"Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe" drama: Episode one of three, 'Millionaire Village'

 

 Air Dates: December 28th until December 30, 2020 on NHK at 10:00 pm

Based on the Hirohiko Araki manga, subs were done by Leviathan

Main Cast: Really just only two main characters, the third person we haven't seen much of and the bottom is the key guest star for the episode.

Issei Takahashi as Rohan Kishibe.... Extremely popular manga artist in his mid thirties and a very eccentric man. He's gone through many editors via his Shumeisha publishing company and has just been assigned a new one who is Kyoka. Besides being so odd Rohan has a special gift which he keeps hidden from others. When he says the words 'Heaven's Door' the person he's talking to will pass out. And somehow a book of their life appears on that person's face and Rohan reads their bio to learn more about them. He can also add in a different event that will change their live which you'll read about.

 Marie Iitoyo as Kyoka Izumi.... Rohan's new 25 year old editor who is not a manga fan but is reading his works. She is a gung-ho woman and though she irritates Rohan to no end we viewers can tell he really likes Kyoka. She's going out with a man named Taro who is unemployed, Rohan wonders if he isn't sponging off Kyoka.

 Tomoya Nakamura as Taro Hirai.... Kyoka's boyfriend but not sure how close they really are as he hasn't had much screen time. Taro is unemployed and that was because of a car accident, before that he was an up and coming photographer.

Kaede Shibasaki as Ikkyu.... The caretaker/guide for the villa which Kyouka wants to purchase. She's a very strict girl?(she could be 15 or 30!) and says she's watching the place for the 'Forest Gods', another extremely odd character and they all are.

 Two minute promo video of the series which you can view here: Trailer for all three shows

 Obviously the main reason for viewing this is Marie but I've also watched a few of Issei's dramas and he is a superb actor, he's in almost every scene. Won't go into the history too much as it's quite a long one but this story was first introduced in the "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" manga series back in 1997. There's been at least a dozen stories since then and most have come out in the last decade. Things were changed around a bit for the drama, for instance Kyoka didn't have a boyfriend plus this was the only story the character appeared in.

 Few other differences and if you're interested there's plenty out there about the JoJo series. Have viewed the first two episodes, once I write these first two recaps up will view the final show. Figured there was no rush as this aired a little over three months ago and the other two recaps are below this one. There are only two major characters so that means we see quite a bit of the main star Issei but of course plenty of Marie too who we don't see too often playing oddball characters. Let's get to the action which takes place in an unnamed suburb of Tokyo.

 This is based upon the fifth story in the Rohan series which I mentioned has a dozen but the character has never had their own manga. To start this mini series off Rohan's mansion was broken into during the night, the thieves had no idea whose place it was. The pair however were once huge fans of Rohan but have ceased reading his mangas which they told each other while viewing some of his works. While the pair were conversing who should overhear everything but Rohan who had been sitting quietly in a hidden chair. He jumped right up to the burglars but wasn't too irate at their breaking in but was more angry with the fact they stopped reading his works! This is where we first saw the secret 'gift' of Rohan's as he said the words 'Heaven's Door' which prompted the pair to pass out.

 Shortly after that happened what should start appearing out of their faces but pages from a book! The pages are a bio of the person and Rohan was scouring them to find out why they were ex-fans. Also to discover a bit about the burglary world and why they became criminals as Rohan wanted info for his next story. What Rohan has done many times is to read a person's life story and use that or details of that life for one of his popular mangas. The following morning arriving on the scene was his new editor Kyoka who you can see above. Rohan's stories are appearing in the Jumbo magazine which is put out by Shumeisha publishing, take the M away and it's a real company. Don't know how many editors Rohan has had but he's not an easy person t work with with his extremely eccentric ways.

 To Kyoka's amazement she noticed the two thieves still in the house though tied up, why didn't he go to the police? Rohan did turn them in the next day but first needed to get more info for his latest story. Besides learning about a person's life Rohan has a special pen where he can add to the person's bio such as telling them what to do in the future, forget what they've done in the past  month and really whatever he needs that person to do. Rohan's latest work is a one off criminal story though he does have a regular series in the Jumbo magazine called "Pink Dark". Below is Kyoka meeting with her boyfriend Taro who through two shows hasn't had much screen time. He's unemployed but once was a promising photographer before being in a car accident. During their mini date Taro did give Kyoka a good tip which was about a remote mountain villa on sale for only thee million yen or $27,100.

 Though only 25 in age and without too much extra cash a villa like that only comes along once in a lifetime and Kyoka shared her dream the following day with Rohan. But what Kyoka really wanted was for Rohan to travel with her to the villa and used a possible story as an incentive. That didn't sway Rohan to say yes as he was quite skeptical about the whole venture, a villa with over 28,000 square feet for only $27,100? To him it was a scam until Kyoka brought up some interesting points about the place. It's set in a very remote mountain area that's only accessible by helicopter(!)  plus the name of the eleven estates is called 'Millionaire's Village'. The item that got Rohan to agree to the trip was when Kyoka explained that though the residents are all millionaires none were when they moved in.

