Nogizaka Cinemas: 'Story of 46', episode eight recap starring Erika Ikuta

 Fuji-TV/FOD homepage link for the show:  https://www.fujitv.co.jp/nogizakacinemas/

This drama began on January 21st, it had ten episodes featuring one Nogi member who are in the above pic and here's the list of who will be in each show plus it's rating:

 Episode one- Asuka      7.5/10

 Episode two- Manatsu  7.1/10 

 Episode three- Sayuri   8.0/10

 Episode four- Mizuki    6.5/10

 Episode five- Hinako     7.4/10

 Episode six- Miona        7.7/10

 Episode seven- Yuki      8.5/10

 Episode eight- Erika     7.0/10

 Episode nine- Shiori  will be skipping this episode

 Episode ten- Mai

 The series aired on Tuesday nights until the end of March. The first five shows were subbed quite quickly and those recaps were done by the end of February. There was a long gap between the fifth and sixth episodes due to no translators. Beam Subs is doing them and it appears they''re cranking them out quickly again as episode eight has just been done. These episodes last 22-24 minutes which are long enough, through eight shows none have been a huge winner though all have been enjoyable enough. Let's got on with the brief recap.

Episode title.... 'Tsuda Momoe'

 This wasn't the best nor the worst of the eight episodes but it was definitely the oddest. Honestly had no clue about what really happened after viewing it and really what the whole story was about or should have been about. Perhaps while writing this up something about the plot will kick in but kind of doubting that. One thing I've noticed about a few of these shows is how few lines the members speak and in this episode seemed someone else may have had more screen time. Erika's character's name is Momoe Tsuda which is also the title of the show, it begins off in the year 2017.

 Momoe in that year was a 22 year old woman at an interview with Strawberry Bank hoping to get a job at their branch in Sangenjaya. She did as we learned though never saw her at the bank, she was working in the General Administrative office. But at the interview Momoe fell head over heals for one of the men interviewing her, it was love at first sight and we naturally thought it was the young man interviewing her.
 That wasn't the case as instead it was the fifty year old bank VP Yuto who Momoe fell for. As mentioned it's two years later and Momoe is about to celebrate her 24th birthday, to her the day won't be complete unless Yuto is there. You can see above that Momoe says 'I'll capture him' which is what she ended up doing but how and when it took place remained a mystery like so many other things in this 22 minute show.
 Momoe's best friend is a man around her age named Neji and it appeared as though the pair have known each other since childhood. Neji is the person who may have had more screen time than Erika's character but at least his performance was decent. He stopped by Momoe's apartment where she was preparing for her birthday that will be taking place the following day, she told Neji to check the closet(!) for the special guest that will be joining them. As you may have guessed it's her boss Yuto which shocked Neji even though he may have had a hand in the kidnapping.

 Up until this point most things made sense and it seemed as though it may become some sort of psychotic story. That didn't happen though and had it done so would have made for the best episode. Momoe and Neji took the tied up Yuto to Neji's car where they traveled to the ocean. At first thought Momoe's zany side would lead her into throwing Yuto into the water to drown or at least torture him, once again a potential intense incident didn't take place as the pair just led Yuto around the beach before they headed back to Momoe's apartment.
 Before they arrived there they had stopped at a store for Momoe to pick up some refreshments, Yuto pleaded with Neji to release him to no avail. But wondered if during that time alone Neji may have made a call to the police who we'll be seeing very soon. It's now nighttime and approaching midnight when Momoe will turn a year older. The three are sitting around a table where there's a birthday cake for her and Yuto is still tied up. But before the festivities could get into full swing the door to the apartment slowly opened, rushing in were a detective and two officers from the local station as they had received a tip on a potential kidnapping.

 Neji confessed to his friend Momoe that it was he who made the call. He couldn't understand what Momoe saw in the older married man and neither could we, when Neji asked Momoe why he didn't choose him for her boyfriend Momoe blurted out 'You're just not good enough'. The police didn't care about those matters as they've come to arrest Momoe for kidnapping but what then took place left them bewildered. The lights suddenly went out, when they came back on Momoe was no longer sitting in her spot but instead there was a much older woman. The police were baffled along with the woman, how did she get there as she had been about to go to bed with her husband?
 It appears Momoe had some special powers as she can make herself appear/disappear by just snapping her fingers, seems she can also transport others with the snapping. Momoe ended up in the woman's apartment where her husband was, when the husband screamed where's his wife(?) Momoe realized she made a mistake. So she snapped her fingers once again and appearing before them was the man's wife. With that the events came to their conclusion, we did learn in the final seconds that Yuto had gotten another job in a different bank which he blew due to an affair with a much younger woman. Meanwhile Neji had remained on the hunt for Momoe as two years later she was still missing in action.

 Wow, what a mixed up story this was and even though the events seemed to make sense in the recap it didn't watching the show. Shame it was such a jumbled mess as this had the potential to have been the best of the eight episodes and wish Erika's character had been a bit more ruthless. Least she did a solid job in her role but once again wished her character could have been a bit more psychotic. Few more screenshots below that will help you follow the thin storyline a bit better. Doubt if I'll be doing a recap for the next show, will definitely be doing it for episode ten which is the final one.