"Shotengai no Pianist" drama: Episode thirteen(final) 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 were revealed in the last two shows. 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? Yes it did and even after not playing for ten years Ren is still a master.

 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. But she has softened her views about the piano as the series has gone on and really encourages Moe these days to play it.

 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 episode thirteen

Previous recaps:

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

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

Episode nine .... Episode ten

 

 As the heading says this is the final recap for this series and did watch quite a few of them in 2022. Every drama I finished was very good though none really stood out compared to other years but least there were no duds for a change. This is one tough drama to give a rating to so going to skip having one but do highly recommend viewing it. The stories were all down to earth plus the characters(most) were very likable and also we did learn about many older classical composers. Only two minor beefs were that the episodes often began off a bit too slowly and Ren's two coworkers were just a bunch of goofballs who I never discussed and rarely had screenshots of them. 

 Thanks if you've been reading these recaps plus thanks to the subber GEO9875. They also did a pair of Kie Kitano dramas this year that were recapped. Will continue to post about the "Kamen Rider Geats" series but besides that what will be on deck? Have no clue on that and guess I'll have to see which upcoming dramas will be subbed, these days don't care if any of my faves are in a drama and just try to find ones like this show which was very enjoyable. Beginning in February is a series called "Zenryoku de, Aishite Ii Kana?" which I'm interested in and hope it gets subbed. Also am wondering where to find dramas in the futures as the site I get the shows from will be closing down.

 Made a prediction very early on, say about the third episode, about Ren and his father. For once was right on the money but sadly looks like there's no grand prize! In that last recap mentioned how it was only a week away from Christmas yet the weather looked so nice, such as it would in the Spring time. That changed very quickly as now everyone was in Winter clothing yet didn't see any breath come out of their mouths. As mentioned each show featured a very famous composer, in the first episode it was Ludwig Beethoven and his piece "Fur Elise". He ends this drama too and as you can see in the top screenshot it's from his very famous Symphony #9 and the fourth section. That had lyrics in it from a poem named "Ode to Joy" by the writer Shiller and that's the title of this final episode.

 Ren's father Tadashi had left the household ten years ago and had sold the family piano to help pay off some of the debts his company owed, it soon went bankrupt. After ten years Ren did discover the piano was alive and well at the Kajiwara Music Shop and most of the story has revolved around the piano. Tadashi had vowed to return in ten years and the deadline is.... NOW as the action in this episode takes place on Christmas day. The young woman who runs the shop for her father Yosuke is Midori and she's arranged a Christmas concert for the shopping district at the music store. There never was any more mention of Midori's mother's death after the eighth episode, the anniversary of her passing fifteen years ago was also around Christmas yet no memorial service was held. In the bottom two screenshots above is Ren's mother Sakiko who will finally see her son play live for the first time in ten years. 

 In the top screenshot above is the Kajiwara Music Shop, not a large place but it was packed for the mini concert both in and outside. Before the festivities began Ren and Midori did have a nice conversation and they had never met until the first episode. Both had such high compliments for each other and think both are way too shy to say how much they like each other. In that last show Ren and his mother Sakiko learned the father Tadashi has been living in Osaka where he opened a new company dealing with natural fibers and after a sluggish beginning the company is doing well. Midori has uploaded a few videos of Ren playing at the music store which Tadashi has viewed, Ren asked her to stream this live in the hopes that his father would watch it.

 Being a drama of course he did which is the third screenshot above. But Tadashi was more than just viewing his son playing live and had been rushing to the shop from Osaka, will he make it on time? That he did while Ren was playing "Traumerei" which was a key song from an earlier episode, Tadashi made it just in time. That's the older man in the fourth screenshot above and many more below, he's played by the older actor Funakoshi who I've always been a big fan of. As Ren was finishing the piece Tadasho ambled up to the piano and sat down while not saying a word to his son. When Ren was younger the pair often played this same piano many times together, Tadashi played the first few notes of "Ode to Joy" and the duo gave a memorable performance! 

 Naturally watching her husband and son play brought tears of joy to Sakiko's eyes, the others in the crowd had no idea who this older man was that played the piano superbly. Eventually Midori figured out who this man was but her father Yosuke knew from the first second as the two had gone to university together but hadn't seen each other in many, many years. Soon after the music store cleared out and after ten long years the Sawamoto family was reunited, will it be permanent? That's what Tadashi asked his son and Sakiko who of course were overjoyed with his return and the three will now become a true family again. Bit of a predictable scene but it wasn't done in an overly sappy way, as that scene ended Ren sat down at the piano to play another piece with his father.

 That bottom screenshot above is how the drama ended. Midori is an aspiring painter but is so unsure about her future, even though she runs the music store she can't play an instrument. Few days after Christmas Ren returned to the store to see her trying to play some notes. Midori said she really wanted to learn how to play and while batting her eyelashes asked Ren if he could give her some private lessons?! That wrapped up this fine series and when I write up a recap always find that an episode was more enjoyable than I thought, it's like watching the show for a second time. Until the next drama season begins there will be no recaps save for the 'Kamen Rider' series but do have a backlog of movies that need to be watched and will be reviewing some of them.