"Shoujiki Fudousan" drama, episode one recap

 

 Air Dates: April 5th until June 7, 2022  Tuesdays at 10:00 pm on NHK

Subs are being done by Miamaw-subs, also goes by the title of Honest Real Estate

Main Cast: First real estate drama I can recall viewing and most of the action takes place at the Tosaka Real Estate office. Their main seller had been Nagase or at least until an 'accident' in the first episode. At a lot where a new building was to be constructed there were a few older monuments which unknown to Nagase were religious and he was irate they hadn't been removed. So he took matters into his own hands and attempted to destroy them which infuriated their 'Gods'!!!! Since that moment Nagase went from a chronic liar to a man who cannot tell a lie, whenever he's about to an unseen breeze comes out of nowhere transforming him for a few moments to the most honest man in the world!

Tomohisa Yamashita as Saichi Nagase.... You can see what's happened with Nagase above, before then he would tell any lie in the world to make a sale! He had been successful as he was the #1 agent at Tosaka realty but after becoming a semi honest man his ranking has dropped to fifth. What's also dropped is his lifestyle as he's gone from living in a ritzy penthouse to a small and rundown one room apartment. As time goes on think Nagase will learn how to use this 'honesty' to his benefit but can he become the company's #1 seller again?

Haruka Fukuhara as Sakura Tsukishita.... Rookie at Tosaka RE and quite a naive young woman. Nagase has been assigned to be her mentor and with his sudden personality change Sakura doesn't know what to think of him. Through two shows she's made zero sales as Sakura seems to care too much about the tenants and needs to change her ways.

Hayato Ichihara as Takahisa Kiriyama.... Nagase's rival at the real estate office and has actually passed him for sales by the end of the second show, he's a man not to be trusted.

Shinobu Hasegawa as Masumi Okawa.... Office manager at the company, at times Okawa seems to be a tough man but is kind of a push over.

Masao Kusakari as Toshiro Tosaka.... Owner of Tosaka Real Estate who doesn't do much as far as the day to day activities go, not much screen time the first few shows.

Rika Izumi as Minami Enomoto.... Didn't see enough of her in the first pair of shows but think this role will become a bit larger. Minami is a new employee at the Mitsutoma bank as a financial agent and has her sights set on Nagase becoming her next boyfriend!

Kana Kurashima as Ryoko Hanazawa....  Head of a new real estate company named Minerva and we only saw a little bit of her in the first two shows. Minerva has quickly become Tosaka's biggest rival and her aim is to steal Nagase away from them.

 Guest stars: Yamazaki is quite an icon as far as actors go, I've seen him in at least a dozen films with the first one being from 1963! He's 85 years old and seemed to be in retirement but came out of it for this one guest appearance. Could be because of Yamashita as he was his 'partner' in the superb 2006 drama "Kurosagi".

Tsutomu Yamazaki as Tsutomo Ishida.... A baker who has been semi retired for a few years and wants to sell off some of his land plus perhaps erect a new building on an empty plot he owns. Nagase became his agent and appeared he would take advantage of this elderly man.

Mari Hoshino as Maki Ishida.... Daughter of the above man who is about 35 in age. She trusted Nagase quite a bit with his real estate suggestions, perhaps too much at first.

Risaki Matsukaze as Kumi Kakizawa.... Twenty year old female who is getting her first apartment but she was almost duped into moving into a sleezy residence like so many before her did until 'saved' by Nagase.

Hajime Okayama as Masashi Kakizawa.... Kumi's father who is very strict and protective.

Ichirota Miyakawa as Seiya Matsuzaki.... Owner of the apartment building Kumi was going to move into before she was 'saved'. Matsuzaki is a pervert who secretly watches his female tenants plus throws in some under the radar conditions in his contracts.

 Viewed this episode on April 10th and it was the final show for four weeks as a mini break from dramas was needed so hope I don't forget too much, it's now May 8th. I'm not too up on real estate terms and how things work are done, least for how things are in Japan. So instead of trying to describe terms and such will just have the screenshots of them at the top, really thought there were more than these though.

