"Sono Goen, Otodokeshimasu: Mercari de Atta Honto no Hanashi" drama: Episode one recap

 

 Air Dates: November 3rd to December 6, 2020  Tuesday nights at 1:00 am on MBS

Also goes by the name of 'The Fate, I Will Deliver: True Story of Mercari'

Subs were done by aoihachi at DA.

Main Cast: Just these two but many guest stars in each episode.

Marie Iitoyo as Riku Kuroe.... Owns a small delivery truck called 'Elephant Express' and she delivers packages for the Mercari site. They're an online flea market but Riku doesn't believe she's just delivering items but instead dreams or has she also often says fate. Her parents died in a fire a decade earlier and doesn't seem she liked them all that much.

Muka Tuskaji as Shiro Mita.... He owns a small grocery where Riku has her work base. When her parents died Shiro became her foster parent but not much else is known about him.

Guest Stars:

Mizuki Itagaki as Takayuki Seo.... Seventeen year old high school student who is a massive fan of the rock group Mighty Ducks but they had broken up years before. However Takayuki is still a fan and especially of their lead singer Hiroshi and ordered some items from him.

Kodai Asaka as Hiroshi Miyashita.... The Mighty Ducks leader as he was their vocalist/guitarist, he's 35 in age and is about to abandon his dream of being a rock and roll star. His nickname was Kan which is wha the'll be referred to in the recap.

Yuto Tsubone as Hishida.... Musician in his young twenties who has befriended Hiroshi.

Wasn't too much of a shock that this series ended up being subbed, seems that's often the case with these late night dramas. It's just a six episode drama so will do three sets of two recaps, a show is only 23+ minutes so these will be much shorter than the 'Start-Up" recaps and I'm so thankful for that. Main reason for watching this series was that Marie has the lead role but it's slightly disappointing she doesn't have more screen time, she may have had eight minutes in this episode. That's because the stories will revolve around the packages she delivers but to her they're actually items that can make dreams come true. 

 This series is based upon the adventures of a real woman though not sure if the stories are of ones that happened with her. Mercari is an actual site which is the referred to as the largest flea market place in Japan where users can either sell or purchase used items. That's where Riku(Marie) comes in as her Elephant Express service delivers those packages. Her small office is located in a grocery store run by a much older gent named Shiro, we won't be seeing him too often but he was an important person in Riku's life and will get to that later.

 Riku's role isn't the largest one in these episodes as it's the story of the show's guest stars who get most of the screen time. There's two key characters for this opening show, one is right above who is a seventeen year old student named Takayuki. His life revolves around his favorite band Mighty Ducks but they've been on hiatus for a while and it seems they'll no longer be releasing music. The group's 'heyday' was during the late 2000's when they had two major label albums and some songs still get played on the radio these days, we heard one when Riku was delivering her first package. That's also right above and it's a Mighty Ducks DVD which Takayuki ordered that had been out of print, of all people the person who was selling it on Meracri was Kan.

 Kan is actually the nickname of the group's vocalist and guitarist, Hiroshi Miyashita. He's 35 in age and has finally had to admit he'll never become a rock and roll star which does hurt a bit but Kan has accepted his fate. The Mighty Ducks were a bit successful for a few years which is more than most bands can say, but what can Kan do with no future in music? Not too much as he soon learns, at 35 years old the only talent he has is playing music and he was struggling severely trying to obtain a job. That's one reason he's had to sell some of his memorabilia on Mercari but it seems his only avid customer has been the much younger Takayuki.

 Another character who we saw on occasion was Yuto who has befriended Kan and considers him to be his mentor. He's the only person Kan has been able to tell his struggles to but Yuto is a bit disappointed in him leaving the music field and vows never to to that, Kan told him he said the same thing at his age. Job hunting was a complete failure for Kan who had to admit at interviews the only 'job' he's ever had was being a musician and knows practically nothing about working in an office. There was a savior for Kan who was the owner of a small yakiniku shop him and Yuto would frequent, he wants Kan to be his #2 man there and it appeared to me the owner has his sights set on Kan talking over the diner.

 Back to Takayuki who knew nothing about the struggles Kan was going through. His #1 dream has become being as good of a musician as Kan is(was) and has kind of separated from his friends who wouldn't understand. Above is Riku delivering the second item from Kan to the young boy and one he didn't expect. Kan knew he had to cut all ties with his old life and as a free gift for being such a fan sent Takayuki his prized guitar. He practiced daily at the instrument and when the show closed he he was playing for a small crowd in a park. Passing by was Yuto who knew whose guitar it was and thought it was the passing of the torch.

 In the final scene we learned a bit more about Riku but just a small bit, it'll be explained more in the next show. As mentioned she has her small delivery office in Shiro's grocery store, he's kind of a space cadet but can be a bit astute. He mentioned to Riku that coming up will be the tenth anniversary of the deaths of Kenji and Sachie, she just shrugged at that. Those two were Riku's parents and they died close to a decade ago but seems Riku may not think too highly of her parents and why?

 Whew, wish all recaps were this easy and brief but if I write up do many of these may not want to go back to the longer ones. This is Marie's first drama since March and she does look quite good as a delivery gal. She has another two dramas coming up next year, it's actually one that'll be having two seasons and will have more details in her many solo posts.