 Seems there's some sort of 'charm' where after a resident moves in and suddenly good fortune comes their way. Some residents have become CEO's, some have won huge lotteries, etc. with the main point being they all became wealthy after they moved there. Rohan is a curious sort of guy so told Kyoka let's go immediately, she also wanted him along for support with her entrance interview. As mentioned the village is only accessible by helicopter so without one the pair had to trudge through miles of forest to reach the mountain area. Besides that ability to turn people's faces into book pages Rohan also seems to possess some mystical powers and has declared the forest was once a very cursed place.

 Should have taken all day but the duo arrived at the villa relatively early in the day and even clean which you wouldn't think would happen after hiking many miles in a forest. Waiting for them at the huge gate surrounding the villa was a tiny female named Ikkyu, as I said she could be fifteen or thirty! She claimed she was their escort for the day and will also be interviewing Kyoka as owners won't meet potential buyers until they pass that test. Was never really mentioned but got the impression that Ikkyu actually worked for the 'Gods of the Village' to screen buyers and she did briefly mention working for the gods. Kyoka and Rohan had to be on their toes constantly as this exam was all about manners, one small slipup and Kyoka's dream of purchasing the villa would be gone.

 No 'manner mishaps' from the entrance to the villa and the pair were overly cautious with every move they made as Ikkyu was observing them very carefully. Inside the residence things were still going smoothly until Ikkyu served Kyoka a cup of tea. Guess the more wealthy people have their own set of 'manner rules' as Kyoka flunked the exam the second she took a sip of the tea. Her mistake was in how she held the cup as a person isn't supposed to put a finger through a cup's handle, you learn something new every day. Kyoka was so dismayed at failing the exam so quickly, couldn't she be given one more chance? Yes was the answer from Ikkyu but also a penalty would then given to that person for any more mistakes which would be they would lose one valuable thing from their life. To Kyoka she didn't have anything overly valuable so she readily agreed to the terms but everyone has some cherished things.

 Second mishap was only partially Kyoka's fault as her phone rang. Instead of going outside to take the call she answered it in front of Ikkyu and don't think this event would have happened if Kyoka didn't answer it. Her boyfriend Taro had been bringing her pet dog to the vet and on the way was hit by a car, he's in serious condition at a hospital. Kyoka didn't pick up on the fact it had been a penalty but Rohan did and deep down you could tell he wanted to avenge what happened with Taro. Kyoka needed to rush to the hospital but how as she would have to travel once again through the vast forest. She did attempt to leave and by now didn't care as much for buying the villa but Kyoka didn't quite make it to the exit as Rohan pointed at his editor and said 'Heaven's Door'.

 With that Kyoka crumpled to the ground and Rohan rushed up to her so he could read her bio, remember that saying those words enables him to read a person's memory as if it ere a book. But Rohan didn't read the pages of Kyoka's bio as he was more interested in what the story was with Ikkyu and he told the small female he would be standing in for Kyoka's exam. After Rohan said that he had also knocked Ikkyu unconscious by saying 'Heaven's Door' and this time he did read her bio. It appears Ikkyu is employed by the 'Village Gods' to protect the small village and she too has certain 'manner rules' she needs to follow though we didn't learn much more about her. Upon reviving she set a penalty on Rohan for how he reacted towards Kyoka's attempt at leaving the villa, it was the loss of his right hand moving! That's when Rohan said he would still go through with the exam and he did soon got the upper hand.

 Rohan was served some corn on the cob by Ikkyu and how does one eat that properly? Rohan picked it up with just his left hand and began chomping on it which should have been his second penalty. But while he was reading Ikkyu's bio he wrote on it that in five minutes Ikkyu would step on the edges of the room's tatami mats which is a huge taboo. That's what she did and Rohan wasted no time in pointing out Ikkyu's mistake and she did it several more times. With each occurrence one of her curses was lifted so Rohan could use his right hand again plus Taro recovered immediately from his car crash. Now that things were back to square one Rohan scooped Kyoka up and headed from the villa telling Ikkyu they had no more interest in buying it. That adventure would have made for a good manga story but Rohan passed on it as it may scare his readers and with that this first episode came to it's conclusion.

 Couldn't hold off and viewed the third episode halfway through the recap. This turned out to such a fun and interesting mini series, one of the best I've seen in a while. Shame it was just three episodes and it could have been longer as there's about ten more stories to cover. Plenty of screenshots to help you follow the story better and the next post is the recap for the second show.