"Love or Not" drama from 2017, episode four 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.

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.

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.

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 isn't mutual.

Links to the previous recaps:

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

 Took a minor break from drama viewing, didn't want to become burnt out from watching or recapping them. Do like to have a fair amount of drama posts but not as many as there has been recently but this massive slowdown on activities has prevented me from doing as many regular posts. But I have been enjoying this series, once I finish it will have some movie reviews which have been scarce this year. Have added in the links to the previous episodes, will refer back to some events on occasion but may help to read the last recap.

 Haven't viewed episode six yet, want to try and finish this post before I do. But there's been a lot of developments in this and the next show as all of the characters have almost the same amount of screen time. Which means that no person dominates the story in today's first recap and there's three potential relationships but besides one of them will any get off the ground.? That one which has begun is between Mako and Wataru, you can see him in the top screenshot. The last show ended off with him telling Mako's father that he's now dating his daughter with plans on marrying her but that meeting just came after their first date! Wataru was smitten with Mako the first time he laid eyes on her in the first show, she wasn't upset at all with what Wataru had told her father.

 Mako may have been happy as a clam underneath but that wasn't the case with Kosuke who was also there when Wataru did his confessions. Even though Kosuke hadn't seen Mako in twenty years he still has a crush on his first love but when you think about it hard to believe Kosuke can still have feelings for someone he's only met once in his life. So what Kosuke has attempted to do so he won't feel jealous was to devote himself much more at his job at the Sanba Shoji company where he works with Wataru. Kosuke is a dependable and organized person but not at work where he constantly needs to be bailed out by Wataru but it's mainly because Kosuke is a bit lazy and too often looks for the easy way out. Not so now as he volunteered for a special project and is showing he can be a solid worker.

 Above in the dozen screenshots are the owner of the Itsumomo cafe, Sota, and the woman Misuzu. They've both had a decent amount of screen time but neither role has been too important but that's about to change in the next episode. Sota fell for Misuzu instantly at the mini party in the first show but has never revealed his feelings to her but has to his friends Kosuke and Wataru. However Misuzu had fallen head over heels for Wataru but now that her friend Mako was dating him does that mean Sota has a chance with her? It doesn't appear so as Sota overheard Misuzu talking with a man on the phone, perhaps her boyfriend? Sota and Kosuke think so as this man wanted more money plus she had a bruise on her arm, was this man a deadbeat boyfriend beating her up?

 The answer is no and the mystery of that man will be revealed in the next recap. Now that Mako has been seeing Wataru more and more seems Kosuke and her are getting along so much better and could almost be considered friends. Don't know if this will work out but out of nowhere a possible romance could be in the works between Kosuke and Mako's best friend Shiho. In this episode Misuzu finally told Shiho that she saw her doctor boyfriend Saeki with another woman when he had told Shiho he had a meeting with another doctor. So he's not to be trusted plus Shiho is getting fed up with his bossy ways plus he insists she quit her job as a photographer when they get married. Shiho is against that and it's only a matter of time before she dumps him. For Kosuke's project at work he needed a photographer and got hooked up with Shiho, they only had one short scene together in this show but the sparks began flying during that mini meeting.

 Guess I made the above paragraphs too long as there's only a few minutes to go in this show. The project Kosuke is working on has to do with Cypertrend Funds, he was so impressed with Shiho's photos for it he's hired her. After being with a creep like that doctor Saeki for so long a nice guy like Kosuke has been like a breath of fresh air to Shiho. So much she couldn't stop talking about him later on that night at Mako's apartment, she has been dating Wataru but you can tell she's a bit jealous of her best friend. Especially when Shiho referred to him as Ko-chan but we didn't see any of the conversation after that. So that brings us to the end of this recap, Mako and Kosuke did meet outside their building the following morning but she held back what's she's learned of Kosuke's possible new relationship. Next post has the recap for the fifth episode.