Yuki Yoda: "Saiai no Hito: The Other Side of Nihon Chinbotsu" drama, episodes three and four 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 the series. 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. In the third episode we learned his father owns the Makita General Hospital and Kiseki will be next in line to be the director. He's currently an intern and at the beginning of the fourth show his family fled to Switzerland, so didn't Kiseki though he returned.

 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 his musical career has been a failure. 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. I didn't view it  and the the main story had to deal with scientists planning to bury pollutants off the coast of Japan. They were warned not to as it could cause the major area of Kanto to sink into the sea! This show begins off from where that series ended and as far as I know nothing in the area had sank.... yet! But if you read the first recap there was a sinking which was a small island off the coast of Izu that's south of Tokyo.

 That catastrophe may not be the final one as the major storyline began towards the end of the third show. You'll be reading about it but that wasn't the only island that may sink as the scientist's predictions of the Kanto region sinking into the ocean may be true!!!! Won't be viewing the next two episodes until this is done but the intensity really picked up and so much more happened in these two shows than the first pair, let's get on with what took place.

 In a bit of a stunning moment the top screenshot above ended off the first recap. That was with Ai telling Kiseki she loved him(!) after only one date, plus she asked him to be her boyfriend. Really not sure what Ai saw in Kiseki up to that point but by the end of this post seems she may have made a wise decision. Not according to Ai's older brother Makoto who is in the third screenshot, he still lives in Hokkaido as a farmer. Of course he was concerned about Ai and especially when she knew so little about Kiseki. Makoto is way too protective and in kind of a tiring way but think in the fifth episode he may have to change that attitude. And also his views on doctors which you can see in the bottom screenshot. Their parents died in a car crash thirteen years ago and the doctors were unable to save them. So though Ai blames herself for the deaths Makoto fully puts the blame on the hospital for the tragedy, he really despises doctors and he'll need to change that view very quickly too.

 In the second screenshot is Ai's childhood friend Junta who now also lives in Tokyo. He's a musician but to date has had zero success and in this third episode his demo was laughed at by a talent agent. His role was kind of small up until the end of this recap but think it will be getting much larger. So Ai needs to learn more about her new 'boyfriend' Kiseki and the pair went out on their second date, these two are just so innocent. They took a stroll over the Rainbow Bridge where they both learned how each other was so fascinated with rainbows. During this date is when Kiseki's 'secret life' was revealed and he comes from a very wealthy family. His father is the owner director of the huge and prosperous Makita General Hospital, Kiseki is currently an intern but is line to eventually become the hospital's director! That news threw Ai for a loop but Kiseki assured his first ever girlfriend to not be overwhelmed with his status. Get the strong impression Kiseki isn't too thrilled with what his future will be as his entire life has been mapped out by his father. Ai is the first person to ever talk to Kiseki as an equal and as the post goes on he's slowly changing his ways.

 Remember the intro where I mentioned that the Kanto region(Tokyo) may be sinking.... it's now a reality! Few days after that date between the lovebirds the residents have been informed that the Tokyo area will be sinking into the ocean, no exact date on when it'll happen but the government has told the citizens to evacuate. Not all of Japan will be sinking, the southern part of the country should be safe along with Hokkaido which is where Ai may flee to along with her fiend Junta. But first there was a bit of a long scene and a very important one too. There's a few screenshots of it above and Kiseki's father learned about his budding relationship with Ai, he was told to abort that immediately. This father Makita is such a strict man and to date has never listened to a word Kiseki has said. Makita is quite wealthy, besides owning the hospital he has a large villa in Switzerland and he's bringing his family there to wait things out, Kiseki has been ordered to go. 

 Plus you can see above how Makita was telling his son he's next in line to be director of the hospital, they can run things smoothly enough from Switzerland. Against his father's wishes Kiseki did want to see Ai again and tried to no avail to call her, to no avail because his father cancelled his cellphone! The family will be leaving the next day, about four days later Ai will be going back to Hokkaido to live with her older brother. But she won't leave without seeing Kiseki one more time and went to the hospital to get answers on his whereabouts, if there was no news she would wait there until she found out what happened to him! Her friend Junta knew of her plans and also went to the hospital to persuade Ai to come with him back to Hokkaido. Love does many strange things to a person and though her life will be in danger Ai won't leave unless a miracle happens.... and of course one did!!!!

 Should be able to keep these recaps at three segments and that makes it so much easier to read plus all of the major details are discussed. That miracle happened the following day, Ai did eventually get tired of waiting at the hospital and with nowhere else to go went back to the restaurant she worked at. But of course no customers came in but the owner didn't want to close the place, he told Ai he has nowhere else to go in the world. Right after that who should walk in the door wasn't a customer but Kiseki! Meeting Ai has changed his life and for the first time Kiseki stood up to his father telling him Ai is the most important person in his life and returned to Tokyo from Switzerland.

 Returning is all fine and dandy but how much longer will the area be above water? What I don't understand is why we haven't seen huge traffic jams of people leaving the city plus they also could have been walking or on bikes. Ai's bus is scheduled to leave Tokyo for Hokkaido the following morning but every seat has been reserved. However miracle #2 took place and just a few hours before departure a passenger cancelled their ticket, Kiseki was able to scoop that right up. So it's now going to be the trio of Ai, Kiseki and Junta travelling together to Hokkaido to live with her brother Makoto. He doesn't know yet that Kiseki is training to be a doctor and as mentioned he despises them so much for being unable to save his parents.

 In the final minute the trio were heading to the bus when Kiseki had a change of heart. Though he's not a full fledged doctor Kiseki can't leave the hospital with so many patients who are sick, he's told Ai to go on without him as he'll be going back to his hospital. Ai began to protest but Kiseki was firm for a change so Ai will leave Tokyo with Junta, that's how the show ended and you can see in the bottom screenshot above it appears a building or factory may already be on fire. Covered all of the major happenings but as usual there's a good amount of screenshots to help you follow the story a bit better. Next post has the recap for the fifth and sixth episodes.