Yuki Yoda: "Ryosangata Riko: Puramo Joshi no Jinsei Kumitate Ki" drama, episode one recap

 

 Air Dates: June 30th until September 2, 2022... Thursday nights at 12:30 am on TV-Tokyo

Episodes are 24 minutes in length, subs are being done by Masssterchief

Main Cast: Most of the action takes place at the very busy Fun Fun Create company which specializes in planning and holding events. Wrote this up after viewing the first episode so a bit of tweaking will be done as we go on. There's three divisions at the company, #'s one and two are so busy they need more than 24 hours in a day! But our 'heroine' Riko works in the third division with four others and they are far from busy as their main tasks are mailing out flyers and such. In the first show a rumor had even started that the third division could be disbanded, will that eventually happen?

Yuki Yoda as Riko Komukai.... Has acquired the nickname of 'Mass Production Girl' as she just likes mainstream and safe things/activities. But one night after work she passed by the Yasan Hobby Shop which she had never noticed before. Deep down Riko does like models and such, she had never made any though until entering this shop and then the rest is history....

Karen Fujii as Kyoko Nakano.... Female employee in the third division, she seems to be talented so how did she end up there? Kyoko gets along with Riko so well but has noticed her friend can be way too boring and needs a jolt to her life. 

Oshiro Maeda as Yuki Asai.... Started at the company with Riko but while she's still stuck at the bottom Asai has moved up to the first division. Seems as though he's doing well but in reality think he's not doing that that good of a job... he's a bit stuck up too.

Ayumu Mochizuki as Ryota Oishi.... Ace of the first division unit.

Magy as Teru Inuzuka.... Leader of the third division, very laid back man which isn't a positive at the Fun Fun Create company.

Yoshiyuki Morishita as Hitoshi Kijimura.... Third division employee who like the others is so worried they'll be laid off.

Yoji Tanaka as Ichi Yajima.... Owner of the Yasan Hobby Shop where Riko visited in the first show and where she became addicted to models. Yajima seems to know all there is about models and took such a liking to Riko who tends to like the older versions.

Erika Ishikawa as Chiemi Ikuta.... Part time employee at Yajima's shop.

 May add in a few more characters as we go along

Link to the show's site: TV-Tokyo site

 Yuki's really come a long way these past few years which is why I think she may be the first key third generation member to graduate. This is her second lead role in a drama the last nine months, she's had two other dramas outside of Nogi plus has been in a movie. Wouldn't call her an excellent actress yet but to me she's so likable on the screen and playing a 'Otaku' kind of character seems right up her alley. Have only viewed this first show but think it's going to be a very fun series.

 I enjoy these dramas whose shows are in the 25-30 minute range over the prime time shows which are 45+ minutes in length. There's no filler in these episodes and the action moves right along though this is a series that won't be exciting. That is unless you're into models, can't say I am yet found this first episode to be so informative about them, am writing this up before the second show airs so don't know if models will still be the main theme but do think so.

 

 The Fun Fun Create company is one hustling place as you can see in that top screenshot, that's of the first division prepping for a major event. Next door to that office is the second division of the company, don't know what the difference is between them but both units are always in high gear. Then a bit more way down the hall is the unit in the second screenshot, they're the five employees of the third division who seem to be the company's 'Bottom of the barrel'. They're not involved, least not yet, with planning or setting up events which is what Fun Fun Create does. This small unit mainly just mails out flyers and brochures and for now seems the five are content at not being in the spotlight. They were invited to the company's monthly meeting where every division gets an opportunity to present a new project and those two top divisions have some very ingenious employees. Can't say the same for the third division and none of them have unit names. Their newest worker Riko did submit plans for a new project, it garnered many moans at the meeting as it was for a Cat Park!!!!

