"Shotengai no Pianist" drama: Episode six 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 Ren's father all these years.

Short promo video for the sixth episode

Previous recaps:

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

 Bit of a sluggish opening to this show, there was a three minute look back at the previous episode and don't know why as none of the guest stars made an appearance in this show. No continuation for Midori's potential story either though sure something will be happening in the future. The future is her problem as Midori as no clue what to do with the rest of her life. She's 21 in age and seems to have been stuck in a rut for a while, she runs the Kajiwara Music Store but her interest lies in painting though she hasn't been able to pass an art school exam. Midori is always happy on the outside but is she really that way underneath? That's her father Yosuke above and it just occurred to me in this show.... what happened to his wife and Midori's mother? Family seems to be the theme for this and the next show so wonder if that story will ever come out? Yosuke above was a bit interested in Ren's family and think he may know his mother to an extent but how(?), still seven more episodes to go for the mysteries.

 Ren's mother Sakiko is in the second and third screenshots. She's been receiving calls which she's been blocking in case Ren happens to answer, there's no doubt it's from his father who left ten years ago and what's Sakiko's relationship been with him over the years? Each story looks at a composer and one of their noted pieces. As you can see in the top screenshot for this and the next episode it'll be the English composer Edward Elgar who lived from 1857 to 1934. He's the first in this series to have lived in the 20th century and the first not to come from the continent. His famous song that will be featured is titled "Salut d'Amour" and Ren above did play it briefly. This is the first of a two part story with the main focus being on the Furusawa family who are just below.

 The man's name is Koji and he's in all of the screenshots above. His wife's name is Kaori and two years before she had suffered some attack at home. She had been alone at the time and luckily the couple's son Taichi arrived at home from school in the nick of time to save her. Don't know what Kaori's illness is but she's confined to a wheelchair and it's doesn't appear as though she can talk either. The family had passed by the Kajiwara Music Store and listened to a woman playing the street piano. Koji seems to be a solid player and never knew there was a music store in the area. He sat down and began to play "Salut d'Amour" but halfway through stopped and didn't give a reason why but his wife did have a smile at hearing her husband play. The son Taichi told his father it's time to leave and he's seems like such a dour young man, more on that coming up.

 A few days later Koji made another appearance at the music shop, this time by himself and wanted to play "Salut d'Amour" again. Which he did and Koji was playing well but like the first time quit before the song was done. Yosuke could tell the song was a bit emotional to Koji and does it hold some memories of his past? That it did and Koji confessed to Yosuke, Midori and Ren that he and his wife Kaori played the song together at their wedding 25 years ago. It could be considered 'their song' but Koji is so distraught these days with his wife's condition. He admitted that work was his #1 priority for too long and had never noticed how sick his wife had been. Since that day of Kaori's attack Koji has changed his ways and his family is number one in his life but did he make this change too late?

 Koji doesn't have a piano at home and during that conversation an idea popped into his head. Koji's 25th wedding anniversary is coming up, according to Midori that's Silver, and could he possibly have a mini celebration at the store? He'd like to play "Salut d'Amour" once again for his wife Kaori and the trio of his new friends thought it was a fantastic plan! The anniversary isn't that far away and Midori took charge of everything, she's organized a party and will invite many of the store's visitors to the anniversary and even Ren will do the baking as he claims to be a master at it! There's a painting above Midori did for the party and while most others, especially her father, don't think Midori has a lot of talent Ren does and is her biggest supporter.

 Things were going well for the party but soon that bubble will burst. Arriving at the store one night was the couple's son Taichi who is in two screenshots above. He pleaded with Midori and Ren to cancel the celebration and said his mother wouldn't be able to enjoy it in her condition. Taichi is still irate at what happened with his mother and blames his father Koji for her illness and not catching on to it before the attack. Midori and Ren were quite torn on what to do, according to Ren hearing "Salut d'Amour" once again is something that may lift the spirits of the mother, Kaori can't communicate(?) but seems to understand everything going on around her. As the show ended coming into the shop was Taichi's father Koji who looked both furious and confused at his son's actions. Have a feeling this anniversary will take place though and when it does you can read all about it in the next recap. That won't be for another ten days and was a bit behind writing this post up. Slow start to this episode but it it turned out to be another decent show and plenty more screenshots to help you follow the story a bit better.