"Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe" drama: Episode five of six, 'The Front of the Back'

 

 Air Dates: December 27th until December 29, 2021 on NHK at 10:00 pm

Subs were done by Leviathan at NYAA

Main Cast: Just the top two appear in every show and mainly Issei. The title says 'Episode five of six' as this could be considered a continuation of season one which aired a year ago.

Issei Takahashi as Rohan Kishibe.... Eccentric manga writer who is also extremely popular and we thought until the first show quite wealthy. Rohan works for Shumeisha Publishing and had gone through many editors until Kyoka was assigned to him a year ago. The biggest thing about Rohan is his special ability which is to put people intro a trance like state when he utters the words 'Heaven's Door'. That will make the person pass out and somehow their face becomes a book(!) with the incidents of their life. Rohan can make edits to that person's life but only for future events, you'll see plenty of screenshots of this unique and odd power.

Marie Iitoyo as Kyoka Izumi.... Works for Shumesha Publishing and a year ago became Rohan's editor, the only one not to leave him after a month. A smart yet daffy woman who seems more suited to be the editor of a fashion magazine and broke up with her boyfriend in season one.

Guest star for this episode

Ennosuke Ichikawa as Masazo Kinoto.... Salesman for the M.S. Resort Projects company, he was sent to try to buy back the mountain that Rohan purchased in the first episode. That was a failure right off the bat though this man remained in the show up until the end. While visiting Rohan's new mountain Kinoto had been cursed, a very odd one as he wouldn't allow anyone to see his back! If that happened he was doomed and you can read all about it in this post....

Links to the three recaps for the first season.

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

 This mini series was subbed quickly and wish that happened more often! This mini drama is based upon the manga stories that ran in the issues of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventures" that started in 1997. Things don't follow the manga 100% but are close and the episodes are based upon the stories. Two solid shows but think the first season was a bit better as so far there's been a bit too much emphasis on the guest characters. Least in this episode we got to see so much more of Marie as Kyoka and of course looked too good to believe! One more show to go after this one and will try not to view it until this recap is done. Was wrong on a prediction I made at the end of the previous recap where I thought Rohan and Kyoka would be travelling to his new mountain but that didn't take place.. The mountain was a large part of this story though and would think will be in the last episode too.

 Mutsu-kabe Hill is the name of the mountain Rohan purchased in the first episode. While he didn't travel there we did see a few glimpses of the place which appears to be very eerie and hope the mini series ends off with him going there with Kyoka. However the Mutsu-kabe Hill is a name you'll be seeing in many screenshots and the curse from there is the main theme of this story. Think Rohan bought this Hill(mountain) because of it's curses and has told his editor Kyoka that Specters are known to roam there. The word Hill has now drawn the curiosity of Kyoka who went around Tokyo(?) looking for such places that may be cursed or haunted, it was a no-go on finding any but the show does end on one location she was checking out.

 In the second screenshot above is Kyoka telling Rohan his advance from Shumeisha Publishing has been approved. Buying that mountain has put Rohan into debt and without the advance he said his unique and large house would have to be sold. At this point really thought the pair would travel to this haunted hill, especially when Kyoka said the place probably had no curses but that didn't happen as most of the action took place in Rohan's house. He didn't get into it that much but Rohan was explaining how Hill and Border are kind of the same words when it comes to Japanese haunted folklore and how Hill is kind of a border between safety and death. Bit confusing to me and also Kyoka who soon took her leave and that's her in the second to last screenshot above. She noticed this very odd man who was slithering against a wall and was glad she wouldn't have to see him again. Kyoka wouldn't but Rohan would for the rest of this episode, this odd man's name was Kinoto and he paid Rohan a visit. He worked for M.S. Resort Projects and had been sent to try and buy the mountain back from Rohan.

 Rohan didn't have any time for chit chat as he had no intentions of selling his new mountain. When Rohan says the words 'Heaven's Door' to a person they fall into a trance and their face bursts open like the pages of a book! Those pages are the person's life story to date and also a bit of their immediate future. So Rohan put Kinoto under that unique spell and read about him trying to purchase back the mountain. But also of a curse that befell Kinoto when he visited Mutsu-kabe Hill, one where he can't allow anyone else to view his back! What a very strange curse that was mused Rohan and he tried every which way to see Kinoto's back which was easier said than done. Kinoto is an expert at slithering against walls and also putting his body in awkward positions so as not to let the next person see his back, up until now it's somehow worked. Not for long as Rohan had a plan and told Kinoto the deed to the mountain was in an upstairs room, shall they go take a look at it?

