Hinatazaka46: "Koeharu" drama, episode seven recap

 

 Air Dates: April 28th until June 30, 2021  Wednesday nights at 1:00 am on NTV

Subs are a joint project of Broken Subs and Team Hinata.... 22 minutes an episode

Main Cast: Top seven are all Hina members, first six are all first year students at the Kirameki Voice Actor's School. Bottom person is another member but we don't see her as she does some narration and often for Meiko's thoughts. All save for Amasaki live at the school's Doremi dorm. 

Mirei Saski as Meiko Hinowa.... Quite a shy nineteen year old who is such a fanatic about the "Namidairo Senki" weekly manga series. She's such a fan of the manga that she enrolled in the school when Meiko heard there would be an anime of it. It'll be a long shot for her to voice the role of Tya as Meiko is a bit inept at most things.

Akari Nibu as Mana Tendou.... Such an energetic student who is so talented at seemingly everything. She's become Meiko's best friend and it was revealed in the second show that Mana was a champion at Kendo until a tragic car accident.

Miho Watanabe as Amasaki Amane.... Went to high school with Meiko but Amasaki can't stand her and has bullied her for so long. Her father is quite wealthy, in high school she was the Queen of Snobs which has continued on to this school.

Miku Kanemura as Yukina Tsukikawa.... Her dream was to be a J-Pop Idol but failing all auditions thought going to a voice actress school would help her Idol career. After graduation she'll continue heer training at the Akaichi Pro Agency.

Hina Kawata as Tae Honda.... Simply idolizes Yukina. We never knew much about her until episode four and still don't but she was the first of the bunch to land an anime role.

Hinano Kamimura as Airi Kusuma.... In episode three has became a fashion model but will continue with her voice actress studies. She's such a quiet female and because Meiko is like that too Airi really looks up to her.

Ayaka Takamoto as Chizue Harukaze.... Doremi Dorm mother and still in VA training but does get an occasional voice acting job.

Aya Hirano as Iwao.... The student's main teacher and what a peppy woman! In real life Aya is known for being a singer and also a very busy voice actress.

Koichi Yamadera as Odawara Genmai.... Headmaster of Kirameki Voice Actor's School and also the creator of the Genmai training program. He sadly died at the beginning of episode seven.

Naoto Takenaka as Kinkakuji Enjo.... Older popular manga artist, writer of the 'Namidairo Senki' series published in the Weekly Hop magazine.

Sarina Ushio as the narrator.

Previous recaps:

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three

Episode four .... Episode five

 May help to read those other recaps as the first trio were posted on May 23rd and the second pair on June 14th. So that's a bit of a gap and as I won't be discussing too much of what's taken place may help to read some of them and none are that long. Trying to use some logic here to figure out the timeline as events have really zoomed these first seven shows. The way I look at it the series began in April 2018 when Meiko and her mates enrolled at the Kirameki Voice Acting School. In the last episode there were less than three months to go until the two year program ended so that would probably mean January 2020. When this episode began it was over a year later and it being pleasant outside will say it's now April 2021 or three years since the show began.

 So as you can tell by the top screenshot almost a year has passed since the last episode, think I'm correct in saying it's April 2021. So what's become of the eight main characters in this tale of them becoming voice actresses? Will get to everyone as this post goes on but the main question is what's become of the main heroine Meiko? She had left the Kirameki Voice Acting School two months before graduating and if life was difficult before it's grown much worse. Meiko has been working as a cleaner in a hospital, a low paying job as her apartment isn't much larger than a closet. But most of the friends she met at the school have been doing well, in the second screenshot on the left is Yukina who has been signed by the Akaishi Pro Agency as she's still in training and has a semi-popular YT channel. Her partner on the channel is the girl's ex-Doremi dorm mother Chizue. She's two years older than everyone else, she had struggled after graduation but has a new agency and has done some minor voice roles.

