Hinako Sakurai: "Gohoubi Gohan" drama, episode eleven 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 all 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 .... Episode nine .... Episode ten

 Final two episodes for this very enjoyable series, in 2-3 days should have the final two recaps for the "Kotodamasou" drama. Both will end up being among my top shows of the year but were completely different. "Kotodamasou" is such an intense and creepy series while this one is so laid back yet has been so fun to watch. Not sure what rating I'll give this yet, that'll be at the end of the next post. Hinako doesn't have many fans here though she's been one of my top actresses for the last three years. Her next drama will be the third season of 'Kimi to Sekai' which will start in February. Did recap the first two seasons and plan on doing the upcoming one too, now on to this eleventh show.

 Semi two-parter to wrap this series up, what takes place above gets finished up in the final show. Every year the Suzume Stationary company holds an 'Internal Competition' which lets employees from any department submit a design for a new product. But as Sakiko's chief Morigsaki said every year the product planning department wins the grand prize and that would make sense. So after a while not too many employees have entered the competition as they seemingly have no chance but there may be someone new this year! Of course it's Sakiko who for so long has been a fanatic about stationary things such as key chains, glowing pens, posters and many other nick-nacks. But she's never tried to design a new product and seems her work mates have ESP as they could read Sakiko's mind. They know she wants to enter it and discouraged her from doing so or at least it seemed that way. The person to win the award the last two years has been Isogai who I thought would have a larger role. He overheard that discussion and peeked into the distribution department where Sakiko works, to his relief he heard her say she wouldn't be entering the contest, more on that later on. 

 But after the rest of her office mates left Sakiko stuck around and was looking at the poster again for the competition deep down Sakiko knew she had to submit something. The grand prize is a dinner with the company's president but that doesn't seem all that fitting for a new design. There's no time to waste so Sakiko will be spending the next few hours at the office to work on something but before she could even begin her plans were thwarted. Returning to the office was Sakiko's new nest friend Kaede who may have had an inkling on what Sakiko was going to do. Before Sakiko could protest she was dragged off to dinner by Kaede and we learned that there are foods that Sakiko doesn't enjoy! As you can see above the pair ended up in an Korean restaurant and Kaede really loves that food. Can't say the same about Sakiko who likes some but to her most Korean food is too hot and spicy. That's a combination that doesn't appeal to Sakiko and after she mentioned that do recall her mainly eating mild foods up until now.

 Have doing recaps down to a 'science' now, perhaps not making them overly interesting but all these days have three segments. However have noticed I tend to make that first part a bit too long and need to stretch out the next two. In that first screenshot is a Korean drink named Makgeolli which is sort of a rice wine and does look tasty. Sakiko thought so too as she truly loved the flavor and perhaps this meal will end up being enjoyable. It will thanks to Kaede, not only is she fluent in English but also in Korean and Sakiko is constantly amazed at her new friend. Makes you wonder then how did Kaede get rejected by fifty companies before getting hired by Suzume Stationary? You can see a few of the dishes above, when Sakiko cried they didn't order any of them she was correct. But according to the Korean food master Kaede those are all side dishes that are served with most meals in Korea.

 But over there it's too much for diners to finish, for the pride of Japan Kaede said the pair can't leave one scrap of food! The only time Sakiko was slightly worried about a dish was one named Sundubu Jiigae which is a bit spicy. But it's not overly bad as that hotness is a bit diluted by a half cooked egg and Tofu, above you can see how Sakiko was trembling at eating the dish but in the end run loved it. Few other dishes were eaten but not going to name all of them, both women are a bit thin and you wonder how with all the food they devour in these shows? Definitely a learning experience for Sakiko who now knows what dishes to order at Korean restaurants and the times she's gone out with Kaede have been the best scenes of the shows. 

 That dinner scene took up almost half the show but as mentioned those scenes with Kaede have always been superb. During their repast Sakiko did confess to Kaede that she was planning on entering that 'Internal Competition' challenge, she also told her co-workers of her plans the following day. They'll be rooting and supporting Sakiko but not every one at the company will. That person who won't is above, it's Isogai and Sakiko told him of her plans which surprisingly shocked him and also made him a bit irate. Isogai told Sakiko he thought she wasn't giving the designers enough credit and doesn't she realize what a tough job they have? That of course left her a bit stunned but what Isogai said wasn't exactly the truth, that'll come out in the final two minutes of the final show.

 And in the last few minutes of this show it's time for Sakiko to get moving on the project and she realized designing something new isn't as easy as she thought. What should she create, something brand new or a variation of an existing product? When Sakiko is at a loss food will give her a kick and she saved some Kimchi from the previous night. Now Sakiko seems to be a bit more motivated but when the show ended she still was at a loss on what she should design. You'll see what it was and on whether she won the company competition in the next post which is the final episode.