Hinako Sakurai: "Gohoubi Gohan" drama, episode nine recap

 

 

Air Dates: October 2nd to December 19th Sunday nights at midnight on BS TV-Tokyo

Total of twelve episodes, 23 minutes a show and subs were done by Macthitza at DA

Main Cast: Small cast and all the characters are quite likable, through ten episodes Hinako has been in 100% of the scenes.

Hinako Sakura as Sakiko Ikeda.... 22 year old woman who has just moved to Tokyo from Nagano and has begun work as an OL at the Suzume Stationary Company in the distribution department. Sakiko is an efficient worker but doesn't have enough confidence in herself, to make herself feel better Food has become her biggest passion. Doesn't matter if it's eating out or at home as Sakiko has such pleasure in the meals she consumes and it's quite hilarious watching her eat.

Sae Okazaki as Kaede Kominato.... Works at the same office and has been there a little while longer than Sakiko who at first was quite intimidated by Kaede. But at the end of the first show the pair bumped into each other at a ritzy burger shop, they found out they have so much in common and are becoming best friends.

Yuki Furukawa as Maokoto Isogai.... Works in the designing office and though a major character we didn't see much of him until the eighth episode.

Miku as Aoyagi.... Office manager at Suzume Stationary and Sakiko was petrified of her at first but after sharing a meal with her found out Aoyagi is a down to earth, funny woman.

Oolong Yoshida as Morigasaki.... One of the directors of the stationary company.

Kizuki as Honda.... Goofy office worker who became Sakiko's first 'friend' at the company.

Hinako has many behind the scenes videos on her YT channel from the drama, here's the link to it if you want to view a few of them: Hinako's YT channel

Previous recaps, episode four wasn't subbed:

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

Episode six .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

 My complaining paid off as this episode became available. Thought it would be a continuation of the eighth show where there may have been some sparks beginning between Sakiko and Isogai but he wasn't even in this episode. In the credits he's billed second yet has only appeared in half the shows. Instead of two 'eating scenes' there was just one in this episode yet to me it may have been the best one to date. There was a flashback scene though of Sakiko eating months before at the restaurant that was visited in this show. The character of Kaede may be the most important person as she seems to liven the scenes up, when she has a lot of screen time those shows tend to be much better such as this episode. After this is the recap for the tenth show but once again there's a problem getting an episode, this time with #11.

 We've come a long ways since that first episode. Back then the 'heroine' Sakiko had been at the Suzume Stationary company for about three months, now it's at least five and though quite eager she was still making mistakes back then. But more importantly Sakiko was way too intimidated by her co-workers but that anxiety was all in her head, thanks to Food she's now acquired her first friends in Tokyo. And her best one is Kaede who is above in a few screenshots, she's only been at the company a little longer than Sakiko and though she appeared to be perfect Kaede too made many mistakes. She was so shocked when Sakiko said the company was the first one she applied to fresh out of college and was hired immediately(!), Kaede had applied to over fifty places before she landed this job. But now both are aces around the office and the Personal Department wants their input for a flyer they're creating for new employees. The pair begin to fill it out but seeing as how it was getting late and it wasn't due for another week it was time to put everything aside to partake in their #1 activity, going out to eat!!!!

 There was a smallish eatery Kaede had been dying to try out, don't know what the name of it was but it probably doesn't matter. While Kaede was poring over the menu Sakiko didn't even open hers and without hesitation ordered the Hamburger Steak dish. Sakiko had eaten at the small restaurant once and it was three days after starting out at the Suzume Stationary company. For about the next eight or so minutes half was a flashback to that third day, the other half was of the pair gorging on their meals. Sakiko hails from Nagano and was a bit scared of the huge city of Tokyo at first. But what was worse was that at the office Sakiko could do no right and considered herself useless. She had thoughts of returning home but that would mean she was a failure. After that third day on the job Sakiko was heading home and was crushed by the horde of people whizzing by, she was knocked to the ground and even lost her cherished good luck charm that her grandmother had given her.

 After that incident Sakiko entered the first restaurant she came upon which happened to be the one she's eating in now with Kaede. On that first visit the owner/chef Nagakura could tell this new customer was so dejected, Sakiko was glancing at the Hamburger Steak dish which he highly recommended. But afterwards Nagakura did say he would have recommended any dish she was looking at, from his vast experience nothing does a better job at cheering up people than food! And the owner was right on the money as with each bite Sakiko's dejection evaporated a little bit more and by the end of the meal she was eager to be a success at her new job. This Nagakura was quite a decent chap, he gave Sakiko some solid advice and to cheer her up more gave her a Strawberry Sorbet on the house.

 What an enjoyable evening that turned out to be for Sakiko, one that appears to have changed her life. So it's a bit surprising she never went back to that small eatery again until this night. Once again Sakiko had her main dish of Hamburger Steak while Kaede enjoyed a rice omelette which of course was perfect. These two co-workers began off on the wrong foot, mainly Sakiko's fault, but have become such close friends and can talk so easily with each other. Kaede revealed that her dream at the office is to open an international department, she's fluent in English and that's her future goal. Sakiko's goal is a much more mild one as it's to create her own designs for the stationary company. Watching from the wings was the owner Nagakura who brought the women over a pair of Strawberry Sorbets, once again on the house. He remembered that night when a dejected Sakiko first stepped into his restaurant, as mentioned he's such a nice man so hope Sakiko visits there again.

 Sakiko has always been a food fanatic but never at the level she's at now. That all began on that first visit to Nagakura's eatery and since then is when Sakiko has been rewarding herself with going out to under the radar places so she owes quite a few thanks to that owner. We began the post off with the pair needing to answer that questionnaire from the Personal Department which they did. It asked many things such as how did that person get their job at the company, what tasks do they do there, what are their future goals and many other things.

 In that second to last screenshot a draft of the flyer was shown in the distribution department where the gals work. Kaede had a nice photo and summary of her where it mentioned her dream of opening up the first overseas department at the company. To Sakiko's mild fury there was a photo of her stating her dream was to make new designs. That wasn't the part that got her a bit steamed but it was the part where it mentioned she's the company's number one glutton!!!! Not sure why but as mentioned in the intro this was my top show to date and while not a must watch drama this has been so enjoyable. Next post has the recap for the tenth episode.