"Sutekina Sen Taxi" drama: Episode two recap

 

 Air Dates: October 14th to December 16, 2014 on Fuji-TV, Tuesday nights at 10:00 pm

Writer: Bakarhythm  Average rating: 9.4%

Main Cast:

Yutaka Takenouchi as Edawakare.... Slightly daffy driver of a special taxi that can transport a passenger back in time.

Nao Minamisawa as Natsuki.... Waitress at the Cafe Choice

Nana Seino as Kanna.... Another waitress at the cafe

Bakarhythm as Hiroshi.... Server at the cafe and the writer of this series

Guest Stars:

Toru Nakamura as Hirano.... the 'somewhat hero'

Miyu Yagyu as Inori.... The mayor's twenty year old daughter

Shotaro Mamiya as Tatsuya.... Inori's boyfriend

Reika Kirishima as Kanako.... Hirano's old high school flame

 

 First 10-12 minutes were quite slow and was thinking did I make a mistake watching this series? No is the answer as after that the final thirty minutes were quite good but there was a slight purpose to the slow opening as certain things needed to be explained, especially about the personality of Edawakare. Above are two screenshots from his favorite hangout 'Cafe Choice', thought the characters who worked there would be an important part to the story but they haven't been for the first two shows. While sitting in the cafe Edawakare was browsing through a travel magazine when he noticed a picture of Heart Rock which is a real place in Chiba. Seems Edawakare is a romantic at heart though he couldn't let any of the cafe's staff know such a thing about him.

 It appears the only customers Edawakare has are for ones who want to time travel which means he has a lot of free time. With that time he's decided to take a trip up to Chiba to see the Heart Rock and it's supposed to be a special place for lovers though he's traveling solo. It's located in a small town named Yuhicho that's located right next to the ocean and there's been a huge uproar in the small community. The mayor's daughter Inori has been kidnapped or it at least appeared so. The police are scouring the area with no luck, when Edawakare arrived in town he knew nothing about the incident. But he did learn about the mayor Takahashi who has campaign posters everywhere as he's running for reelection. Edawakare had no clue how to get to the romantic rock so he asked someone to give him directions who is the man above named Hirano.

 He runs a guest house in town but it must not be too busy as he spends most days fishing. At first he was so reluctant to help Edawakare out who knew zero about the area and even with directions would be lost. So after a bit of finagling Hirano agreed to take Edawakare to the Heart Rock and he thought it was odd for a grown pam to visit there as it's mainly for couples. On their way there they passed by a police car and who should Hirano notice in the back seat but the mayor's kidnapped daughter Inori and it wasn't an officer driving the vehicle. Quickly Hirano got in touch with the station who tracked down the car immediately and now Hirano is some sort of hero or at least to the mayor.

 Takahshi's daughter was safe and the young man driving was arrested, the mayor tried to give Hirano a reward which he refused, for now he did but not the next time. The above woman is Hirano's age whose name is Kanako and it is true they haven't seen each other for years. They had been a couple back in high school and they did have plans on getting married. But their dream never came close to happening as Kanako's father had set her up for a prearranged marriage and that man was Takahashi who has to be at least ten years older. Since then Hirano has been kicking himself for not doing anything at the time and it seems he's never gotten married as he's never got over Kanako.

 At the station he noticed the mayor's daughter Inori leaving and she gave Hirano such an evil stare. Also giving Hirano a glance of hatred was Tatsuya who was the man charged with kidnapping the young girl. After those looks Hirano realized what was really going on with the two, they were actually a couple and did they have plans to elope? To Hirano that seemed like what was going to happen and now he's once again kicking himself hard as he may have really blown it for the couple by turning them in. If he could turn back time he would and as he was taking Edawakare to the Heart Rock he told Hirano it was possible. Of course Hirano thought Edawakare was daffy with his time traveling and who wouldn't but Hirano thought he needed to atone himself for that huge mistake and agreed to go back in time if possible to when they passed the police car.

 Of course a fee was involved and it's not a cheap thing to do, perhaps that's why Edawakare never has any other customers as he makes enough $$ transporting his fares back in time. The charge for going back three hours was 20,000 yen or about $182 in 2014, to Hirano that was a bit steep but worth it if he could help the couple escape. So back three hours did the magical taxi go with Hirano ending up at the spot where he saw the police car pass by. Instead of calling the station this time he leapt in front of the car to stop it which failed. Inori and Tatsuya presumed Hirano was actually an officer and went back the other way but soon Edawakare was chasing after the car. They located it near the ocean and there was a path into the woods which Hirano took tailing the couple and did eventually locate them. They were still overly suspicious of this older man but soon Hirano gained their trust as he told them exactly what was going through their minds as he too could have been in that situation with Kanako 25 years ago but blew his chance to run away with her.

 However things didn't work out so well for the couple or at least for now it they didn't. The police car they had stolen had been discovered and soon the police were descending upon the forest looking for Inori and Tatsuya who were quickly discovered and of course Hirano was also there. The pair were naturally fuming at Hirano as they thought he had set them up which was a logical conclusion though totally wrong. Once again Hirano was a hero and when the mayor offered him a reward for locating his daughter this time Hirano didn't refuse. Thought he took the money to give to the couple to escape with, that wasn't 100% accurate but it was used for a good purpose.

 At the station Hirano did something quite unexpected which was to grab a pistol from an officer and held the entire station at bay. Still waiting outside in his taxi was Edawakare who always seems to know when he may have a possible time travel customer. Hirano grabbed Inori and Tatsuya to bring them outside to the cab and asked Edawakare to take the love birds away to wherever they wanted to go. The high fare was covered by the mayor's reward money, Hirano jumped out of the cab before it left and faced the huge horde of officers who pounced on him. That reward money must have been quite a large sum as it was enough for the couple to go back.... 24 hours! That brings the question up which is how far back can this magical taxi go?

 So back 24 hours did the couple go and their mission was to convince Inori's father to let them get them get married. Takahashi was furious with his daughter and especially Tatsuya who he decked with a violent slap. But coming in the room at the time was Kanako who persuaded her husband to let the young couple to do whatever plans they had and the couple had a happy ending. So with that so many events of the next day never took place such as the kidnapping and Hirano holding the police at bay with a gun. As the episode ended Edawakare was giving the couple a ride to Heart Rock and he was finally going to get is wish to see it. On the route they noticed Hirano fishing at the ocean and stopped to thank him for everything. But with all of the previous events being deleted from history Hirano had no clue who these two people were. On that note this second episode came to it's conclusion though Edawakare did return to the Cafe Choice to give everyone souvenirs from his trip to Heart Rock.

 

 May not have the next pair of recaps next Sunday but will try to as I'll be raking a day off from posting plus am concentrating more on doing recaps for the 'Brahms' drama. Bit of a sluggish beginning but all in all this turned out to be a enjoyable show. Both episodes dealt with a romance story and hope there's a few other different kinds of plots and perhaps for the Cafe Choice workers to play more of an important role in the drama.