"Toki wo Kakeru Band" drama: Episode one of ten recap

 

 Air Dates: August 19th to October 21, 2020 on FOD at midnight. It then aired on Fuji from October 19th until December 7, 2020 at 12:25 am. Title also means Time Bending Band

Subs were done by Nippon Golden/aoinousgai

Main Cast: Top three are the members of the rock trio Chahhan and would say all are twenty in age. Seems they've been together for a while and do have a contract with a small record company but fortune hadn't been smiling on them and the trio have been wavering about disbanding. That was until a man from 2019(?!) appeared suddenly one day and vowed he would make them stars! These first two shows began off in August 2006.

Sei Shiraishi as Yuki Ebana.... The group's guitarist and main singer, that's her second to the right above. Yuki is quite a strong willed woman who wants to make most of the band's decisions but is mellowing out slightly, her mother works at a Ramen shop owned by Toko's father.

Yuno Ohara as Toko Murakami.... Chahhan's drummer and as mentioned her father owns a Ramen cafe. She's the opposite of Yuki as Toko started off the series by being so meek but with the help of their 'new manager' is slowly changing that. She's on the right in the above pic.

Mijika Nagai as Shiori Kato.... The band's bassist and writes most of their songs. She's kind of a gloomy gal who often threatens to kill herself, though Shiori sounds serious she would never go through with it. She gets way too nervous playing live and has passed out twice at shows.

Shohei Miura as Ryo.... No last name for now and claims to come from the year 2019!? He was a record producer in that future year and so far we have no clue how he's gone back in time thirteen years. He quickly became the band's manager and vowed to make them superstars. We see a few glimpses now and again in the year 2019 where it appears Chahhan becoming successful was true, also seemed he was on his 'death bed' in that year.

Mizuki Itagaki as Seiichi Izumi.... Member of the rival band Three Dimension and there's a lot of references back to 1960's music. Seems like a decent guy and Toko has a crush on him though it appears Yuki may be his dream girl.

Hiroyuki Watanabe as Yuichi Yanagishita.... Executive at the small FMR company who has worked closely with the girls. But he's gotten frustrated at their lack of success, though he does like the band he's on the verge of dropping them from the company.

 Audio clip of the group's 'signature' song which is Orange: Orange

 

 Little late again recapping a series but the subs were just completed in mid May. That happens often with Japanese dramas in that they get subbed months after the show finished but as long as they're done I have no complaints. What's really pleasing me this year is the amount of late night shows that are being subbed, to me they are miles ahead of prime time dramas which are only recommended to those people who are brain dead or suffer from insomnia.

 Been on a nice roll with my watches the last few months, the last ten or so have been late night series which I've enjoyed. While none are must watches do recommend most and the majority are only about 25 minutes in length. This drama has started out well, have viewed the first four shows and hopefully the streak of watching interesting dramas continues. As you can see Sei is the star of the show and this is my third drama starring her in the last two months. She'll be turning 23 on August 10th and would have to say she's the best actress these days under 25 in age, she tops most older than that. Plus still say she's such a dead ringer of Miori Takimoto when she was that age.

 Besides 60's music there's also references to many other bands, think that top screenshot is supposed to be a takeoff from "London Calling" and the group's new manager Ryo did cite Joe Strummer later on. The group Chahhan seems to have been around for a while, through four shows we haven't learned anything about their past or how they were formed. They do a have a contract with the FMR record company but the group is still unknown and always have to audition for gigs. That's where this first episode began which are the middle two screenshots. With their record company 'handler' Yanagishita and others watching their audition the bass player Shiori passed out during the middle of a song, won't be the first time either. No second chances as the promoters watching their mini show said 'Thanks but no thanks' and it was back to the FMR offices to get a lashing.

 Yanagishita is a much older man but has really worked hard for Chahhan but none of that work has paid off as the girls are going nowhere. He's threatened to drop them from the company but will give them a second chance if they can sell all the CD's of their first single, 500 were made but the group has sold only four! To top it off they have only three days to sell them all so it looks like a lost cause and the trio is wondering whether to continue or not. Lot of their spare time is spent at the drummer's Toko's father's Ramen shop where Yuki's mother also works. Shiori is kind of a gloomy gal, she writes much of their music but goes on nonstop about killing herself, more so since her fainting at concerts is one of the main reasons for the group about to be dropped from FMR records. But there may be a savior for the gals as Yuki's mother walked into the restaurant with an unknown young man.

 He had helped the woman carry many bags back to the eatery and for that Yuki's mother insisted he stay to eat to his heart's content which is what the man did. This newcomer's name is Ryo who appears to be in his young thirties and used this chance to meet the girls which was the main reason for helping the mother out. Ryo said he was at their audition, to him they sounded superb though of course with Shiori fainting they couldn't finish their set. Ryo told the Chahhan group that he's in the music industry and would love to help them out, perhaps become their manager/producer?

 The trio are a bit leery naturally, who is this man they've known for all of five minutes that wants to manage them? But Ryo does seem to know a lot about the music industry and with their company about to drop them should they listen to him more? The answer soon became NO as Ryo told the girls he's from the future, 2019 to be exact! That threw the band for a loop and especially Yuki who wanted nothing to do with this 'man from the future' and stormed out of the restaurant vowing she'll quit the band. Ryo isn't a ghost but he seems to have this ability to transport himself from here to there in a matter of seconds. That's what he did as he was waiting for Yuki way down the road and she was perplexed on how Ryo got there. He has a good handle on what's going on with the girls in the band and he had an encouraging talk with Yuki about her mates and the future. 

 Ryo showed Yuki some pics on his phone that were from 2019, by then the band had become quite popular but of course to Yuki he did some trickery as there's no way Ryo is from 2019. But he did strike a deal with Yuki, if he helps them sell the 496 copies of the band's CD will they make him their manager? The girls agreed to that thinking there's no way it could happen but they didn't know Ryo who is so energetic and witty. He purchased 500 DVD's that featured some exercise training and the group would sell their CD's as a pair with the video. The come on was to follow the video's exercise instructions while listening to the band's songs but would even one person buy the set for 20,000 yen?

 The answer is yes and by the end of the day all copies of the CD nd DVD were sold. The first person to buy the set was a woman who was with her husband. We didn't know at the time but the husband is a music critic and we'll be hearing more about him. So selling out their CD means the record company won't be dropping the band and now they have a new manager in Ryo. But they do owe him 220,000 yen for the DVD's he purchased! That brings us to the end of this first episode, a show is only 21 minutes in length and the recap for episode two is he next post.

 Am really liking this series and have already viewed four shows, will end off with a few questions I have which should(hopefully) be answered as time goes on. In that bottom screenshot above it's 2019 and we see short scenes from that year in every episode. Ryo is in the hospital and is quite sick, with him is Yuki and did they become a pair? My biggest question is why did Ryo go back from 2019 to 2006? If the band Chahhan was already successful in 2019 why did he need to go back in time, are there other events besides the band being popular that he wants to change? Nothing major but those are some things along with a few others I'll be looking out for in the shows past the fourth episode.