Hinatazaka46: "Koeharu!" drama, episode ten(final) 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. She quit voice acting training in the sixth show but has returned with a vengeance in the eighth episode.

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 had continued on to this school. Had because she changed her ways after the fourth show and is best buddies now with the other girls.

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 her 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.

Konoka Matsuda as Mari Koshino.... Didn't see much of her in the first five shows but is a very talented and popular voice actress.

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 .... Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

 May help to read those other recaps as the first trio were posted on May 23rd, the second pair on June 14th, the next two a week later and the eighth show on June 26th. So that's a bit of a gap between them 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. This final recap will be the longest though of course much shorter than 45 minute shows, these are about 23 in length. Quite a bit was crammed in and took about ten more screenshots than usual. Don't want to omit anything so an extra paragraph or two will probably be needed. 

 In the eighth episode the director of the 'Namidairo Senki' anime movie also began filming a documentary of the girls vying for the role of Tya. But no mention was made of it in the ninth show and it was only discussed for twenty seconds in this one so no clue if it was ever completed. The time has really flown in this series, it began in April 2018 and by the end of the fifth episode it was April 2021. Most of this takes place in May or June(?) of the same year but in the final few minutes it was the year of 2024. On to the regular recap and hope you read the above post which explained the second stage of the auditions for the 'Namidairo Seki' anime, it's now down to three applicants vying for the major role of Tya.

 But will there be an official third audition or will it just be a farce? That's because at the end of the previous episode on the day of the final audition Mana and Meiko overheard the director Kakizawa talking on the phone to an associate. What they heard was the third gal vying for the role of Tya, Mari, is going to get the part and the other two have zero chance but to make things look fair the audition will still take place. Mana may be a smallish gal but is quite feisty and got right into Kakizawa's face really berating him. She wants to leave with Meiko who was a bit hesitant about that, though the audition may be rigged she'd still like to go through with it. But the two young women, especially Meiko, have a savior who is the older man above and is the writer of the 'Namidairo Senki' manga.

 That's Enjo who knew nothing about what Kakizawa was planning and was a bit upset about it. Enjo knows that Mari may be more talented than Mana or Meiko but he's seen some special talents that the girls possess and to him both have an excellent shot at winning the role of Tya. Enjo was a bit miffed at Kakizawa but didn't show it in front of the girls, he knows how popular Mari is which would help the film be a bigger success. But everything got cleared up well enough and it's on to the audition, Kakizawa will still be a judge with Enjo but the author will have the final say on parts. That final say was the reason the movie was put on ice for three years as Enjo wouldn't give permission for the movie to be made unless he was able to choose the voice actresses. So now it's on to the audition and Mari is still the favorite to win the role of Tya but at this point who knew what was going to happen.

 Mari is such a popular voice actress and as you can see above she has her own fan club, 200 lucky winners were able to view the audition live. Also in attendance were the other girls from the Doremi dorm and the majority of them are doing well in their entertainment fields. The first woman in the second screenshot is Yukina who will be the official ambassador for the 'Namidairo Senki' movie. Below that you can see the girl's headmaster Genmai who sadly passed away three shows ago but many of his ideas are being used for the audition. This final 'test' is the simplest as what the three needed to do was to 'promote themselves' and tell Enjo why they want and deserve the role of Tya. First up was Mana and she gave a bit of an inspiring speech about how the manga helped her overcome the tragic car accident which ruined her Kendo career.

 All three finalists did a different style of self promoting, Mana's was the best as it was humble yet she did explain why she would be best at the part. Up next was Mari who spoke many lines from the the movie's script which she already memorized, not just Tya's lines but most everyone's! She did a superb job and Enjo can't go wrong by choosing her. Mari at first was such a stuck up person but has mellowed out after meeting Mana and Meiko, she's become  so much easier to root for. So up last was Meiko whose way of self promotion may cost her the role. She talked about how she's been a fan of the manga for well over a decade and at times it's given her a reason to keep living! However Meiko didn't talk enough about why she should get the role of Tya and in a way she ended up promoting Mana and Mari more for the role than herself! But Enjo was impressed and really sees some hidden talent in Meiko that only the headmaster Genmai did, but will it be enough to win the role?

 Not a long audition but Enjo and Kakizawa needed to discuss their observations so there was a thirty minute break until the results were announced. During that period Mana harshly ripped into her best friend Meiko, after working so hard how could she say the other two would be better for the role of Tya? To that Meiko couldn't give much of a response, seems she lost a bit of confidence in herself on that audition day but then again was confident enough to express her true feeling. Now it's on to the moment of truth which we've been waiting for since the first episode. Bit of a shock but not too much as Mari didn't win the starring role yet will be playing the part of Tya's sister in the anime movie. As you can see in the bottom screenshot above the winner of the Tya role went to.... MANA!!!!

 To me that was a wise decision and have been saying since the second episode Mana was the most talented of the girls at the Doremi dorm. She's had some tough breaks along the way and she truly deserved to win the starring role. Was correct with my prediction way back in time about Meiko not getting the role of Tya so what's to become of her? At this point there's about five minutes to go in the show and the action switched to the year 2024, will have those details coming up. Back to the audition and before Enjo could say anything Meiko just thanked everyone for their support and would be heading back to her hometown to live with her grandmother. 'Not so fast' Enjo told Meiko as though she didn't win one of the existing roles in the 'Namidairo Senki' film she'll still be in it! Enjo is just so impressed with her demeanor and also her unique voice so he's going to create a new character just for Meiko that will appear in the anime movie and also future issues of the manga!

 That short scene from the year 2024 showed how the original seven girls from the Doremi dorm were getting on and all were doing quite well. Tae is still with her Chocola Chocola J-Pop group which has become much more popular and still does voice acting. Airi is still a model and also writes a column for a monthly mag while Amasaki has had several lead roles in an anime. Yukina is still an ambassador for the 'Namidairo Senki' franchise which is now also a TV anime, didn't hear what was happening with Chizue though. Did mention Meiko who is doing the voice of the new character Slyzer for the anime and also has had a few other roles. The gal that became extremely popular was Mana who has done so many other lead roles in anime series and is always appearing on some variety show. So a happy ending to this drama though it didn't end the way you thought it would which was a positive.

 Always get a bit sad when an Idol series ends as it'll be a long wait until the next one. Not a must watch but if you're a Hina fan or of any of the other two '46' groups then would highly recommend it. You can get these episodes at either the Broken Subs or the Team Hinata site, they teamed up for the project and did a solid job with the subs. Will give this a final rating of 8.6/10 which is high for me though it didn't top the group's "Re:Mind" drama, would like to see another in that vein. Have almost finished two other dramas and after that not sure what'll be on tap for my next show.