 Taking Chizue's place as the dorm mother was none other than Meiko's best friend Mana but she's also been attending the after-graduation Kirameki program and is part of their agency. But for the most part the girls have lost contact with each other and sadly a tragedy brought them together again. As you can see above the school's headmaster Genami has passed away and what a blow it was to everyone, especially Meiko. She didn't leave the school on good terms and in her final meeting with Genmai she had a major tantrum and left the school that same day. He was a true believer in Meiko's talents and the one reason he didn't recommend her for the graduate agency is that she had lost so much of her enthusiasm for voice acting. That was mainly  because Meiko had been working on an anime project with a man from another school, it really drained her and Meiko's personality changed for the worse.

 Besides being the headmaster of the Kirameki Voice Acting School Genmai was also a noted voice actor himself. So was a bit surprised when the funeral was held a few days after his passing the hall wasn't filled with a thousand or more people to pay their respects. But the eight girls from the Doremi dorm were there and it was their first time being together in fifteen months. Meiko didn't have much to say to her ex-comrades as she's quite ashamed she quit while everyone else is still pursuing their dream. At the funeral all the attendees were to give a short eulogy, when it came time for Meiko to speak she couldn't. It wasn't a case of laryngitis but she just couldn't utter a word, not just at the funeral but for days after that. Could it be a case of her being so ashamed at how her life has turned out and how things ended with Genmai? But according to the girls ex-teacher Iwao the headmaster's last 24 hours were among the best he's ever had.

 Genmai had won huge at a Mahjong tournament the night before, he had a few other unique adventures and the following morning gave his best performance ever as a voice actor. Least he went out on a high note and twenty minutes after that last performance is when Genmai passed away. After the funeral Mana refused to let the girls go on their merry way and invited them back to the Doremi dorm for a reunion. Mana isn't much of a dorm mother as no students had been assigned to live there, to top it off the house looked worse than a pigsty! The previous mother Chizue almost had a heart attack when she saw the condition of the place and wouldn't let anyone leave until it was in tip top shape! After that major job was done the girl's ex-teacher Iwao paid them a visit and had a bit of a surprise. That anime "Majouko Pampiron" that was discussed in the last recap hadn't been entirely completed but she's worked on what was available and would the girls want to voice it in Genmai's honor?

 All readily agreed to voicing the anime though of course Meiko couldn't say a word. Also there was Tae who had been the first one to land a role in an anime and is also a member of an offshoot Idol group. Airi was also present, in the third show she had become a model but is still training to be a voice actress. One other girl that wasn't mentioned was Amasaki, along with Mana she's attending the Kirameki grad program and is in their agency. At one time Amasaki hated all of the girls but changed her ways and is now part of their troupe. So off to the recording studio and the same problem exists as it did in the last recap. That's of  the man Tanabe not finishing the script nor were his anime drawings all that professional but this will be the first time all of the girls have done an anime together.

 Mana had the lead role as the princess and really can't tell you much about the story as we didn't see enough of the recording session. But all of the girls seemed to do fine and they did remember all the little tricks that Genmai and Iwao taught them. However when it came time for Meiko to voice her Cat role she still couldn't utter a word, Amasaki jumped in and did it to keep the story moving. Right towards the end of the uncompleted script Genmai was supposed to say a few lines but of course couldn't, what should the girls do? To their surprise Meiko overcame her anxieties and voiced the lines Genami would have said, so a huge reason for that voice loss was that Meiko wasn't able to give her thanks to the headmaster plus she was so distraught at disappointing him.

 Now Meiko has become inspired again and wants to begin voice actress training again, is it too late? Not according to Mana who has invited Meiko to live with her at the Doremi dorm, they'll work something out and wouldn't be surprised if some of the other girls also start living there again. As the episode ended there was some fantastic news for Meiko as the project to make her fave manga 'Namidairo Senki' into a anime is now back on!!!! That ends this recap and have to admit I'm really enjoying this series, interesting enough story plus all of the Hina members are so likable. As I said in the first of today's recaps am waiting for the eighth episode to be subbed before publishing these two posts. Then it would just be two weeks until the final two shows are subbed which mans the trio for the last three shows will be done in two weeks.