"Cinecon e Ikou!" drama: Episode thirteen(final) recap

 

 Air Dates: July 4th until September 26th 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.... Ex-cleaner at the cinema who was 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? It appears so as Akane hasn't been seen since.

Previous recaps

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

Episode five .... Episode six  .... Episode seven .... Episode eight

Episode nine .... Episode ten

Mini preview of this final episode: Video

 

 We've hit the conclusion of this drama and always feel a bit sad when a series ends. Thanks if you've been reading these recaps which have been one of the more popular dramas I've done posts for with you viewers.. Also thanks to GEO9875 for doing the subs, they also did Kie's previous series "Nanji no Na". It's been a nice comeback year for her as she's been in three dramas with the lead or co-lead in all of them. Kie has also made a few guest spots in a few other shows and to me still looks so terrific!

 This series did start out a bit slowly, after six episodes would have given it a rating of 7.8/10. As time went on this drama did improve and for the final seven shows would give it a grade of 8.3/10. So when you combine the two my final grade will be an 8.1/10 which you could say is a B-, any show above an eight is usually worth a view and have a feeling watching it again would improve the rating. My only minor gripe would be wish we learned more about how a cineplex is run, I did discover some things but not nearly as much as I was expecting. Not sure what regular drama will be up next, am currently recapping the latest 'Kamen Rider' series and there is one beginning in October but unsure if that drama is one I'll enjoy but there's always a few shows each season which grab my attention.

 The main ongoing story had been whether the Mirai CineMine would remain open, the place draws so few customers. But the cinema has gotten a reprieve from their head company Tochiku, that took place at the end of the last show and presume you've read that recap. So there was very little mention of that potential disaster except for what Kaori told the staff in the top screenshot, she and Mizusawa knew the cinema would be remaining open but not the rest of the staff. That last episode did end off with the staff thinking Tochiku had sent someone from HQ to spy on the cinema. It wasn't to be though a pair of staff thought they caught a 'spy' at the end of that last show who is the man in the second screenshot above. As you can see his name is Shigeru and he's no ordinary man, he's the father of the cinema's manager Mizusawa!

 Mizusawa did grow up in Mirai but left for college and then was working at a Tochiku cinema in Shinjuku. He returned to his hometown two years ago to run the Mirai CineMine and because of that he's been a bit estranged from his family. His father owns a small cinema which mainly shows films Shigeru enjoys, never the big current hits and usually older films that Shigeru doesn't want to see become forgotten. The cinema does well and Shigeru figured his son would take the business over which didn't happen and is the big reason Mizusawa is a bit estranged from his family. So Shigeru was no spy from HQ and had confessed he was very curious how a cineplex is run, that was true but to us viewers he really wanted to see his son. So as you can see in the bottom screenshot the staff as usual has jumped to some assumptions, that happens a few times in every show! Mizusawa seemed to be getting along so well with his father and could that mean their manager will be leaving to run his family's cinema?

 You may recall that in the last recap Kaori had been offered a job at Tochiku's movie production unit, her dream is to produce films. It was a sincere offer and one that she had no idea on whether to accept or not, she didn't want to abandon the sinking cinema! But once a lifeboat was thrown to the Mirai CineMine she called the production director and said she would be remaining at the cineplex. That's what the above two middle screenshots are about, first of Kaori refusing the offer and Mizusawa asking her did she make the right decision? Though she didn't say it like the rest of the staff Kaori is under the assumption Mizusawa will be leaving to run his father's cinema, if that happens perhaps she can become the manager of the CineMine. Also with that idea is Shibui above and he's actually next in line to be the main manager. Through thirteen episodes he's never once been able to look Kaori in the eyes and though he's never admitted it think he such an intense crush on her!

Shibui confessing his love to Kaori may have made for the best episode! This being Shigeru's first time in a cineplex Kaori suggested he see a film with his son which she set up for the next day. That screenshot is the second from the bottom above, you can see how empty the theater was. The CineMine opens at 10:00 am and how many people go see a film at that time? Not many as you can tell and perhaps business would have been better had they opened in the afternoon. While the son and father were viewing a movie in another theater a small ruckus broke out. That was started by the man below who had taken out his phone during the movie which is a no-no. So because Mizusawa was with his father Shibui took over the role of being the cinema's manager, to him it was just a matter of time until it became official so why not start now! To everyone's surprise, including Mizusawa later on, Shibui was able to diffuse this situation and this man was so eager for a fight! Shibui is a bit of a quirky man but all in all he could be a solid manager and he's also such a lover of films. The staff also wanted to prove to Mizusawa they could run the cinema efficiently after he left.

 Final segment for this series, Mizusawa and his father did have quite an enjoyable time viewing a film together. While that was taking place it gave the staff some time to prepare.... Mizusawa's going away party!!!! They sprang that on him when he returned to the office with his father after they viewed whatever film, needless to say Mizusawa was stunned and couldn't say a word. That's because he didn't know what to say for he had no plans to leave and run his family's cinema! The staff learned that news from Shigeru who above asked 'my son is coming to run the cinema?'. To that he laughed and said the pair never discussed it which was true, Shigeru seems like the kind of man who will run his cinema until the day he dies! However he didn't tell the entire truth for as he was leaving the cineplex he called his wife who also helps him run the cinema. Listening to Shigeru we discovered he had all the intentions in the world of asking Mizusawa to run his cinema. But when Shigeru saw how much the employees cared about his son he abandoned that idea for his son to take over.... for now.

 So that brings us down to about one minute to go in this drama. As mentioned often the stories became so blown out of proportion because of the staff assuming things such as what took place in this episode. So Mizusawa will be staying on as the manager of the Mirai CineMine to the glee of the entire staff. Well, perhaps not everyone as Shibui did look a bit down and he enjoyed his one hour of being the cinema's manager! That ends this series and as mentioned in the intro it was a drama that got better as time went on. Have no clue whether it could happen but to me the ending was a bit open ended and wonder if a second season is possible?