 At the doorway Rohan pretended to have a back cramp, he asked Kinoto to rub it for him which happened but that was part of Rohan's plan. When Kinoto was right behind him Rohan pulled a string to reveal a mirror behind the pair, the view on the mirror was of Kinoto's back!!!! Rohan thought he had 'won' but that was sadly not the case. Kinoto fell to the ground gasping 'I'm Doomed' and in a matter of seconds passed away! Needless to say Rohan was stunned at what just took place, he called the local hospital who took Kinoto's dead body away. But not his spirit as Rohan was about to find out! After the ambulance had left Rohan felt a heavy object on his back, who should it be but that spirit. It was eventually deduced that this was a spirit and not actually Kinoto but it kept the form of the man but will keep using that name for the spirit. Kinoto said now that his body is dead Rohan is now the person cursed and would never leave his back until he passed it on to another person.

 Only Rohan can see the evil spirit that came out of Kinoto's body, that was the same for Kinoto when he was alive. The only way to get rid of this curse is by allowing another person to see Rohan's back which he didn't want to happen, shouldn't be a problem as he seldom leaves his mansion. However that next morning his editor Kyoka was coming over to pick up a new manga story, he can't allow her in the house and get the curse! So Rohan stayed up all night finishing the story, not an easy task with a spirit draped onto your back. When Kyoka arrived that morning Rohan quickly shoved the story through a small opening in his door and ordered her never to come back unless he said it was safe! Of course she was confused but said nothing and left, by now Rohan was getting so fed up with this spirit and has to somehow get rid of it, but how without giving someone else the curse?

 Good question and to Rohan the only thing he could think of was returning the evil spirit that was using Kinoto's body to Mutsu-kabe Hill. Didn't mention it but all along that's what the spirit has wanted, to return to the mountain but more importantly he wanted Rohan to sell it which he refuses to do. So it's off to the mountain but I had no clue where it was and it was too far to walk to, especially with a spirit draped on your shoulders! But even worse was that Rohan now has the curse that Kitono did which is that he couldn't allow anyone to see his back. Seems impossible to do in public but Rohan thought if Kitomo can do it so can't I!!!! So you can see Rohan above avoiding people but his neighborhood wasn't too densely populated, what would happen on a busy city street? 

 Final segment and let me try to zip through it quickly without leaving out anything major. It would be impossible to reach that distant mountain walking so Rohan had an alternative plan which worked to a T. He used his 'Heaven's Door' spell on a gangster and wrote on the man's bio not to look back. In a slightly humorous scene Rohan, with Kitono on his back, trailed this man with his back which sounds strange and that's the second screenshot above. Unknown at the time Rohan had texted Kyoka and told her to meet him at the haunted area she visited in the opening scene. That's where Rohan was able to bring Kitono or the evil spirit to and hopefully it's demise.

 This location was called Hirasaka which is also a different name for (cursed) mountain. Rohan said in the olden days of Tokyo many of these cursed spots were linked to the underworld and this Hirasaka spot was one of them. The legend is if you turn around at this spot when the song 'Kagome-Kagaome' is playing you'll disappear to that evil underworld. The spirit of Kitono knew nothing about it so it was easy for Rohan to trick Kitono into turning around, Kyoka was also there and unknown to her she was the ley into getting Kitono.... off Rohan's back!!!! Of course she had no idea about the spirit on Rohan's back and while not a happy ending it was in a way for Rohan who is now free of the curse. On that note the second episode came to it's conclusion.

 Now on to watch the third show which I think will be the best of the trio. A major difference between the two seasons is that Rohan and Kyoka aren't together as often and the pair of them working on a 'cursed case' have been the top shows and scenes to date. Have a feeling the pair will finally make it to that haunted mountain in the final show which is the next post. The top screenshot ended this episode and is the stairway leading to that cursed mountain.