Air Dates: This series aired twice, first on the FOD network Fridays at midnight from August 16th until October 4th, then Mondays at 12:55 am on Fuji-TV from October 21st until December 9th.
Eight episodes with a running time a little over twenty minutes.
Main Cast:
Hinako Sakurai as Hiromo Ozawa.... meek 17 year old student who lives with her grandmother....
and also as Yumi who is her split personality who is the complete opposite of Hiromi
Jin Shirasu as Kenichi Shindo.... president of the high school student council
Akihisa Shiono as Tatsuya Tsutsumi.... mysterious young man who befriends Yumi
Sayuri Kokusho as Takako Ozawa.... Hiromi's very strict and violent grandmother
Maria Mori as Jun Abe.... Hiromi's best friend at school
Sawa Nimura as Ryoko Azuma.... in Hiromi's class and truly despises her
Few others will be added in as the episodes go on
In Japanese Kagami means mirror and have found a few other things out about this series. It was originally a manga that was published in the early 1980's, then it was a drama that aired in 1985. Have never seen that other show but will look for it, sure it's not subbed and have no clue if there are any major differences between the two shows. At the top is a preview of the drama but think it's the only one, there is a PV for the theme song so may include that in future recaps.
Was going to combine two episodes into one post but ended up taking forty screenshots for the first two shows, eighty is too many pics for one recap. An episode only lasts for a little over twenty minutes so the recaps shouldn't be too lengthy, will have four in a row for today and the next four very soon. Hopefully within the next few days and if you're into dark, mysterious dramas this show could be up your alley. It hasn't been confusing but there's a lot of details we're unaware of and at twenty minutes a show that's understandable, let's get on with this first episode.
Hiromi is a seventeen year old high school student played by Hinako who in real life is 22 in age. Hiromi is a very quiet and meek young girl, that's mainly to do with her upbringing as her mother Yukiko died at an early age, how we don't know but Hiromi has been raised by her grandmother Takako. The first show began off with Hiromi at a student council meeting, at it the president Shindo was looking for an assistant to help him out with the upcoming sports festival. Hiromi was too shy to volunteer herself but to her dismay her best friend Jun nominated her but deep down think Hiromi was glad it happened, perhaps Shindo was too as it seems he may like her.
During that scene one of the students wrote Hiromi's name down as the assistant but instead of her real name he wrote Yumi, Shindo quickly corrected him. We'll soon find out why that student was confused about Hiromi's name. That ended the meeting and later on that day Hiromi headed home where it's always a nightmare for her, today was even worse. That's because Shindo had called Hiromi's house to the fury of her grandmother Takako. What a very brutal person she is as she screamed at Hiromi for getting mixed up with a boy and wouldn't listen to the reason why.
The grandmother Takako has a whip like object which she uses so often on Hiromi but have noticed she's careful not to leave bruises on her face or hands. That episode with the boy Shindo was the last straw for Takako and don't understand why as Hiromi appears to be a fairly respectable and smart student. As you can see above the grandmother dragged Hiromi out to the back yard where she threw her in a shed and locked the door to prevent her from leaving. Needless to say Hiromi was in a panic, it was an incident which happened often when she was young but this was the first time in years.
With no options to escape Hiromi began to investigate the few items in the shed, there was a mirror which should have been a key object though wasn't but most mirrors will soon be. What Hiromi found were two objects that interested her, one was a torn picture of her mother Yukiko that had her with a man but you couldn't see his face. The other object was a small bottle of perfume, Hiromi happened to drop it on the floor which sent it's contents spewing out. The aroma was so familiar to her but before she could place where she smelled it before Hiromi passed out on the floor and she...
.... awoke as YUMI!!!! That awakening took place a few hours later and have no idea how she was able to escape from the shed. Yumi is the exact double of Hiromi naturally but only looks wise as she dresses and acts entirely differently. While Hiromi is a quite, studious person Yumi is a young rebel and we witnessed her stealing a pair of wallets off of older men trying to pick her up. But the third attempt at a wallet was a failure for Yumi as the man caught her right off the bat, this wasn't an older gent but a young man named Tatsuya who will soon become an important part of the story.
We didn't see much of Tatsuya in this episode as the action is now up to the fourteen minute mark and a show only lasts for a little over twenty. But he did help Yumi out a bit as she was quickly in a scrap with a quartet of young hooligan gals. Won't say their names now but they also become an important part of the story towards the end of the third episode. In this show their leader Ryoko had accused Yumi of trying to pick up her potential boyfriend Hayato and the two square off in a match. Don't know where Yumi acquired such skills but in every show she easily defeats others with her fists, she did that to Ryoko and one of mates.
But that infuriated her friends so much one took out a knife and was able to slice Yumi on the arm. The fighting soon ended as sirens were heard and the crowd quickly dispersed, Tatsuya tried to bring Yumi to his place but she did have a 10:00 pm curfew(?). The reason Yumi had been at the club was because of it's name which was Party On, that club was in the background of the pic Hiromi had found in the shed.
Yumi must have some recollections of who she is in real life as she did remember her curfew plus has a bus locker where she stores her regular high school uniform. When she returned home she was dressed as Yumi but the personality was still of Yumi, she was a few minutes past curfew which naturally sent her grandmother into an uproar. When she attempted to strike Yumi she calmly moved out of the way which shocked Takako and left her wondering a few unknown questions.
Close to the end now and before Yumi retired for the night she made an entry in Hiromi's diary, she does this every show but we've never seen what was written. The following morning Hiromi woke as her usual self but with a knife cut on her arm! How did that get there she naturally wondered as the last thing Hiromi recalled was being locked in the shed. She was truly baffled but it was time for school, when she saw her grandmother Takako made no mention of the previous night's incident. But after Hiromi had departed she snuck into her room to see what was written in the diary, on that note this first episode came to it's close.
I really enjoyed this first episode and the following shows may be even better. Slightly longer recap than I thought it would be but still short enough to zip through four of them as that's how many you need to read today! In real life Hinako also dresses quite conservatively but have to admit as Yumi she looks so darn alluring, guess I was correct having her #5 on this year's fave's list.
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