Air Dates: March 21st until April 25, 2021 on Hulu-TV, Sundays at midnight
First season had ten episodes, this one has six and subs were once again dome by Manxcat
Ratings: Unknown as this season airs on Hulu-TV which is a cable network.
First season had an average of 7.7%, final show was the highest at 8.4%.
Main Cast: Will have two sections, this first one are the returning characters from season one. The first season's action began at the end of September 2019 and ended right around December 7th though the weather is still mild. Season two started off three weeks after the conclusion of season one so it's about to become 2020. The setting was the island of Saruno in Miura Bay but now all of the action is taking place at the House of Hope in Chiba. Not sure of the time after a while as it's never discussed, seems to be getting warmer out so perhaps it's March by now.
Ryoma Takeuchi as Hibikia Mamiya.... Main star of the drama who is 25 in age and was an auto mechanic until the Golem Virus plagued the city of Miura. He's the unofficial leader of the group which at one time totaled ten but was whittled down to five but they've added a few more survivors. Hibiki is the boyfriend of Kurumi and had all intentions of proposing until the virus hit. He was a mellow man but has changed his ways and has become a ruthless killer but only to defend his group.
Ayami Nakajo as Kurumi Ogasawara.... Also 25 like her boyfriend and had been a second year intern at the Miura hospital. She had been saved by the special Defense Forces and ended up working with the crazed doctor Shuto to develop a vaccine for the virus. However Kurumi was used badly and it appears she may slowly be turning into a Golem, that's a Zombie like creature.
Marie Iitoyo as Kanae Hiiragi.... Third year college student who is 22 in age and was trapped in an elevator with four other survivors when the virus struck which saved them. Kanae was such a quiet introvert when the series began but has also changed her ways and with Hibiki defends the group as she's now an expert at archery. She has such a crush on Hibiki and acts quite cold towards Kurumi who she may want to see dead!
Sho Kasamatsu as Hiro Todoroki.... He's also 25 in age and had gone to school with Hibiki and Kurumi who he openly loves. Todoroki was a detective and his partner was killed in season one's second episode. He's kind of a hothead and though a member of the group isn't all that trustworthy and really despises Hibiki.
Sports Makita as Yohei Komoto.... Owned a moving company and had been stuck in the elevator with his worker Min-Jun and three others still living. He's an older man who doesn't do all that much for the group but has at times pitched in to help.
Tamae Ando as Shoko Mihara.... Middle aged woman who is the mother to the below girl, she's presently not on the island with the group but at the 'House of Hope' in Chiba.
Naho Yokomizu as Yuzuki Mihara.... Shoko's twelve year old daughter who has asthma.
Hyunri as Yoon Jian.... She's a Korean doctor who came to Japan to help Shuto create a vaccine for the virus but unknown to her it wasn't a vaccine. Her brother was also in Japan but had been killed at the end of episode seven by a Golem bite, Jian is now part of Hibiki's group.
Toshihito Kokubo as Tsuboi.... Leader of the Swords group who are a rival of Hibiki's. The two have never seen eye to eye but on occasion have worked together when both groups are in danger. The Swords are also on Saruno island but tensions are running high between the groups.
Kodai Asaka as Rikuto Kuwato.... Former Defense Forces corporal who defected to Hibiki's group in episode nine when Shuto became too crazed, he's a man you want on your side in a battle. Killed by Golems in the third show.
Kenishi Takito as Koki Shuto... Though he died in the final episode of season one added him in as he played such an important part to the story. Shuto had been trying to find a potion to cure his dead wife(!) but that got out of control, those experiments eventually became the Golem virus.
Whew, that above took a while to write up! These are the new characters introduced in the second season who are living at the 'House of Hope' safe shelter in Chiba. Will be updating the bios as we just met them at the end of this first episode.
Kanata Hongo as Ren Akiyoshi.... Misako's son and had been the managing director of the resort. Bit of a quiet young man who brought Kurumi and Hibiki to the safe house. Upon the death of his mother Ren is now the leader of the shelter.