 It's May 8th and just viewed the second episode, that break from dramas lasted 28 days and it could be a struggle at first to write these recaps up. Only reviewed two films though I watched ten of them, none of the other eight will be reviewed but will have some others coming up soon. So while I will view this entire series unsure if there will be recaps for every show. The first two episodes were just stand alone stories, if that continues may only recap half the series. That's because there's four other dramas on tap I want to get to and need to start on them soon. Haruka is in one of those four and while this could be the better drama the other show she's in appeals to me a bit more. Let's get to the recap, episodes are 44 minutes in length but so much took place in this first show.

 As is the case for every show he's in Yamashita has the lead role and that's fine by me as I think he's a decent actor though doesn't always appear in shows that appeal to me. Nagase is the name of his character who works as an agent for Tosaka Realty, in that top screenshot above it shows he's their number one salesman. Number two is the man in the fifth screenshot who is Kiriyama and the pair can't stand each other, it's probably because they're so alike when selling houses or renting apartments. That likeness is they'll lie, cheat, say whatever, etc. to make a sale and no one is better at lying than Nagase. He has a new client waiting for him when this show opened but first Nagase was assigned to train Tosaka's newest agent who is Sakura(Haruka) who you can see above. She's very naive and thinks all realtors are honest people, wait until she sees Nagase in action! Which she will as he's bringing in Sakura to watch him deal with this new client who is an elderly man named Ishida.

 Though not an expert on real estate matters the Japanese laws and contracts seem so much more complicated. So that led me to think why don't prospective tenants, sellers and buyers bring in a lawyer as many of these contracts only a lawyer could understand. Plus noticed how so many trust real estate agents so easily, if you're a suave man like Nagase that really can work to your advantage. Which it did with Ishida who for over thirty years has been a 'Sweet's Craftsman' or more basically a baker. He wants to build a new apartment building on a small lot of land he owns and has been approved for a 100 million yen loan!!!! Plus Ishida and his daughter Maki want to convert another building, Nagase knew all of this beforehand and wrote a pair of contracts up for both. This is why a lawyer would be needed as Nagase just pointed out the positives for Ishida and Maki which looked good to them but the negatives outweighed those positives as after three years the new apartment building would begin to lose money. More on the contract as we go along and two days later a ceremony was scheduled to break ground for the new apartment building. However only Nagase showed up and this scene may be the most important in the series, that bottom screenshot above is from the scene along with this next one.

 Remaining on this lot were some smallish monuments and Nagase had ordered the lot to be cleared. He was quite irate at these ugly looking monuments still there so took matters in his own hands and attempted to dig them up. That didn't work out so well for Nagase who grew even more irate, in a rage of fury he threw his shovel against the biggest monument which chopped it in half! Within seconds the sky turned an eerie gray color and a breeze descended upon Nagase which made him feel a bit woozy. He had no clue what just took place but we viewers did as the destroying of the monument has angered it's Gods, what curse has befallen our main character? With no one else showing up for the ceremony Nagase trudged back to the office and here's where we learned what this curse was about. Nagase around the Tosaka office was known as the world's 'best liar' but now he no longer could tell even a white lie! From now on every time Nagase is asked a question in which he may lie a mysterious breeze comes out of nowhere and only he can feel it. So those questions he would always give a false answer to Nagase can now only answer with the truth and there was nothing he could do about it.

 It's often hilarious to watch Nagase's honest answers but they weren't too funny to him. Within what seemed days his whole life was turned upside down, Nagase lived in a ritzy penthouse with top of the line furnishings but soon found himself living in a small one room apartment and had lost all of those expensive furnishings. That new found honesty has cost him quite a few sales and those lost commissions affected Nagase's life immediately. He's now down to the second ranking as far as sales go to his rival above Kiriyama who quickly swooped in and stole the Ishida account away from him. Everyone in the office is wondering what's going on with Nagase's personality save for the newbie Sakura. She didn't know about Nagase's past and since that first day training with him thought Nagase was the most honest man in the office which she still feels by the end of the next show. Nagase is of course furious that Kiriyama stole the Ishida account from him as the commission could be large, he soon met with the man to smooth things out. 

