"Mayonaka ni Hello!" drama, episode two recap

 

 Air Dates: January 13th until March 17, 2022 on TV-Tokyo, Thursday nights at 12:30 am

Also goes by the title of Hello at Midnight and subs were done by Ais at Skewed

Main Cast: Just the top two characters will be in every show but there will be a guest star who will be the main focus of the story. First pic above are the two main characters while the other has who else will be in the episodes. They're Hello Project groups and one will be featured in each show along with their music as the two characters are huge H!P fanatics. The setting is the Sun Plaza Asunama Guest House which has received terrible reviews but is a very inexpensive place to live.

Momoko Kikuchi as Mariko Asunama.... Woman about fifty in age who runs the Asunama Guest House along with her daughter. Though being a bit older Mariko is a mega fan of the Hello Project groups and has been for over twenty years, she's such a fan it's driven many guests away! But she does hold the key to open a special door for the guests who are always struggling in their lives.

Yuno Ohara as Mizuki Asunama.... Momoko's 23 year old daughter who also helps run the guest house but it appears only one person stays there at a time. She just graduated from college but hasn't gone job hunting, though a H!P fan she's not a massive one like her mother.

Guest Stars for this episode

Rei Okamoto as Yuuha Mitamura.... Woman about thirty in age who had somehow met Mariko before. She's started a new job which is going somewhat well workwise but Yuuha isn't quite fitting in with her department's 'traditions'.

Mikoto Hibi as Midori.... Smallish role but hadn't seen Mikoto in a drama for close to two years and does she look terrific!

ANGERME and Beyooooonds as themselves.... Just three members from each group and in a surprise didn't perform any of their group's songs.

 Was wrong on some of my assumptions in the first post. Figured with the two above groups appearing in this episode we would hear some of their songs but that wasn't the case. Instead they 'performed' a few older Morning Musume tunes but the lyrics in one were changed around a bit. While it was nice to hear those songs would have preferred hearing some tunes from the two groups, especially Beyooooods and that is how their name is spelt. They're one of the newer Hello Project groups and everything I've heard from them has been quite good. They are an energetic and fun group, here's the link to one of their videos which is subbed in English: "Vitamin E" PV

 Don't expect these recaps to be get a huge amount of views unless you're a Hello Project fan plus I will admit it's kind of cheesy but it's been enjoyable enough through two shows. Once again the screenshots came out as 4:3 instead of the usual 16:9 and am baffled on why. Guess that's the way the video was taped but doesn't that mean that's the dimension that aired on TV? When watching the video you don't notice the odd dimensions at all as you can adjust how you're viewing it if using VLC.

 The Asunama Guest House currently has zero guests staying there and it could be because of the older woman above who is the owner. Her name is Mariko and what a huge Hello Project fan she is, she'll play songs from all of their groups night and day which has driven everyone away! Her 23 year old daughter Misaki seems to have sense for business and is trying to attract more long term guests but with a mother like Mariko it's proving to be almost impossible. This episode's main guest star wasn't a resident of the house but someone who had met Mariko before, her name is Yuuha. She's about thirty in age and has just began a new job at a gaming company where she designs the boxes and such. Yuuha had somehow met Mariko on the Internet and at the time Yuuha was struggling to find a job, with Mariko's help she wrote up a dazzling resume' which helped Yuuha get her current job.

 But every now and again a screenshot does come out in the 16:9 format, isn't that extremely odd? Don't think I'm doing anything wrong so let me investigate this unless someone reading knows an answer. Back to the story and Yuuha is a competent worker but is just so shy and is having difficulties fitting in on a personal basis. At the end of each month her small five person designing team throws a celebration and one person is responsible for the food and drinks. Up until now the foods that the others have supplied have been quite unique but also very expensive, it's Yuuha's turn to run the mini party and she's at a loss on what to do. Being somewhat new she doesn't have a lot of money and is having such a difficult time trying to figure out what cheap dishes would please everyone.

 That was until out of the blue Yuuha received a text from Mariko who said to turn around and enter the 'magical door'! Somehow Mariko has this 'special power' where she can make a door with the word Hello(Project) appear and if a person enters it'll be the first step into solving their problems. A baffled Yuuha saw the door and thought what did she have to lose, after entering it she ended up backstage at a concert hall where her fiend Mariko was waiting. She didn't have much to say to say to Yuuha and instead introduced her to three members from the ANGERME and Beyooooonds pop groups. Yuuha has no clue about the world of J-Pop so had no idea who these six girls were, they quickly grabbed her arm and before she knew it Yuuha was in the room where her hiring interview was held. Sitting at a table were the three interviewers who wanted Yuuha to tell them how she's fitting in with the company and is she happy, this is all part of a dream or least we think it is!

 During this segment figured we'd hear a song or two from one of the groups. That we did but not their own as they performed a pair of older Morning Musume hits which were both excellent songs but have heard them hundreds of times already. But they did have some very positive and inspiring lyrics and while Yuuha is not a J-Pop fan they made her think about her current situation at the company, some advice from the members also helped quite a bit. So in the final scene Yuuha's party for her coworkers was a smash though it didn't appear it would be to Yuuha. Instead of some exotic or expensive dish Yuuha brought instant beef bowls which confused her four mates. Yuuha explained that the tradition was the person supplying the food would have what was very enjoyable to them.

 And to Yuuha it was instant beef bowls as she hasn't been at the company for too long and couldn't afford some extravagant spread. But that brought back some fond memories to her four mates as they remembered when they too had to eat instant soup and ramen when they first started out. So to Yuuha's pleasant surprise all dug in and really enjoyed the meal and the trip down memory lane which brought us to the end of this second episode. A show is about 24 minutes in length so things do wrap up in a hurry. As mentioned in the beginning this is a drama that will mainly appeal to Hello Project fans and the best part have been the songs though wish we heard more newer ones. Two somewhat decent shows though certainly not a must watch, will be back in two weeks with the next pair of recaps and hopefully will find out why the video has such odd dimensions.