"Isekai Izakaya Nobu" drama: Episode two recap

 Air Dates: May 15th until July 17, 2020  Friday nights at midnight on WOWOW

Main Cast: The 'action' takes place in a small tavern/restaurant on an off the beaten path in Kyoto. People from our world would enter through the front door but there's a side door that's an entrance to 'Aiteria' which is a world set in Germany during the 1800's. None of the patrons who visit are aware they've actually traveled to the future or at least not yet....

Ryohei Otani as Nobuyuki Yazawa.... The owner chef of the restaurant who has a very cool demeanor and how did he set up a 'time travel route' to his place that's called Nobu?

Rena Takeda as Shinobu Senke.... Yazawa's trusty assistant and the only other employee.

Guest stars..... all made a second appearance in the next show so are perhaps regulars? All are from the alternate world of Aiteria who serve in their army

Jin Shirasu as Nikolaus.... Soldier in the army who first discovered the restaurant.

Yutaka Kobayashi as Hans.... Best friend of Nikolaus and also a soldier.

Shinnosuke Abe as Bertholdt.... Commander of the Aiteria army.

Makoto Shinada as Johan Gustav

Kana Hayama as Hildegard

Kazuki Namioka as Gernot.... Tax collector in Aiteria

 In the first recap mentioned that a major difference between this show and 'Midnight Diner" was that the owner in that drama helped his customers out with their problems but in a very sly way. Didn't think that was the case in this series and it actually isn't but the food served does change the customers lives for the better and you'll see why in this recap.

 That man above plays the character named Johan Gustav. He was a real person though Johan was his middle name, he lived in Germany during the 1800's which is how I deduced the series was set in that century. Johan is the guardian of his niece Hildegard whose parents died some years ago and she's the heiress to their wealthy estate. It appears some people may want harm to befall her as the dishes she eats need to be served cold as not to be tampered with. Hildegard has led a sheltered life and Johan has brought her to the restaurant to expand her knowledge of regular people and food, she's eighteen and from what was loosely mentioned she may be getting married soon.

 As was the case in the first show though the customers arrived from 19th century Germany they can't read Japanese yet can speak it fluently? First up was a Tofu appetizer which was a dish not known in Germany, of course Hildegard fell in love with the taste and that happens to everyone who tries a dish Nobu creates. She's not an easy young woman to please but this dish did so as she asked her uncle to bring her back again which he readily agreed to. Her 'problem' was being so sheltered and not being able to relate to the outside world but the trip to the restaurant has seemed to rid Hildegard of that problem. Their appearance was only for about eight minutes as after a very small meal the pair left and will we see them again?

 Don't know if they'll be regulars but the trio of German soldiers we met in the first episode made a return trio to the restaurant but they did say they would frequent their new fave place. First the young pair of friends Nikolaus and Hans came to the place but were mainly just drinking the special Toriaezu beer. Shortly after their commander Bertholdt joined them and though the men's leader seems he's becoming friends with them. To their dismay entering the restaurant a short time later was another man from their fictional world of Aiteria who was Gernot.

 He's the tax collector in their region though works independently as it enables him to siphon more money off the the people. He's become quite wealthy because of that but leads a lonely life and while sitting at the restaurant began to reminisce about eating with his parents. The owner Nobu had to slip out to get supplies at the local store so the waitress Shinobu had to watch the establishment and prepare dishes if they were easy. Have the feeling Gernot came there to threaten Nobu to pay up or else but does a German tax collector have any power in Japan?

 Shinobu couldn't make any fancy dish so how about pasta she asked? To Gernot that sounded fine as that was a dish he often ate with his parents. But her creation looked nothing like what Gernot was used to, Shinobu had made him Spaghetti Napolitana which is common these days. At first he was hesitant but decided to dig in and what a wise decision that was. Gernot too is hard to please but he was in a state of euphoria eating the simple dish, even more so when he added grated cheese and tabasco sauce to the dish. The trio of soldiers had been watching the scene closely as they were a bit frightful of what Gernot may have done if he wasn't pleased with the pasta but luckily their 'services' weren't needed.

 As mentioned in the beginning the food at the restaurant seems to help customers change their lives for the better, at first it was the trio of soldiers, then Hildegard and now Gernot. He was in such a state of bliss after his meal he decided not to pursue the matter of collecting taxes at the restaurant. Plus as you can see above Gernot has chosen to make a drastic change which is to quit being a tax collector and to give his wealth away, all because of such a simple dish of pasta which of course wasn't so simple almost two hundred years ago. Nobu eventually returned with his supplies and wonder if he was aware of how close he was to having his restaurant possibly closed? With that kind of 'happy ending' this recap also has it's ending.

 This is such a simple show, though there's no reviews out there for this series but did read one brief overview. That said the episodes are all the same and after a while got kind of boring which I can understand as I've seen many shows that fall into that trap. But will view this entire series though unsure if every episode will be recapped. Will do at least two more posts for this show which will take place next weekend.