 Of course it's Yuki who plays the main role of Riko and naturally she's in most screenshots. Riko is a newish employee at Fun Fun Create but think she's been there a while, has she been stuck in the third division the whole time? Ask that for I'm writing this up before viewing the second episode which just aired tonight. Riko is adept at stuffing envelopes and such with flyers but also spends that time viewing pictures of animals on her phone. She did submit that Cat Park project but not all that sure she's a huge lover of animals. We didn't see much of the other third division unit which only has four other workers and have the feeling that's where the more inept employees end up. In two of the above screenshots is a man named Asai who began at the company the same time as Riko but he's doing well and is in the first division. Asai put Riko down a bit about her Cat Park and also mentioned to her there's a rumor going around that the third division may be disbanded which of course has them worried. But Asai did make a key comment to Riko and she'll hear it again shortly after which is that she's a 'Mass Production Person', what does that mean?

 In Riko's unit is a woman named Kyoko who she gets along with quite well. Kyoko also made a comment about Riko being a 'Mass Production Person' which is someone who kind of goes with the flow. They'll watch, read, listen to, etc. the things that are most heavily pushed and don't really think for themselves which is the kind of person Riko is. She's very humdrum and has no hobbies or anything else she often does outside of work but she's very content being that kind of person.... to an extent. Kyoko to me seems like a very smart and dependable worker, why is she stuck in the third division? She was showing Riko her idea for a new project which was to focus on old time stores which are still open. These days everything seems to be a chain store and Kyoko's project was to look at shops that were still independent, didn't hear anything about it after that. But Kyoko's project and words has got Riko thinking, has she really become such a boring and mundane woman?

 Heading home that evening Riko passed by a hobby shop, how could he have never noticed it before? In the windows of the Yasan Hobby Shop were so many old time models and Riko began thinking to herself how she used to love animes and mangas, models too but she had never built one. Though the hobby shop was dark the door was open and Riko being so curious she entered the shop where she met the above two people. The man's name is Yajima who owns the shop, with him is his trusty assistant Chiemi. Riko admitted to the pair she knew so little about models yet as a child had really wanted to build one. At the time Riko was looking at the above model of Zaku who is a major character in the "Mobile Suit Gundam" anime series. Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of Yajima as this man seems to know everything about models and their history. He sized up quickly that Riko was a 'Mass Production Person' and the Zaku model is one many with that trait want to build! So him and Chiemi suggested Riko stick around for a while, if she's never built a model they have a room all set up for that and they're willing to teach her.

 Yajima was impressed with Riko's Zaku selection as it's an older version and is unlike models these days. Newer models come with parts that snap together, this Zaku was one that needed to be glued plus had to be painted too, all of this was so unknown to Riko. But Yajima and Chiemi do have a lot of patience, they gave Riko many tips as she was building and the most interesting part of this long scene was Yajima's stories about older models. Being the first time Riko had ever assembled one of course things didn't go entirely smoothly as she did break a piece and put too much glue on some pieces. But to Yajima that's part of the learning process and for Riko's first time she did a passable job. That's the Zaku model above and while it didn't look exactly as it should to Yajima it was a work of art. This was the first time in ages Riko had been so excited about doing something, so guess modeling may be her first ever passion and hope we see her at the hobby shop often in future episodes.

 The following day Riko even brought the model to work where she proudly put it on her desk though no one noticed it. As this first episode ended Riko was walking down the hallway where she noticed her senpai Asai getting chewed out a bit by his team leader. Asai may be in the first division but I don't think he's doing that well plus it seems he's got a very snotty attitude. In the final seconds Riko was approached by the man above who is Oishi and he seems to be the ace worker at Fun Fun Create. While everyone else laughed at Riko's Cat Park project he didn't and told her to work hard on it as he would be rooting for her, Asai overheard it and was a bit jealous! So that ends this first show and a lot did happen even though a show is just 24 minutes. Not sure what to expect but think this series is supposed to be about Riko continuing on with models and such which I hope happens. The next post is the recap for the second episode.