Hisashi Yoshizawa as Shohei Noro.... First person to meet Hibiki's group as he had traveled to Saruno island but was sent away almost immediately. They met up again in episode two and are getting along much better, Noro has become the 'middle man' between the groups.
Mantaro Koichi as Takuro Mamiya.... Hibiki's father who had deserted his son when he was fifteen, we didn't meet him in the first show. We did in the second episode as Mamiya is also a survivor at the 'House of Hope' but he's suffering from severe chest pains.
The main characters who are now deceased.
Mari Hamada as Misako Akiyoshi... Was the owner of the House of Hope and also the leader of the survivors at this once safe Chiba location. Her son is Ren who took over her duties once she died and was surprised she was written out of the story so quickly. Near the end of the second episode Misako was bitten by a Golem, she was turning into one and had to be slain by Hibiki.
Shohei Uno as Doctor Omaezaki.... Once worked on Shuto's team but when he realized the doctor wasn't working on a vaccine he fled the Camp Yokosuka base. First he went to the Swords group but eventually switched over to help Hibiki and his mates. In the second episode Omaezaki was shot by Tsuboi when he questioned his motives for raiding the House of Hope.
Links to the recaps to season one's final two shows if you want to see what took place before this season and quite a bit did: Episode nine .... Episode ten
Links to the first three recaps for season two.
Glad I only have to write the above once, whew again! Been a while since those first three recaps so may be a wise idea to skim through them to see where we stand, things are so much different than the first season. Every drama leaves you wondering a bit about some details but in this show I've never seen s many things unexplained. That's one of the main reasons for the dip in quality and it's kind of peeved me of a tad. Here are a few that have irritated me and they may contain some spoilers, will talk about it more in the final recap.
Hibiki.... He finally made a reappearance at the end of the fourth episode and is back to being the star of the show. But so many things were never explained about his trip to Fukushima such as was the entire country of Japan being overrun by Golems? Was there a safe shelter in Fukushima and if so were there many survivors there? Hibiki's goal was to get a vaccine for the Golem virus but he came back empty handed, did they run out or was it just a rumor? If just a rumor were they close to creating one and what really happened on that 150 mile journey?
Above the newly 'married couple' of Shoko and Kotomo were telling Hibiki of what the conditions have been like during his absence. The supplies of food and water are decreasing plus there was a new rule that you had to have a relative at the House of Hope in order to stay, that's why the pair had faked being married but to Ren they have become a family and have been allowed to stay. They explained to Hibiki why Ren had to say he was engaged to Kurumi who would have been expelled from the shelter by the evil resident Shigeru. That kind of put Hibiki's mind to ease for a while but he's wondering if that marriage will truly take place but as there's no way to make it official. For now marriage is on hold but will soon become the major storyline.
As far as relatives go Hibiki could stay because his father was there but for how much longer? The father Mamiya is suffering from stomach cancer and for the last few shows has mainly been bedridden. It's now at the point where he may not make the night and Hibiki had one last meeting with his father who had abandoned his son ten years before. This scene dragged on and there were very few confessions made by father and son, by the following morning Mamiya would pass away. But before that happened he told Hibiki some very important facts which he never told anyone about and it could have added so much to the story. Mamiya told his son that Shuto wasn't the man who originally created the Golem vaccine but was entrusted with maintaining the project. Also that he left Hibiki when he was fifteen because he had found out about the project and was being threatened by that secret organization, why didn't this story go further?
In the top three screenshots are Kanae and Todoroki who had become the security guards for the House of Hope and were patrolling the grounds looking for Golems. In that last episode both were attacked by an unknown man who captured and tied both up in separate locations. Kanae was able to escape and made her way to where Todoroki was but couldn't free him from the handcuffs, more on them near the end. What I can't believe is that Hibiki hasn't been curious about them. He's been back for a few days and knew both very well, why wasn't he worried about their safety. Another person we don't know enough what's going on in these last two shows is the ex-Swords group leader Tsuboi. He has a pistol and appears to be wandering the woods instead of staying at the shelter but does he have another hiding place? He encountered Hibiki and though they're often at odds Tsuboi has told him there's a traitor at the shelter, that's the person in that above screenshot!
