"Madoromi Bartender" drama from 2019: Episode four recap

 

 Air Dates: July 14th until September 29, 2019 on BS Japan, TV-Tokyo and TV-Osaka for a total of twelve episodes, is also called Sleepy Bartender

Subs were done by Gabriel F. at DA, shows are ~22 minutes in length

Theme song/intro for the drama

Main Cast: The three woman are housemates and all work as barmaids. None seem to have a last name and it doesn't really matter.

Arisa Yagi as Hiyoko.... Works at a bar named Stream though we haven't seen her in action tending bar there. Hiyoko is originally from Nagoya and like her housemate Kiho we haven't seen enough of her to really know who she is.

Hyunri as Kiho.... Barmaid at the exclusive Elysion Tokyo Hotel

Mai Kiryuu as Yuki.... Owner of a 'pop up bar' named Satellite which she moves on a frequent basis and usually sets up shop in a park. Yuki's only been so-so successful with this unique bar and the main reason could be is because she moves the location so often. Prior to her own bar had worked as a barmaid at the same hotel as Kiho.

 Guest stars for this episode

Yurika Nakamura as Wakao.... Hostess/waitress who works at the Elysion Tokyo Hotel with Kiho, was extremely frustrated when she didn't get a promotion to being a barmaid.

Links to the previous shows:

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

 Another trio pair of recaps for today, didn't think the first three would be too popular and they weren't! But this has been a somewhat enjoyable drama and while it may not feature any stars it's a decent show to kick back on and you will learn much about mixing drinks. I do like Mai who has the largest role in the drama, don't know if it'll work out but going to try having a post or two for her. The guest stars play a key part in this series and you may know this episode's actress who is Yurika Nakamura. She never has lead roles but always has key and large parts in her dramas, especially "Koe Girl" and "Kakegurui".

 Yurika plays the character of Wakao who is a greeter/server at a very ritzy hotel. It's name is Elyison and she works the same night shift as Kiho, Wakao used to work at a dive bar up until a year ago. But one night she visited the hotel bar and was served by Kiho, she was so impressed with the way she prepared drinks and the whole atmosphere of the bar Wakao applied for a job and got it. So for a year she's been just a hostess and server at the exclusive bar but there was an immediate opening for a bartender and Wakao felt sure the manager would select her. That wasn't to be as her junior Yamaji was chosen, she didn't show it then but Wakao felt her life was over.

 The following day Wakao sent messages to the managers and Kiho stating she was leaving the bar, when Kiho arrived at work she was dispatched to bring Wakao back. It appears Kiho took the entire night off then and being a ritzy bar she must have lost a lot of $$ in tips. But then again Kiho did care about Wakao and while the pair weren't close Wakao really respected her senior. For a serious talk of all places Kiho brought her workmate to Yuki's pop-up Satellite bar stall and there was a reason for that. This was the first time the main story didn't center around Yuki, Kiho had much more screen time but the main character in this show was Wakao. She was quite impressed with Yuki's small bar and thought she was doing very well business wise, to me that's far from the truth.

 Wakao kind of needed a wakeup call and Kiho gave her that talk but in a positive way. There was no reason for Wakao to blame everyone, especially Yamaji, for her not getting the bartender position. Though Wakao had been there six months longer than him Kiho said she didn't know the whole story. For instance after Yamaji's shift he would practice making drinks at home and went to other bars to observe how their bartenders created drinks. That kind of calmed Wakao down a bit but of course she's still down in the dumps about not getting the promotion. To Wakao she's almost as good as everyone else and as you can see in the top screenshot above she challenged Yuki to a drinking contest! Not a contest to see who could drink the most but who could create the best drink and Wakao picked the wrong person to challenge, the drink was a Gin Fizz.

 And Wakao did a solid job with her creation, it got a passing grade from Kiho. However Yuki's Gin Fizz was so much better which Wakao had to admit, how did she do it? Before Yuki could give a demonstration Wakao passed out on the bar as she cannot hold her liquor well, next thing she knew it was morning and she woke up in Kiho's living room. There she met the third roommate Hiyori and hopefully we'll see much more of her in the next episode. She works at a bar named Stream and we haven't seen her work there yet, if all else fails Hiyori told Waako to come work with her! Soon Kiho and Hiyori had to leave the house which sent Wakao snooping around as Yuki was still sleeping on the living room floor. Wakao discovered a room which I didn't know was in the house and that was the girl's practice room.

 That liquor cabinet in the practice room would put many bar's to shame, no wonder the three women were such experts at mixing drinks. Now that Wakao was fully awake Yuki gave a demonstration on how she made her unique Gin Fizz, Wakao was mightily impressed and knew she did have to work a bit harder if she wanted to become a bartender at the five star Elysion Hotel. In the last regular scene later on that evening Wakao paid a visit to Kiho at the hotel's bar and though we didn't see the final outcome it appears Wakao has gotten her job back. Once again Wakao was impressed with an act and this time from her new mentor Kiho. She remembered the time Wakao came into the bar before she began working there, Wakao had ordered a Jack Rose and Kiho made it just like the first time which was over a year ago.

 That concludes this recap and will admit this may not be the most exciting show but that's okay as it's quite enjoyable and have met a pair of new actresses who I may do posts for soon. Still torn on whether I'll do recaps for all twelve episodes, seeing as how I'll be watching all of them odds are good there will be a post for all of the episodes. Next post is for episode five which I haven't viewed yet.