"Cinecon e Ikou!" drama: Episode six of thirteen(?) recap

 

 Air Dates: July 4th until September 26 on BS Matsutake Tokyo TV, Mondays at 10:30 pm

Also known as 'Let's go the Cinema Complex', subs are being done by GEO0975 at DA

Main Cast: Is there a location a drama hasn't been set in?! This one takes place at a Cinema Complex in the fictional city of Mirai. Looks to be a small complex but there are twelve theaters with the largest holding 510 movie fans. The cinema is part of the Tochiku Corporation which own many theaters in Japan. However the fans haven't flocking to this cinema which has some less than stellar employees, will some new blood shake up things? Will update the bios as we go along and an episode is 25 minutes in length.

Kii(e) Kitano as Kaori Nakatsuka... The 'new blood' at this cinema which is located in a remote region. Kaori has been transferred from the home office in Tokyo and though she knows so much about the business end of theaters she doesn't know what it takes to operate one. She's a very strict young woman who was sent to bring in more customers and straighten out this bunch of daffy employees.

Dai Watanabe as Kenta Mizusawa.... The manger of the cinema complex and he may be the only employee I wouldn't call daffy. Mizusawa has been the manager for some years and is a huge film buff but he's not running a tight enough ship at the complex and was shocked when Kaori was sent to help him.

Tateto Serizawa as Kanji Shibui.... The assistant manager and also the oldest by far at the cinema. His main duty is to run the projections for the films and have things changed over the years. Shibui is quite scared of woman and can't even look Kaori in the eyes.

Nana Akuzawa as Tomomi Marukawa.... Runs the ticket and info booth, like every other part time employee she's a bit lazy and really has no interest in movies.

Shingo Nakayama as Kohei Matsumaru.... Male employee who is the usher but helps out doing many other assorted jobs.... when he has time from not talking to the other employees!

Risako Miki as Shiina Takemura.... Head of the concession stand but like everyone else doesn't have to work hard due to the lack of customers.

Sara Saito as Akane Umemoto.... Cleaner at the cinema who is a horrible worker, she spends most of her day on the phone!

Asumi Kuon as Yume Hongo.... New woman introduced in the fifth episode who is a PT cleaner, replacing the above one? 

Previous recaps

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

Mini preview of this sixth episode: Video

 

 Every episode has been enjoyable but it's missing that certain something which would make them so much better. Things at times are rushed and that's because a show is just 23/24 minutes in length, perhaps a few more minutes would make these episodes a bit better. Such as this show which could have been the best to date and actually may have been, is the Cinema Inn a haunted theater?! If so bet the amount of ghosts outnumber the amount of paying movie goers! The past five shows have begun with the pair of Matsumaru and Shibui discussing various things about movies, Shibui is a real film buff. In the beginning the pair were talking about foreign film and how is it better to view them, dubbed or with subtitles? Shibui always goes with subs and so don't I, least with subs you can hear how the actors actually said their lines and can pick up some certain emotions that are lost in dubbing.

 Matsumaru though prefers the dubbing as he's often with his girlfriend Mie, his eyes are usually on her so with dubbing he can at least hear what's going on! Then the talk was briefly about love couple seats which I had never heard of, Kaori had once seen a film that way but sadly confessed she was alone! Hmmm, guess she misplaced Nao's number again! In the middle screenshot above is a doll that was found in a theater after a movie was shown, Kaori was wondering why have there been so many lost items as of late? The bigger question will be is the cineplex haunted and more specifically theater number nine? Later on that night when Kaori was entering it a mysterious hooded figure dashed out and sent her sprawling to the ground, when she looked up it had disappeared. The main manager thought it could have been a drunken customer for they have many of them late at night. However according to Shibui above what Kaori ran into was no drunken man, it's been known for some time there's a monster in theater number nine!!!!

 Can understand why the new manager Kaori and the part timers have never heard of this 'urban legend' but why hasn't Mizsusawa who has been at the Cinema Inn for a while? According to Shibui that theater nine is haunted but only late at night and usually after the place is closed. It's rumored that this Spirit makes phone calls around the theater and also hides out in the men's toilet. And there's one other thing which is that there's also a cursed doll that pops up here and there, all eyes soon fell on the doll Kaori had just found! That's all hogwash according to Mizusawa but not to Matsumaru who told his mates why not spend the night in theater nine to see if the monster is real? Mizusawa forbid his employees from doing such a thing but what he doesn't know won't hurt him. He has to travel to Tokyo that night for a meeting the next day with the managers for the Tochiku chain, so unknown to him the adventure for ghost hunting that night is on!

 Though the cinema draws so very few customers it is a large one with a dozen theaters so wouldn't you think more than seven employees are needed to run it? With Mizusawa gone(or is he?) the other six had plans to meet at the haunted theater nine though only the above three were on time who were Kaori, Matsumaru and Shibui. No, that's not a real ghost/monster coming out of the theater when they opened it's door but a life size cutout figure, how did it get there?  This trio didn't plan so well as no one thought to bring flashlights and had been using Matsumaru's phone though the battery now is getting weak, it's back to the main office for a new one while Kaori and Shibui huddled in fear awaiting his return. Since their first encounter Shibui has been so petrified of Kaori and can't even look her in the eyes, still no clue what his problem is. An unseen snag has arisen as while the pair were waiting in the dark who should return but Mizusawa, they went unnoticed but that won't be the case for Matsumaru who is in the office and what's the manager doing there at almost 2:00 am?

 The return was for some forgotten reports for that meeting, Matsumaru was warned about his impending approach but there was no way for him to slip out of the office without being seen. Matsumaru ended up having to hide behind a desk and in his hurry knocked that lost doll onto the floor which you can see above. Seemingly an innocent act but when Mizusawa entered the office seeing the doll had moved he naturally thought back to the urban legend Shibui had told the staff. To make a long story short Mizusawa began to investigate the cinema but mainly theater nine where sounds were heard, they were from Kaori who during this time had been joined by Kanna and Yume. Few other minor incidents took place which did rattle Mizusawa, so much he ended up dropping those reports needed for the meeting and he was at a loss where they went.

 Upon his return to the office what should be lying on the floor again but the 'cursed' doll, that was too much for Mizusawa who high tailed it out of there as he's now convinced the cineplex is haunted! So no trip to Tokyo was taken due to those lost reports but as it shows above Shibui had found them in theater nine, he must have dropped them in his panicked flee! During that night Shibui had also cut himself which you can see in that screenshot when he fell while his mates were also fleeing due to more unexplained horrors and on that note this episode came to it's conclusion. Took a break after writing up the first half, sometimes it's not wise when that happens as I often lose my train of thought which did occur. As mentioned in the beginning all of the shows have been solid but all could have been better such as this one, few extra minutes for each episode may help but too late for that to happen. Will be back in two weeks with the next pair of recaps.