"Toki wo Kakeru Band" drama: Episode two 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 four 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

 

 Did mention in the first recap that there's a lot of references to older bands and music. Each show's title shows an old album cover, first show it was "London Calling" and in this one it's "Abbey Road". Plus the rivals of the Chahhan group are named Three Dimension which I think refers to the Byrds. So far through four shows we've only heard two different songs by Chahhan, mainly the above "Orange" song. It's okay but could use a bit more energy to it, it does seem a bit similar to the songs Stereopony did but not as hard rocking, on to this episode's recap.

 In that first recap the Chahhan band sold out the 500 copies of their CD and may not be dropped by their FMR label. But it appears even with selling those CD's their fortunes are not on the upswing as one of the people to purchase the CD was a music critic named Aihara. He writes for the 'Rocking On' magazine and trashed the band in the latest issue, their fashion sense is zero and the music is just so-so at best. But the critic did rave about Chahhan's label mate's Three Dimension who to Aihara was the best up and coming group around to the girl's fury. To top it off their FMR handler Yanagishita has pulled Chahhan's studio time and gave it to their rivals! However Yuki has managed to persuade Yanagishita to have Aihara watch them in concert once more but will Shiori pass out again?

 Each of these first three episodes focused on one band member, first show was Yuki who will always get the most screen time and in the next show it'll be Shiori. In this episode the band's drummer Toko was the focal point and in these first three shows it's how Ryo has helped a member overcome their problems. Of course if you read the first recap you know that Ryo is Chahhan's new manager and he's really helped these girls out immensely. A question that needs to be answered is how did Ryo go back in time from 2019 to 2006(!) which naturally is a story the girls don't believe. That bottom screenshot above is of Toko at home viewing the Three Dimension website, she's had a secret crush on their front man Seiichi for a while and hadn't said it yet but the girls all live in the same apartment.

 Did mention in the first recap that while Ryo isn't a ghost he has this ability to suddenly arise at any location, that's what he did when Toko was viewing pics of Seiichi. Toko naturally said she wasn't interested in the man and was just checking out their rival's website, Ryo though caught her in a blatant lie. But more importantly Ryo wanted to get to know Toko a bit more so as to overcome her problems, that's of being a gal who is so easily pushed around and won't give her opinions. While Toko's band mates may not think it's a problem Ryo knows better and has vowed to change the group's drummer. First off he brought Toko to a clothing store where the clerk was about to make an easy sell to Toko with a pair of shirts she didn't like. But Ryo has a 'contract' with Toko, if she doesn't change her ways and become more forceful then he'll tell her mates about Toko's secret crush on Seiichi!

 That 'contract' did the trick as for the first time Toko put her foot down to the store's clerk and said she didn't want those shirts. She also helps out at her father's Ramen shop where the regular customers often make fun of Toko. They were doing that after that mini shopping excursion and asked her if Ryo was her new boyfriend or perhaps a male escort?! Toko took their ribbing in stride though she may not have realized they were actually bullying her, it took Ryo to whisper the name of Seiichi to finally make Toko put the customers in their place. So Toko's demeanor is rapidly changing but what will she do when her band mates try to force her into doing what they say needs to be done? 

 Yuki had chosen outfits the group should wear on stage, to Toko they were horrendous and especially the one chosen for her. But Toko just did her usual smiling and said they were okay but from behind her Ryo said it's time for her to continue her new forceful ways. Which meant that for the first Toko stood up to Yuki, she said the outfits were terrible and she was so tired of being bossed around. Toko was correct in everything she said but Yuki did have a good response in that Toko never expresses her opinions so how could she or Shiori know what Toko thought about things? However the talk became a bit more down and dirty, soon Toko just couldn't take Yuki's bossy ways and stormed out of their apartment vowing to quit Chahhan! She headed to their rehearsal space where Toko let out all of her fury on the drums but it's who she ran into after which changed her views on Yuki and the band.

 Also in the same rehearsal space was her dream man Seiichi who may like Toko as a friend but deep down he appears to have a crush on Yuki. Seiichi mentioned that Yuki had made some comments about the band on her music blog and they were all positive ones, especially for how well her mates played their instruments. So that got Toko thinking she may have been a bit harsh with her thoughts about Yuki and went back to patch things up. Yuki also had the same intentions as her mate in that she wants to apologize and give Toko more of a say in band matters, Ryo had shown her and Shiori designs Toko had made of outfits the band should wear which were so much better than Yuki's outfits. So now Toko is Chahhan's fashion leader and it was kind of a happy ending, at the band's next audition for the critic Aihara they'll be wearing Toko's new outfits.

 These episodes are only 21 minutes in length and really zooming through them as I viewed four shows in one day. But won't be zooming through the recaps as I'll be spacing them out, today is Saturday so perhaps the next pair will be on Thursday. Do have a pair or other dramas to finish up and that should be happening within the next two weeks or perhaps less time than that. Sei will be in another drama beginning in ten days but it's a prime time show so really not sure I'll be viewing it but will at least check out the first episode.