"Nanji no Na" drama, episode three of eight recap

 

 Air Dates: April 6th until May 25, 2022 on TV-Tokyo, Wednesday nights at 12:30 am

Subs were done by GEO9875 at DA, also has the title of Your Name.

Main Cast: Wrote this up after viewing two episodes and know there will be many edits to the character's bios, what a confusing drama it was at first.

Hirona Yamazaki as Toko Aso.... Her real name is Riyako Mikami and is using the identity of another character in this show which will be explained in the recaps. She works as the president of the ETS agency which is a front as it's not a dispatching company but one that destroys people's lives! Riyako is such a stuck up person and we'll be learning what her background was before the name change as I'm very curious about it.

Kii Kitano as Hisae Aso.... The real sister of Toko though her last name isn't Aso but Mikami too. Hisae is a bit of a shut-in and has been that way for three years since breaking up with her boyfriend. At the time Hisae was working at a pharmaceutical company and seems to know every kind of medicine created. She takes care of the household for 'Toko' but her sister has a love/hate relationship with her and constantly berates her.

Mijika Nagai as The Mysterious Woman.... But she does have a name and she's the real Toko Aso! Years before she had fallen heavily into debt and 'thanks' to Kawashima's company they were all paid off. But the price was that Riyako would be allowed to assume her identity for five years and these days the real Toko is a drug addict and very down on her luck.

Hidekazu Mashima as Koji Kawashima....Owns the ETS agency which says it's a dispatching company but that's a front. Their main objective is to bring down an individual such as someone who owes money, is gong through a divorce and such, will explain it better as time goes on.

Waku Kyoten as Kyohei Ito... Only saw him in the first show and he's a whiz at computers who just won a prestigious web designer award. He seems to love Toko but those feelings will never be returned.

Naoto Kataoka as Ryosuke Iki.... Is a manager at the esteemed Crown Hotel who has had his eye on Toko for a while, we didn't meet him until the end of the second episode.

ETS.... In the third episode we did learn more about this company though much of it was lies Toko was telling Iki. It stands for Extra Talent Staff and Toko told him the agency hires actors to help others in their lives. For instance if someone needed an escort, a grandmother wanted a grandson for a party, etc. In other words to bring some joy to a person's life but in reality ETS brings havoc to a person's life such as a vengeful wife wanting to disgrace her husband and other things along that line, we've seen one life destroyed already by Toko.

Previous recaps

Episode one .... Episode two

 No major cliffhanger to end the previous episode, one minor one with Hisae possibly scamming an older woman which will be discussed later on in this post. In those top screenshots Toko had been reading the newspaper when she discovered a woman named Shinoko Aso had died of a drug overdose. She was the real Toko Aso, if you want the full story of how this Toko took over that woman's identity all of the info is in the second recap. This Toko aka Riyako was a bit shook up about the news of her death, could the police possibly trace her history back to Toko? Not to worry said her younger sister Hisae as this death could actually be a blessing. Now they won't have to worry about the real Toko coming around for money again and now there's no one who knows the story of their identity change.

 Hisae was correct which did put Toko's mind at ease, the following day at the office of her ETS agency something else happened which pleased Toko even more. Arriving out of the blue was the above man Ryosuke Iki who we met at the end of the last episode. He's a manager at the prestigious Crown Hotel and Toko took an instant liking to him at that first encounter. During this scene was when Toko told Iki all about ETS and much of it was false info so what would happen if or perhaps when he learns the truth? Iki had also taken an instant liking to Toko, he brought her some special purple roses and asked if she would care to have a dinner with him and Iki didn't have to ask Toko twice!!!!

 That dinner date doesn't take place until the final few minutes though that bottom screenshot above is of Hisae watching her sister drive off with Iki. That night Toko brought home those purple roses, usually she throws flowers right away as she can't stand most men she meets but this Iki is someone very different, could Toko be in love for the first time? That's what Hisae is wondering and what would happen to her if Toko ever married a man? Hisae has been a shut in for almost three years since being dumped by her boyfriend, she even heard news in this show that he got married to the woman he was cheating with. It is just a matter of time until something will happen that will separate the sisters, Toko knows this but Hisae is deluded thinking they'll be together forever.

 Above is one screenshot of Toko's new 'victim' at ETS though we didn't hear more about that man. But we did of Iba who is a 41 year old man who was getting a divorce. His wife hired Toko to bring her husband's life to ruins which did happen, it's not the last we'll be hearing of this man Iba who of course wants revenge! Also above is Hisae at her secret apartment, to date Toko knows nothing of it. But the lease needs to get renewed and where is Hisae going to get the rent money as she has no income? During that scene she had received a letter from an old workmate, Hisae used to work at a pharmaceutical company and she still knows everything about medicines. That letter from her mate Aki shocked Hisae as it told of her ex-boyfriend getting married and so wasn't Aki! That letter was just to rub more salt into Hisae's wounds but how did this woman get the address of that apartment?

 In that last recap Hisae had met an elderly woman named Mamako, she had passed out in the street and luckily Hisae was there to escort her back home. Even more luckier for Mamako was that Hisae has remained an ace with medicines and told the woman she passed out because of using the wrong dosages plus did she need all these medicines? But more importantly while Hisae was at this woman's house she noticed there were three bank books, with Hisae needing money for her rent you know what was going through her mind! However it doesn't appear that in this episode Hisae stooped so low to take advantage of Mamako though that won't be the story in the next episode.

 And finally it was that dinner date with Toko and Iki which went fairly well. Toko has had some major problems in the past with men which we haven't heard much about but she seems to have fallen for Iki rather quickly. One major problem with Toko is that she always needs to watch what she says as of course her real name is Riyako and has 'borrowed' the identity of the now deceased real Toko. Plus she can't reveal the true nature of what ETS does so is this a relationship that has a future? But the first date was a success and in the last half minute Iki dropped Toko back at her house. After he drove off Toko was about to unlock her front gate when.... a mysterious figure jumped from the shadows and it appeared was about to attack Toko! Did that happen will be the first scene in the fourth episode and the recap for that is the next post.