Japanese drama "Channel wa Sonomama!"- episode three recap

 Air Dates: March 11th to the 15th on Netflix, March 18th to the 22nd on Hokkaido TB

Also goes by the name of 'Stay Tuned', the series had a total of five 43 minute episodes

Main Cast:

Kyoko Yoshine as Hanako Yukimaru... newbie reporter who constantly messes up

Hiroko Iijima as Hajime Yamane... another new reporter who is seemingly perfect but....

Atsuwo Ohuchi as Heizo Hasegawa... the supervisor of the TV newsroom

Kanako Miyashita as Maki Hanae... new news anchor in training

Takuro Osada as Hayato Kitagami...  yet another newbie in the production department

Taisei Shima as Tetsutaro Fukube... new hire in the sales department

Hikaru Takihara as Seiichi Tachibana... new technician 

Ayumu Saito as Mamoru Jogasaki... TV station main director

Kimiko Jitsukawa as Reiko Kurenai... veteran newscaster

Hitoshi Fujio as Yosuke Furuya... weatherman

Ken Yasuda as Katori... rival from the HGT station

Yo Oizumi as Kanbara... local farmer

Shinya Kawano as Ogura... director of the newsroom who never stops eating

.... and so many more with minor roles, hugest cast I've ever seen. 

 There's no promo video for every episode but there are a bunch of different ones for the series, each one at the top of the post has clips from the shows or other tidbits. That very bottom screenshot is of the farmer Kanbara who we met in the previous episode. He runs the 'Sprout Mind' organization which is a non-profit one helping out the many needy farmers on the island of Hokkaido. So far they've been very successful and quite a few farms have been saved plus their crop output has greatly increased, because of that Kanbara has become very popular.
 So popular that Hajime wanted to do an interview and special with Kanbara showing his team at work. Kanbara didn't want to do it as he had been burned once in the past because of a newspaper interview but eventually agreed to the interview which was a smashing success for him and Hajime. At the station the rookie Hajime is really making a name for himself, all of the producers and the board of directors are so impressed with him and for now his future looks quite rosy.
 Not sure a rosy future is what Hanako, our lead character, has and you can see her above in the top three screenshots. She was in the station's helicopter along with the camera crew but not sure exactly why they were in the air. But during that trip news came form the station that there was a truck accident near Doto and she was instructed to head there. But all sorts of problems arise as there may not have been enough fuel for a return trip, the helicopter eventually made it to the scene, Hanako's report was just so-so at best but her boss Hasegawa keeps sending her out on assignments.
 Every episode one or two of the lesser characters get a turn in the spotlight. Last show was the rookie Kitagami and in this episode we got to know two more rookies a bit better, will tell their stories individually. First off is Hattori who works in the sales department, while most of the station is loving the work of the news department he isn't one of them. Each episode the six rookies who have trained together often go out for meals and drinks after their day is done. Usually they have a good time but not in this show as Hattori said why he was angry with the news department and really vented his anger out on Hajime.

 In the sales department their main objective is to get sponsors for their shows. But Hattori has just lost a key one which was the chain of Marumaru stores. There was an incident with one of their products and Hattori felt the reporter came down too hard on the store, especially considering they were a sponsor. But Hajime couldn't listen to that kind of talk, a news station is there to report the news and shouldn't be concerned with profits, all of their stories need to be honest for the viewers.
 It went back and forth for a while between Hattori and Hajime, both were right in what they were saying but neither could look at the other person's point of view. The party broke up soon after that as both men left fuming, not even Hanako's liveliness could keep the group together. To date the group has been fairly tight knit, could an incident like this be the end of their friendships? More on that but let's stay with Hattori for a while.
 He needs to replace the lost sponsor who stopped advertising with HHTV after the story about one of their stores aired. Hattori was having no success but finally arrived at a company which may be interested in being a sponsor. The company is Sapporo Rubber who specializes in making a special kind of rubber boot called Scallop Spike as it's made from scallops. The manager, whose name is Eokda, is interested in promoting the boots but the problem is his company is rather small and is the investment worth it?

