"Shotengai no Pianist" drama: Episode five of thirteen recap

 

 Air Dates: October 3rd to December 26, 2022  Monday nights at 10:30 pm on BS Shochiku

Thirteen 25 minute episodes, subs once again done by GEO9875 at DA

Also known as Pianist in the Shopping District

Main Cast: Usually have to update this section often but don't think that's going to happen in this series. Most of the action will be taking place at the Kajiwara Music Store which is in the shopping district in an unnamed small city.

Kiita Komagine as Ren Sawamoto.... Young man about 22 or so in age who works as an electrician. He still lives with his mother and about ten years ago his father disappeared, how and why will probably be revealed later on in the series. Ren is so talented at the piano but ten years ago stopped playing, when his father left? It seems so as the family piano was sold at that time and it appears Ren has found it at the Kajiwara music store, will finding it spark his interest to start playing again?

 Mio Yuki as Modori Kajiwara.... About twenty in age and works at her father's music store, she seems to run the place. Midori isn't all that talented as far as music goes but has a dream to be a painter and wants to attend an art school. No one seems to recognize her talent except for Ren, the pair never met until the first episode.

 Hiroto Yoshimitsu as Yosuke Kajiwara.... Midori's father and seems to be nice man, also a big fan of music and thinks that his daughter doesn't have much talent at painting!

An Hasegawa as Moe Kato.... Daughter of the next woman and is ten years old. Moe loves the piano but has to sneak into the Kajiwara store to play their street piano as her mother hates the the instrument and would rather see her daughter studying 100% of the time. Moe is a beginner but does show a lot of talent and her favorite piece is "Fur Elise" by Beethoven. 

Maki Kubota as Masae Kato.... Moe's mother who as explained hates the piano and owns a clothing shop near the music store, she says the piano is way too loud which I think is a lie.

 Naho Toda as Sakiko Sawamoto.... Ren's mother and to date don't know much about her but seems she's been secretly communicating with his father for ten years.

Short promo video for episode five

Previous recaps:

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

 Once again Seira Nagashima, who is right above, made a guest appearance for the third time but it'll be her final one... I think. It was so nice seeing her after so many years but sadly wonder if she'll do any more guest spots in dramas? Hope so as her smile is just so darn infectious and not like a disease! She plays the character of Yuki who is 24 in age though in real life Seira is 28, let's get to this recap and you'll be seeing much more of her in the screenshots. 

 Each episode has featured an older European composer and one of their famous compositions. In the last show it was the Hungarian composer Hans Liszt and his tune "La Campenella". That song continues on in this episode too and the reason for mentioning Paganini above is that Liszt tried to copy the violinist's style though on a piano. Mentioned Yuki above who has been going to a music school and also had a video channel where she has many of her playing a street piano. She had seen a video of Ren playing at the Kajiwara music shop and stopped in to meet him, they pair even did a mini concert together. But when the song "La Campanella" was requested Yuki declined and she confessed to Ren later on that song has semi ruined her life as she couldn't play it at a competition.

 At that competition was an old rival of Ren's named Ryohei Nagai and these days is a popular pianist worldwide. He saw a video the shop's keeper Midori uploaded to her channel of Ren and Yuki playing together, he made an appearance at the music store in the last show. Ryohei showed the pair how "La Campanella" is played by a pro and Yuki fled in tears. She's so distraught that she stopped visiting the shop to play their street piano and also deleted the videos on her channel. Midori really liked Yuki, not just her playing but as a person and asked for Ren's help tracking her down but he suggested to just play a waiting game. Ryohei had no trouble tracking down Ren and even has an offer for his old rival, why not take up the piano seriously again and train with his old mentor? That conversation is right above and as you can see Ren refused and said he's happy enough being an electrician. Midori couldn't believe her ears and chased Ren down the road asking why he refused Ryohei's generous offer, it was the first time we've seen Ren a bit irate and he even snapped at Midori.

 In that top screenshot is Ren's mother Sakiko and we mainly just see her once an episode. She's a huge piano fan and has really enjoyed the videos of Yuki and Ryohei, she remembered him playing with her son. Sakiko has been getting calls which she's blocked on her phone, Ren has noticed that and think he's wondering is it the father he hasn't seen for ten years? Have a strong feeling it is for at the end of the show Ren did overhear his mother talking with someone and sure sounded like a conversation with his father! Above you can see two screenshots with the ten year old girl Moe, she loves the piano and has been getting better in each show thanks to a lot of advice from Ren. Moe too misses Yuki and thought perhaps if Midori uploaded a video of her playing "La Campanella" that might bring her out of hiding. That was a wise idea for as you can also see above in the bottom three screenshots Yuki has made her return, however is it also a return to playing the piano?

 That appears to be a NO for the moment, shortly after Yuki's return making an appearance at the music shop was Ren. Have you ever noticed how often a pair walk about a mile to a park in dramas to have a conversation? If you didn't it does happen all the time, as you can see above taking a trip to a park were Ren and Yuki for she needed to discuss something in private. Yuki has been giving her future a lot of thought and has come up with the decision to quit the piano which Ren understood 100% as he too did so for almost a decade. The passion just isn't there these days for Yuki and even if it was what does the future hold, being a music teacher? Ren is a man of few words but makes them count. He showed Yuki some comments from her biggest fan named Mayumi, she's missed Yuki's videos and playing as they had really inspired this woman. Yuki had no clue about Mayumi and think that's given her a change of heart abut playing, least for the next few minutes it did.

 As mentioned a few times in the last two recaps Yuki has such a fear about playing the "La Campanella" piece. She's finally agreed to play a duet with Ren back at the Kajiwara Music Store which is where the pair headed after their chat in the park. But just before they began to play who should walk into the shop but Ryohei, Yuki lost all desire to play when that happened. Ryohei could tell the atmosphere was quite tense and sat down to play the piece himself, once again to show everyone who was the best? No, for Ryohei began playing "La Campanella" in a boogie style which stunned everyone looking on. But that brought a smile to Ren's face, he urged Yuki to join in and before long the trio were playing such an upbeat version of the song. All had such a blast and to me Ryohei did more than anyone, being a master means you can never let 'your hair down' which is what he did and that brought a huge grin to his face.

 He soon left and Yuki confessed to her two fiends Ren and Midori she does have a Plan B which she'll put into action. In a stunner Yuki said she wants to continue playing the street piano and making videos, not in Japan though and is planning on moving to London for that dream! So that's the last we'll probably see of Yuki and it was nice to see Seira after so many years. A person that hasn't been mentioned too often the last few shows is Midori but think she'll soon be the focus of some shows. At the end she was telling her father she's so confused on what to do in the future. Should Midori take the art school entrance exam again, continue practicing on her own or look for something else to do? She's a happy go lucky gal but really seemed down at the end of the show so that could be an upcoming story. Haven't viewed the next show yet which is the next post.