"Love or Not" drama from 2017, episode five recap

 

 Air Dates: March 20 until May 22, 2017 on dTV/FOD at 2:10 am,  then from July 20 to September 28, 2017 on Fuji. Total of ten episodes and subs were done by neutrinoxs.

 Main Cast: Just these characters but we see the boss of Kosuka and Wataru on occasion, will edit the bios as the recaps go on.

Yuika Motokariya as Mako Hirosawa.... Interior designer who is 29 in age and it appears she's never had a boyfriend. That's because Mako's heart still pines for a boy she met when she was nine and he saved her from some bullies who were trying to steal her rabbit doll. She finally met the man in the first show and he didn't live up to her expectations at all. But a person who did was Kosuke's best friend Wataru and they began dating in the third show.

Kenjiro Yamashita as Kosuke Usami.... Also 29 in age and the boy that helped out Mako all those years ago. He's currently a Salaryman with the Sanba Shoji company and is not that efficient of a worker. When Mako finally met Kosuke after twenty years she was extremely disappointed, in the first show he moved into the apartment below hers. 

Keita Machida as Wataru Sano.... Kosuke's junior at the company but he knows much more than his senpai and is often bailing him out at work. Wataru's father is extremely wealthy and the women flock to him but early on Wataru fell hard for Mako.

Reina Asami as Shiho Hojo.... Mako's friend since high school and she works as a free lance photographer. Like her friend Shiho is quite timid around men but does have a boyfriend who is a doctor though that may not be a lasting relationship. It wasn't as Shiho broke up with the creep in the fifth show.

Erena Mizusawa as Misuzu Mori.... Met Mako in high school, she's two years younger, and currently works as a web writer. She is just so darn attractive and also very outgoing, the next man has been trying to woo her but she's set her sights on Wataru. In the fifth episode we learned that Misuzu is the mother of an eight year old boy named Shin!!!!

Masayasu Yagi as Sota Yabuki.... Owner of the Itsomuno bar/cafe where Kosuke and Wataru often eat lunch or dinner. Sota has been dumped too many times to count by women, after meeting Misuzu in the first show he's fallen head over heels for her but the feeling wasn't mutual until the sixth episode.

Links to the previous recaps:

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

 There is a steady couple coming into this episode who are Mako and Wataru, they do like each other quite a bit but will they still be together by the tenth show? You'd think Mako would eventually get together with Kosuke as them meeting after twenty years was/is the drama's main story. However Kosuke may be hooking up with someone else and will get to that slightly in the recap. But the very important story in this episode is that there may be another couple about to bloom however it may need to wait an episode. The potential pairing is Misuzu and Sota who I had a feeling something would happen between them, let me discuss their longish story first. Well, it's not that long as an episode is only about 22 minutes.

 Since that first episode when Sota laid eyes on Misuzu he's been so smitten, he's had plenty of dates in the past and all have ended in failures. Sota is a tad shy around females and was never able to ask Misuzu out or express his feelings, what's made it worse is that she's admitted that Wataru has stolen her heart. However he's been dating her best friend Mako so he's now out of the picture, could that open the door for Sota? Yes and no which will be explained as we go along. In that last recap Sota had noticed a bruise on her wrist and also overheard a phone conversation where Misuzu told this man(?) that she was tired of giving him money but would do so later in a nearby park. To Sota it sounded as if Misuzu had a deadbeat boyfriend who may be abusing her, what better way to get her attention than saving her from this creep.

 That was the advice from Kosuke which sounded logical to Sota who soon dashed to the park and hid to watch who Misuzu was about to meet. Sota was way off base with his scenario as he witnessed a young boy of about eight come running up to Misuzu and yelling 'Mommy!', those are the screenshots above. Sota knew he blew it badly so tried to slither away but tripped over his own two feet, hearing this was Misuzu and the young boy. Sota was trapped and before he could give a good excuse Misuzu introduced him to the young boy whose name is Shin(taro). This lad took an instant dislike to Sota but Misuzu was glad to see him and even invited Sota to her apartment for a curry lunch. Sota is a bit timid around women but seemed to hit it off well with Misuzu but not Shin though perhaps there can be a way to get them to become friends. In a move that broke Sota's heart Misuzu asked him to watch over her son that Sunday as she had to go a matchmaking party(!) but Sota still agreed to the request.

 Watched the next show and the marriage/divorce was never explained, will it ever? I'm curious about Misuszu as she's just 27 in age yet has an eight year old son and is divorced? Know that's common to an extent but what happened way back then and how come her friends Mako and Shiho have never mentioned her son? That outing between Sota and Shin was a total bomb though it started off well. Shin enjoys Basketball but isn't that good but he is only eight however Sota seems to be a good player and because of that Shin immediately looked up to him. But when a group of boys Shin's age passed by Sota asked them if Shin could join them, the boys laughed at that suggestion which sent Shin into an angry and sad rage. He ran off and the next thing that happened was that Misuzu appeared at Sota's cafe, she was beyond furious and ordered Sota to stay out of her and Shin's life... forever!!!!

 Having a bit of a brain cramp(?!) so let me wrap this up somewhat quickly. So above was the end of the story for Sota and Misuzu but only for this episode. Once again in the next show they get most of the spotlight and will those two have any kind of future? For now the couple who appear they will have a future together are Mako and Wataru, after being the main focus of the previous 2 1/2 shows we didn't see all that much of them in this episode. Things are going well or it seems so, there may be a slight bump in the road in the next episode. Wataru has plans to open up a unique hotel or one that is unique in Japan. It's just in the planning stages and he would like Mako to be the interior designer, we've never seen her at work yet or even know if she has a lot of talent. So we're going to end off with Kosuke and Shiho who have it off so well and she finally did what I was hoping for, you can see that in the above two screenshots.

 After many rumors and warnings Shiho finally caught her doctor boyfriend Saeki cheating on her as he was out with a much younger woman. It was a chance encounter, Shiho was just so tired of his lame excuses and told Saeki to take a walk. But Shiho admitted later she almost went back to the creep an hour or so after the encounter but was 'saved' by Kosuke who she had called and he was more than happy to see her. The pair have really been getting along well and he's hired Shiho to do the photography for a major project at his company. The potential lovebirds sat alone in Sota's cafe and Shiho spilled out all of her problems to Kosuke, she had never been able to do that with her best friends Mako or Misuzu. The last we saw of them was that second to last screenshot above but don't think it went any further. Below that is Mako who knew her friend had gone to Kosuke and is she jealous of her that possible relationship?

 That wraps this recap and got a second wind halfway through. Though it's only August bet I've written up more recaps than any other year already so sometimes I do get a bit burnt out. Should have had these three posts done by Thursday but bet they won't be completed by Sunday! So may take a mini break soon from dramas but it's not because of this series and am enjoying it quite a bit, it's a drama that tends to get a tad better with each episode and the sixth show is he next post.