Thursday, November 8, 2018

Bungaku Shojo drama: Episode two 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

 There aren't too many good videos of this show on YT, unlike Korean dramas most Japanese series don't have short trailers for an upcoming episode. The one at the top is of an interview that Aoi and Yuu did on August 29th for the show and the next post may have the final video. That first episode had an easy grade of A+, hard to keep a pace like that up but this was another solid show.




 Won't be doing a lot of rehashing of what took place in the previous episode(s) so may be a good idea to read all of the recaps. That first episode ended with Kanako making a fool of herself at a results party for the 'Nakano Prize', it's a literary award which Saku didn't win. Kanako had been a bit tipsy when she told a few of the guests off and in the process also ranted about how Saku's writing has gone downhill over the years. Realizing what she had said Kanako tore out of the hall close to tears and was about to flee back home when she was grabbed from behind by Saku.
 He wasn't too thrilled by the negative comments Kanako had said about him at the party though the reason Saku wasn't that upset was that he knew it was all the truth. Somehow the pair ended up at an exclusive suite in a hotel where Kanako thought the worst as she knew Saku is a womanizer. That may be true but in the suite he was nothing but a gentleman and Kanako's thoughts once again ran away on her, especially when Saku asked her to undress.
 That was just so her clothes could be cleaned as someone had spilled wine on her at the party. Eventually she calmed down a bit but with zero experience in love she didn't know what may happen with Saku in the bedroom. But he remained a gentleman and suggested they have their first real meeting together to talk about his future books. That was going smoothly though Kanako did say once again how every novel he writes is slightly worse than his previous one, a huge problem was that Kanako was drinking alcohol.




 Kanako can't handle drinking that well as the alcohol quickly had an effect on her. It wasn't Saku who made any advancements but Kanako herself and she truly didn't know what she was doing. She attempted to kiss Saku and was blabbering some nonsense to him as he himself was unsure what to do. For the time being that scene got put on hold as there's a bit of a long flashback scene where we got to know more about Mochizuki.
 The flashback took place a few years earlier, it was the night of his welcoming party as he was a new editor at the Ryokusen Publishing company. Mochizuki though isn't too fond of books and rarely reads, at the gathering he told some lie about a book which Kanako picked up on though no other employee did. The pair never did say a word at the party but did afterwards as the others were going to another bar while Kanako and Mochizuki were heading to their homes. One other event happened at the party, Mochizuki had received a phone call from his girlfriend who was the Queen at his university, it wasn't a happy call as she announced she was breaking up with him.
 Mochizuki didn't tell anyone else at the gathering but did confess to Kanako out on the street what had happened. That mini scene was when Mochizuki became infatuated with her, he confessed to Kanako that even though he was hired as an editor he didn't have much interest in books. She's the complete opposite as books are everything to Kanako and without them her life would have no meaning. Kanako loaned him a book before departing which Mochizuki read and enjoyed, since then he's had a huge crush on Kanako but is too shy to confess his feelings towards her though the pair are quite good friends at the office.




 That flashback did take up much of the second half of the show and remember that an episode is only about 23 minutes in length. The final scene was the finale of what happened at the hotel suite Kanako and Saku were staying at. It's now the following morning and as you can see above Kanako woke up not sure about what was going on, why was she in a suite? Right after that comment she rolled over and who should be sleeping next to her but Saku who was.... naked!
 Naturally Kanako's imagination got the best of her, she couldn't remember one thing that happened due to her drinking a bit too much. She's a 26 year old virgin and thought to herself was last night the first time for her? If so why couldn't she recall what took place which is when Saku arose from his slumber. He assured Kanako that zero happened during the night though she wasn't 100% positive Saku was telling her the truth. Kanako then glanced at a clock which showed that it was 10:00 am, she was late for a meeting at work which is where this episode came to it's close.
 One other event happened just before that final scene which I almost forgot to tell you about. The editor of Ryosuken has a daughter named Akari who is about eighteen and is an inspiring writer, this scene was the only we've seen her in through four shows. Mochizuki has been assigned as her editor, he meets up with Akari to help her out as she's been struggling badly with her story. Mochizuki has come a long way since meeting Kanako as he's now very interested in books and writing, he gives Akari some tips and says he'll be there for her whenever she needs help. Just the one scene but sure this minor storyline is one that we'll be seeing more of after the fourth episode and now this recap has finally come to a close,




 What's really good about shows in the 25 minute range is that there's very little time for filler and so far there hasn't been one second of it after four shows. These episodes are flying right by as they've all been so enjoyable and it's been such a fun watch. Halfway done with today's four recaps and after this post are the ones for the next two episodes.























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