 Halfway through with this first recap, these days have a limit of four segments. So can't get into every single detail and that's the main reason for making them a bit briefer as not everything needs to be explained and hopefully enough is to make you want to view a series. Right above is Nagase's new and very small apartment, he took such a tumble rather quickly. Right above that are two screenshots of my mega fave Rika who plays Minami in this show but had only one scene. She's a new financial clerk at the Mitsutoma Bank where Nagase does his business. Minami met him on her first day working and went right up and introduced herself, she has her sights set on making Nagase her own(!) and this role will get larger as time goes on. Back at Tosaka Realty things are not going well for Nagase who has seemingly lost his magical touch over night! The owner's name is Tosaka and he's not happy with what kind of person Nagase has turned into along with the office manager Okawa. But certainly not as unhappy as Nagase is who is just so baffled by this sudden change where he can only tell the truth.

 Nagase's goal now is to win the Ishida contract back so he met with the older man and his daughter. Sakura was always by his side but just to observe as there's nothing she could possibly add in. Don't know if it'll happen but Nagase can make this new found honesty work for him if he uses it correctly. It wasn't Nagase's plan but he told Ishida and Maki all about the contract which looks good as far as making them money goes but in the end run they'll both lose out. A new apartment building for some reason begins to lose value after three years and while the rent can increase by 3% yearly the value can go down by as much as 10% a year! Plus Nagase had held back a key bit of info he didn't tell the pair before which is that in two years across the street a new stylish high rise apartment building will be built and Ishida may lose quite a few tenants. So to make a long story shorter Ishida and his daughter have chosen not to erect a new apartment building and this old man has decided to remain a baker which is his true love, so that other building won't be sold. Being honest cost Nagase a hefty commission but the right thing was done and Ishida really did appreciate Nagase's honesty and also in the process Sakura has a new hero!

 There's one more story which took place in this episode and need to squeeze what took place in just this final segment. Won't mention Kiriyama as often as Nagase and Sakura but he does play an important role in these shows. One thing I've learned through two episodes is when he says he's doing something nice for you.... Beware!!!! Kiriyama gave Sakura her first chance to match a tenant with an apartment, it was with a 22 year old woman named Kumi and Kiriyama knew all about the horror trap she wanted to move into. Kumi had always lived at home and with her visiting this possible first ever apartment for her was Kumi's father Kakizawa, he's kind of strict and overprotective. This apartment was a decent place and the rent was reasonable, Kumi fell in love with it at first sight and it was just a matter of signing the lease.

 With Sakura was her mentor Nagase as she wanted to make sure she did everything correctly as far as the paperwork went and possibly other things Sakura may have overlooked. Like his rival Kiriyama Nagase also knew about the huge amount of negatives about this apartment but while meeting Kumi and her father Nagase was going to remain silent as he may get part of the commission. So while Sakura was pointing out all of the highlights about the apartment Nagase was asked by the father is this was too good to be true?! Nagase was all prepared to go back to his lying ways but that's not possible these days as that unseen breeze blew in his face and the next thing we knew Nagase was screaming how it's the worst place in Tokyo to live!!!! The owner put so many 'hidden conditions' in the contract which even Sakura didn't notice, by the time Kumi moved out she'd owe the owner a small fortune. Plus Nagase said the owner Matsuzaki was a pervert who would spy on his female tenants and so many have fled the building because of that. Later on this owner did hear about what Nagase and barreled into Tosaka Realty to threaten Nagase but was quickly sent on his way.

 Kumi's father was up in arms about this, how could Tosaka Realty try to rent them such a place and stormed out of the meeting. But later on Sakura did meet up with Kumi and her father who apologized for his actions. Actually what Nagase did was such a nice thing warning Kumi about what would happen if she moved into that building and as mentioned Nagase's new found honesty can be a positive at times. Not a positive though as far as his sales go and he's getting some heat at the office, so much that Nagase feels he could be canned at any moment! That didn't happen and this first show did end on a happyish note with what Nagase did, as you can see above Sakura thinks he's the most honest man in the world! We all know better and wonder if she'll ever learn about Nagase's old ways? That wraps up this first recap, the one for the second episode is the following post and here's plenty of screenshots to help you follow the action a bit better.