 Hattori assures Eokda that in the end being a sponsor will make his company much more popular and as an incentive assured the manager that they'll appear live on TV at the next fair. It's a fair promoting unique Hokkaido products, sure it's done quite often but isn't always ethical. That's in the words of Hajime who overheard the plan to feature Sapporo Rubber on a newscast, once again the pair have words but for now it appears Hanako will interview Ekoda at the fair.
 That fair was called 'Eco in Life', it'll be airing live on TV during a newscast but Hanako only has enough time for three short interviews with Sapporo Rubber being last. She actually did an okay job with the interviews, during the telecast Hajime was silently in the background watching. While the first two went smoothly that wasn't the case with the Sapporo Rubber interview, as a matter of fact there was none.
 Just as Hanako was dashing to their booth to interview Ekoda a little girl ran in front of Hanako crying, she had lost her mother and would she help her? This was all happening live on TV and Hanako had only a few seconds to decide what to do, help the girl or interview Ekoda? She probably made the right choice and that was to try to help the girl though Hanako did flub that up a bit. Meanwhile Ekoda is observing the scene with his mouth to the ground, his one big chance to promote his company has been smashed but he also knew Hanako made the right decision.
 After the fair Hattori and Hanako apologized endlessly to Edoka but there was really no need for that. He kind of laughed the scene off, how could he be mad at Hanako for helping out a little girl? As a mini payback the following day during the newscast there was a special feature run about the fair and some of it's unique eco-products, Sapporo Rubber was one of them and seems everything turned out well in the end. It also did for Hattori and Hajime who renewed their friendship. Hajime had watched the entire episode from the background, he started to realize what a tough job Hattori and his mates have in the sales department and how sponsors are key in keeping a station afloat with their advertising.

 On to the second rookie featured heavily in this episode but it won't take nearly as long to break down what took place. Above you can see a few screenshots with Tachibana who is training to be a master controller. Their job is to make sure everything runs smoothly on the air and you can't take your eyes away from the screen for a second as that's all it could take to for things to go haywire. The controllers team is a very tight knit group, five of them work an eight hour shift and there's three per day, for now he's on the 3:00 to 11:00 pm shift.
 Tachibana has gotten along superbly with his co-workers and it's a good thing he did as that was part of his exam to become a full fledged master controller. Before they had to go on their shift the team took a tea break, all of Tachibana's mates had done something very slightly awry with their looks. Things such as the way they parted their hair, the variety of tea the team was drinking and many other things. Tachibana didn't know if it was part of the exam but pointed them out anyway, good thing he did as it was part of the final exam.
 After that the on air exam went like clock work, no major happenings took place on the telecast which happened to be the newscast featuring Hanako at the fair. This wasn't as exciting or long as the events that Hattori went through, with there being so foul ups on the telecast and with Tachibana doing everything perfectly he passed the exam as you can see above. We've seen four of the rookies pass an exam, Hajime hasn't had to take one as he seems to be so far advanced but what of Hanako? To date there's been no mention of it and perhaps that's how the series will end.

 We're at the end and there was final scene which turned out to be a mini cliff hanger. The six rookies were out at their fave pub celebrating the successes of Hattori and Tachibana, after that uncomfortable scene to begin the show off with the newbies are all close friends again. During the mini party there was a call for Hajime, he answered it and looked very flustered at what he heard. He didn't tell the others what was going on but quickly dashed away back to the station.
 Not sure why it was a major situation involving Hajime but to his boss Hasegawa it was. The head of the non-profit farming group Kanbara has been accused of mismanaging the government funds he receives for his organization. If you recall Hajime had interviewed Kanbara about his organization and how much good it's done the farming community. Hajime received many accolades for his work and he seemed to be the wunderkind of HHTV. But now with this scandal about to erupt how is that going to affect his future and actually the question is why should it? It shouldn't as how was Hajime to have known what was about to happen and on that note we come to the conclusion of this recap.

 Two more shows to go and there's not enough dramas in this vein. Though a bit lighthearted it's also a very serious show and to date there's been zero filler in the three episodes. Looking forward to those final two episodes and should have them within the week, did take a mini break from everything from dramas to idols for a few days but am now back somewhat in the swing of things. You don't need to wait for that last pair of recaps as I highly recommend this series which will be way up there for my faves of this year.