promotion. Not just any promotion but Kanako will be the new supervising editor for the popular author Saku Kagaya whose sales have been slipping the past two years. His previous editor had quit abruptly and Kanako quickly learned the main reason was because of Saku's demands.
 That didn't deter Kanako at first as she's been a bit of a fan of Saku for many years though she feels every book since his debut has been slightly worse than the previous one. To Kanako her first task should be to meet Saku and headed right over to his house. There was no answer at the door so she crept right in and what a surprise was waiting for her in the house. Kanako heard a noise and upon investigating it she found Saku.... in bed with a woman!!!!




 Kanako has absolutely zero experience when it comes to love, relationships and what couples do in real life, all of her knowledge of love comes from books. She was stunned that two people who weren't married could sleep together, to top it off the pair weren't even dating. The woman with Saku was Mitsuki who is an editor at the Sekibun Publishing Companythat also works with Saku though his books all come out through Kanako's company.
 Mitsuki is played by Rika, she's such a mega fave of mine yet this is the first drama I've seen her in though she's only been in a few of them. Rika looks so dazzling in this series, lot of screen time in this show but wasn't in the second episode though we see her often in the following two shows. Both Mitsuki and Saku acted so carefree like most people would but to Kanako it's unforgivable people could spend a night together, after some small talk with Saku she takes her leave.
 She next hears from him the next day, it had nothing to do with work but Saku wanted Kanako to bring him breakfast at home. Kanako had no options so she does what he asked for and it ended up being their first mini meeting. Saku is up for the 'Nakano Prize' which is for novelists, he's been nominated for it before but has always lost. Saku feels that'll be the result this time around too but not to Kanako who says let her prepare a special party for the award. At it they'll await the results and then can celebrate if he wins, Saku says she's full of it but eventually agrees to attend a party.




 Episodes are just 23 minutes in length so these recaps will be briefer than usual ones and this will be the final segment. It's the night of the 'results party', Kanako invited quite a few people to the event and seemed like most of them showed up. As you can see above Mitsuki was there and she arrived with Saku, Kanako just can't understand what their relationship is and may spend too much time worrying about it.
 The party is a complete disaster for Kanako who has wine spilled on her, the man who did it didn't even apologize as he thought she was a waitress. He didn't have too much screen time this show but it's someone we'll be seeing much more of in the next few shows and his name is Mochizuki, you will see him in some screenshots below. He's also an editor at Kanako's company and he has such a huge crush on her yet he's been able to keep it a secret from her though a good friend of his at the company knows all about his infatuation.
 The results were announced and as Saku thought he didn't win the 'Nakano Prize' but he didn't seem upset at the least. Kakano was irate though, especially when he overheard some people at the party saying he didn't deserve it anyways and didn't know why he was nominated. Kanako tore into a pair of men about it, she stuck up for Saku but in an odd way. Kanako's voice was so loud the whole party could hear her and that included Saku who just stood there listening.
 Kanako was screaming that Saku is a talented writer but yes, his books have gone way downhill over the years which is why his sales were slipping. She continued to spew many comments about Saku's dwindling career, Kanako can't handle alcohol well and she had a few glasses of wine which led to her tirade. Eventually she realized that the whole gathering was listening to her putting down her own writer and in a very embarrassed state she fled the party. As she was running down the hallway to leave the building who should catch up to her but Saku, he wasn't mad or upset at her and leaned in like he was going to kiss her, on that note this first episode came to it's conclusion.




 This is one of the best episodes I've viewed in a long time, so enjoyable watched the next three episodes in rapid order. May not be the top drama of the year but after the four shows this will end up being one of the better ones and as mentioned at the top Aoi could be the best actress around these days, she's also grown so much more attractive over the years. Plenty of screenshots to help you follow the story better, bottom two were from the opening scene which actually takes place in the next show. After this post have the recaps for episodes two through four.
































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