Yuki Yoda: "Saiai no Hito: The Other Side of Nihon Chinbotsu" drama, episodes one and two recap

 

 Air Dates: October 10th until December 12, 2021 on the Paravi cable channel

 Episodes are fifteen to 21 minutes in length, subs were done by Irozuku Subs and they pick up the under the radar dramas which are much more interesting than prime time shows.

Main Cast: The episodes aren't too long in length which means there's also not a large cast. Just two main characters who are the top two and then there's a pair of secondary characters, there may be one person introduced later on. Yuki fans should be happy as she's in 90% of the scenes and the restaurant she works at has remained unnamed through two shows. So why don't we call it Yoda's Place and who doesn't have an appetite for her!!!!

Yuki Yoda as Ai Yamada.... Besides being a waitress at Yoda's Place Ai also attends a vocational school as her dream is to be an artist. At the restaurant many of her drawings and paintings are on the wall. The location for this drama is Tokyo but Ai grew up in Hokkaido, she's 21 in age and thirteen years ago her parents died in a car crash and she blames herself for that tragedy.

 Mizuki Itagaki as Kiseki Makita.... His first name means Miracle but Kiseki thinks his life has been anything but one up until now. He seems to be about the same age as Ai, perhaps a year or so older and works as an orderly in a hospital. He's quite a shy young man but did warn Ai of impending danger in that first episode and because of that he may have his first girlfriend!

 Shodai Fukuyama as Makoto Yamada.... Ai's older brother by about five years, he still lives in Hokkaido and is so protective of his younger sister.

Kohei Fukuyama as Junta Yuki.... Don't think these bottom two characters are related in real life. Junta also grew up in Hokkaido but has moved to Tokyo, he always has a guitar on his back but no clue yet if he's in a band. He hasn't admitted it but Junta has such a crush on Ai and he sends Makoto daily reports to let him know that she's is safe and sound!

 This is a spinoff from the "Nihon Chinbotsu: Kiobo no Hito" drama which aired at the same time but that show was a prime time drama. Didn't want to view that show but was worried I wouldn't know what's going on in this series if I skipped it. But other viewers have said the other drama doesn't need to be watched as the two don't have much in common, this series takes place after the other one ended.     This drama lasted for eight episodes but seeing as how they're short will combine two shows into one post and there will be four in a row today. As I'm writing this up the last two episodes still haven't been subbed but am going to take my time doing this and the next two posts so by the time they're complete so shouldn't the subs.

 As mentioned if you're a Yuki fan then you're going to want to view this series as she's in 90% of the scenes. This is her third non-Nogi drama plus she was in a film so she's setting herself up nicely as an actress for when her Idol career comes to an end, hope that doesn't put the jinx on her!

 These shouldn't be long recaps as there's a simple storyline and the shows for most recaps will only total about 33-35 minutes. But first recaps are often the longest as the characters need to introduced along with the plot but as you noticed it's a small cast. This is Yuki's first lead role in a regular drama, she plays the 21 year old Ai who works as a waitress at night and goes to vocational school during the day, she's studying to be an artist. Ai moved to Tokyo three years ago(?) from Hokkaido, her older brother Makoto still lives there and he's runs a farm. He's overly protective of his younger sister and there's man about Ai's age in Tokyo keeping tabs on her. That's Junta and though he's never come out and said it what a crush he has on Ai. Junta always carries a guitar around but have never seen him play live, to date his musical career has gone nowhere.

 But he's been keeping out an eye on Ai for Makoto and sends him a few messages a day about how she's doing, to date everything has been oki doki. Ai's instructor at school hasn't been too fond of her art but the patrons at Yoda's Place think otherwise, there's a wall there featuring many of Ai's drawings and paintings. The customers really like Ai as a person and one patron in a group suggested she travel to the island of Hinojima which is off the Izu coast. According to this person that's a lucky island and they have some wonderful charms there which may help Ai out with her art career. After hearing that news Ai was avid to take a trip to the island, just so happened she had the following day off so scheduled a bus ride to Izu for the next morning.

 Shortly after Ai was cleaning a table away, on the check a customer had left her a note saying' Don't go anywhere near Hinojima'. That put a bit of a chill into Ai but she soon thought that the person was probably playing a joke on her. That person had heard Ai's conversation with that other group of patrons, so didn't one other person who was a young man named Kiseki. That's him above in the white jacket and he had heard Ai mumble about the warning that had been left. He too agreed with that mysterious customer and tried to talk Ai out of travelling to Hinojima Island, she was dead set on going there but soon was wondering if Kiseki may have been correct with his assumption that doom awaited her there.

 So before going to bed that night Ai cancelled her bus reservation and talk about a lucky break! She slept in and arose at noon time, it was a Saturday. When she flipped on the TV you can see above what the major news story was, the island of Hinojima sank to the bottom of the ocean that morning! The island was uninhabited so there were no deaths but did that story send a shiver through Ai, that scene ended the first show. In the top screenshot above is her childhood friend Junta and as mentioned he's a failed musician who is keeping his eye on Ai in Tokyo. Below that screenshot is her older brother Makoto who still lives in Hokkaido as a farmer. We'll be seeing more of them as time goes on but neither had a lot of screen time in these first two shows.

 So Ai felt so indebted to Kiseki, without his advice she may have gone to Hinojima and though no one lived there each day a group of tourists would visit the island. Most of the second episode was of the pair going out on a date(!), seemed like it was the first date either had ever had and it was Ai who asked Kiseki out. He works in a hospital and we only saw one short scene of him there, it appeared Kiseki was an orderly but we'll learn much more of his background in the next recap. He grew up in a strict household, Ai bought the pair some instant noodles for a snack and Kiseki said it was the first time he had ever had any as they were forbidden by his parents. But we did learn a bit about Ai's background which had such a tragedy and we'll hear about it more in the next post.

 She's 21 in age and when Ai was eight her parents died in a car accident. The family had been living in Hokkaido and there was a snowstorm out that night but Ai convinced her parents to go out as the storm would be letting up and it was their 15th wedding anniversary. However the storm didn't let up and Ai's parents sadly died in a crash, she blames herself for their deaths but her brother Makoto says not to and instead blames the doctors. This date took up almost the entire second episode and you can see in a surprise how the show ended.

 Kiseki is about 2-3 years older than Ai and appears to be a decent guy but is way too quiet and a bit introverted, that could be because of his strict parents. But Ai has seen something in the young man that she absolutely loved and it wasn't just the advice he gave not to travel to Hinojima. As this second episode ended she blurted out she loved Kiseki(!) and wants to date him, needless to say he was one stunned man! So that wraps up these first two shows and as mentioned these recaps will be shorter than most. But got ahead of myself and viewed the next two shows, so much more happens and besides being a love story it looks like the intensity is really going to be picking up. The following three posts are for the rest of this mini eight episode series.