Of course with no supplies coming in the amount of food and water are rapidly decreasing. But it shouldn't be at the rate it has been and Shigeru has confronted the new residents and accused them of stealing the supplies. That's far from the truth and no matter what Kotomo said it fell on deaf ears, not even Hibiki could help. Almost forgot to add in that all four survivors were body searched for a key, that's what really set Hibiki off. But there was one person who knew the evil truth and that was Tsuboi who entered the dining hall where the confrontation was taking place. Yes, food and water were being stolen from the supply room but of all people Tsuboi knows who the real culprit is, the House of Hope director Ren! With a gun being pointed at his head Ren had to spill the beans and admitted he was the thief. But his intentions were all good as they were for the safety of the residents. He was being threatened by that unknown man who we've seen on occasion but he remains a mystery, he told Ren if he wasn't furnished with supplies he would set his Golems free to kill all of the residents!
It's understandable why Ren then has been giving away the shelter's valuable food and water but shouldn't he have told someone about that? Of all people Hibiki was the one most irate, especially because his friends had been accused of the stolen goods and were about to be expelled if it wasn't for Tsuboi. Hibiki even took his pistol and came close to shooting Ren but luckily for him Kurumi jumped in the way preventing a needless death. For now things are a bit calmer and no person will be thrown out of the shelter but soon the residents are going to need to find some food and other supplies. Shortly after that Hibiki was walking the shelter grounds in a daze, he's realizing that he may never get Kurumi back and even threw his engagement ring away. That was also the last we saw of Tsuboi in this series, he was kind of a jerk but I really liked his character. So yet another question is what happened to him and will he survive for the third season?
Down to the final two scenes of this show and both were the most gruesome ones to date. Kanae and Todoroki are still trapped in a small shed, she had escaped from hers and found Todoroki handcuffed in their current location. Escape is seemingly impossible as Todoroki is handcuffed to a pole and though they had tried for days they just couldn't free him. Kanae could have fled to safety but wouldn't leave her new and first mate Todoroki, those two are now close but have this love/hate relationship. But now time is of the essence as outside this small shed are a small army of Golems, for now they couldn't break down the doors or walls but for how much longer will they hold? Not much longer so according to Todoroki there's only one option left, it's something most of us couldn't do.
He had found a small hatchet but it had no affect on the handcuffs. So what Todoroki wanted Kanae to do was.... to cut off his hand with the hatchet!!!! Bit gruesome and don't know if I could such a thing but in a case of life and death perhaps. Kanae couldn't do the deed so Todoroki knew it was left up to him as he grabbed the hatchet and told Kanae to look away. In one fell swoop Todoroki cut off his own right hand(!) and that was an event I didn't see coming. That was the last we saw of the pair in this show but more on how Todoroki is doing in the next recap. While that was going on Hibiki realized he had no more reasons to stay at the shelter so quietly packed his things and headed for the main entrance.
Last two minutes here and Hibiki didn't quite make it to the exit. He was about a hundred feet from it but was hailed down by a panicked Shoko who was running after him. She screamed that her 'new husband' Kotomo was attacked by a Golem(?) and her 'new son' Shori is also missing. Hibiki dashed back with Shoko to find Kotomo badly hurt and sprawled on the ground. He couldn't speak well but pointed to a spot behind some bushes, Hibiki went to investigate and this topped even Todoroki's gory scene. Behind the bushes was the head of Shori stuck on a wooden pole(!) and that was one disturbing scene. Even Hibiki couldn't believe his eyes and this show ended on that note, what a finale.
No comments:
Post a Comment