Kyoko Saito: "Nukarumi no Shokutaku" drama, episode eight of nine recap

 

 Air Dates: October 21st until December 16, 2023 on TV Asahi, Saturdays at 11:30 pm

Episodes are 24 minutes in length, subs were done by ArPsanSubs

Main Cast: Not too large of a cast as it appears there will only be six major characters. Of course the main one is Kyoko who is my reason for viewing this drama. Wrote most of the below up after watching the first two episodes, will keep updating this section as we go along. This is a nine episode series so will have three batches of three recaps. The setting has never been mentioned but the location is a smallish city.

 Kyoko Saito as Mia Neijiki.... Young woman of about 24 in age who works at the smallish Super Suzuran market. Until the third episode that is as Mia quit due to her feelings about her manager Natsuo's family. Mia lives with her mother who constantly puts her down but she puts up with it, Mia has zero confidence in herself. The father died eight yeas ago and he too was so strict with his daughter, she's seen no happiness in her life. Until recently as Mia has started an affair with her store manager who is twenty years older, she thinks the world of him and why? His name is Natsuo who is married but his wife is suffering from a mental condition so eventually wanted to break it off with Mia. Who would hear nothing of it and has plans to 'cure' the wife thinking it'll reunite her with Natsuo!? There is another in this ordeal who is the manager's son Haruki who has fallen head over heels for her.... Mia too has feelings for this high school senior.

 Hisashi Yoshizawa as Natsuo Nasukawa.... Did give a lot of info about him above. He's the manager of the Super Suzuran store and is twenty yeas older than Mia. When Natsuo's wife became sick he began an affair with Mia but when the series began it hadn't been going on for too long. When his wife Fumiko's condition became worse Natsuo wanted to end things with Mia as he had to do all of the chores at home which he actually hadn't been doing as it was a pig sty at his apartment! The next character is his eighteen year old son Haruki who is a senior in high school.

Kaito Sakurai as Haruki Nasukawa.... Son of the above man and while skipping school one day had met Mia at the back of his father's store. Haruki has become so smitten with her and the feeling may be mutual but he does have someone who worships him in an eerie way. Her name is Chifuyu and is Natsuo's classmate at school, she's had a crush on him for many years. However Chifuyu has spread rumors around school about the condition of Haruki's mother and how the two once had sex after he pushed himself onto Chifuyu! Which was an out and out lie but she hasn't taken it back and now Haruki has become an outcast at school and is often truant, he is an excellent runner and is on the track team.

Naho Toda as Fumiko Nasugawa.... That's Fumiko below on the left, her mental condition has been improving thanks to Mia and in real life Naho really is a very attractive woman. She's been married to Natsuo for twenty years and it's her problems that have prevented him and Mia from continuing their affair!

Nanoka Hara as Chifuyu Ozaki.... We met her in the second episode and she wants to be with Haruki so desperately, the pair are classmates. The pair have been friends for a while but he wants to end that, Chifuyu comes off as such a sweet young woman but is anything but that! She's spread rumors about the condition of Haruki's mother and has even hinted that he raped her which was such a massive lie.

Mariko Tsutsui as Miyuki Neijiki.... The second screenshot is of Mia's father who died eight years ago, on occasion we will be seeing him in a flashback scene. Miyuki is Mia's mother and she constantly berates her only daughter, this is not a likable mother! The pair do live together and Miyuki often throws in snide remarks such as 'why would any man want you as a wife'!

Previous recaps: May not often refer back to what's taken place so it may be wise to skim through these recaps which aren't too long.

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

Episode five .... Episode six

 

 One more show to go after this post and then another series will bite the dust! This was an okay episode but think the previous few were a tad better, once again what could have been an intense cliffhanger leading into the next episode didn't turn out to be all that exciting. So while not as much seemed to take place in this show think it did set things up nicely for an interesting finale and have no clue what to expect. Won't view the ninth episode until this recap is finished so let's get to what took place.

 Episode seven ended off with Mia hiding Haruki out in her bedroom as her mother Miyuki had come home early that evening from work. Miyuki is an astute and curious woman, surprised she never noticed Mia bringing him dinner, heard their voices or that Haruki had taken a bath. Personally thought and bet many other viewers did too that when Haruki rolled onto Mia as that last show ended she would be his first ever 'Lover'. That didn't take place(yet) as after he unbuttoned one on her top Mia said to stop and really didn't give a reason why. Haruki was a tad disappointed but did he really think that the two could have had an encounter in Mia's room with her mother not far away? Mia does like Haruki quite a bit but of course his father Natsuo more as the pair have had an affair going on for a few months. Wonder if that was a reason she told Haruki to stop and am also am wondering would Mia really leave town with a high school student?

 The next morning Miyuki did leave for work but that was the impression she gave to Mia, will explain that soon. Mia did walk Haruki part of the way home and during that stroll he did ask Mia to break things off with his father, to that she gave no answer. For almost two shows it did appear Mia was trying to slowly ease away from Natsuo but now it seems those feelings for him have come back, maybe even stronger than ever. Later at home Haruki did confront his father about his affair with Mia but that went nowhere for him. Natsuo said while be may have been in the wrong with this affair and his others(!) what does Haruki know about life? Not much and Natsuo did ask why hasn't be been attending school as they had called him about that. Haruki still has the evil aura of Chifuyu hanging over him and can't bring himself to tell his father about the cruel things she's done to date and may do in the future. Chifuyu never made an appearance in this episode but she still is a key part of the story and sure we'll see plenty of her in the final show. 

 In two above screenshots is Mia's cousin on her father's side Akari, Kyoko fans should know who she is in real life. Akari is a beautician  in Tokyo and is expecting her third child, she came to her hometown to pick up a few things. Until that point had never realized that the house Mia and her mother are living in was the house of the mother's in-laws. They don't see each other often but Mia seems to really like Akari quite a bit who may have acted as a bigger sister in their younger days. Mia did confess that she's in love with someone and may have plans of getting married to him, that would please her mother Miyuki to no end. But Akari said forget about trying to please your mother, you're old enough and can do whatever you want to with your life. Akari soon left and did leave Mia some perfumes from her Tokyo store, that will be a key point later on. While she was leaving we viewers saw hiding in the bushes next to a window was Mia's mother MIyuki who overheard every single word! 

 Miyuki has been very suspicious of her daughter lately and faked going to work to spy on her, more on that at the very end. The man Mia was referring to was Natsuo who called her up a bit later on and said let's have dinner together, is he back to ignoring his wife Fumiko? However the restaurant was jammed packed and Natsuo was worried him and Mia would be seen together, how about visiting a love hotel.... but just to talk! That scene are the bottom screenshots above and have a feeling they did more than talk. Mia did wear the new perfume Akari had given her and the scent did rub off on Natsuo which will be discovered a bit later on. While at the hotel he received a call from his wife Fumiko, their son Haruki hasn't returned home and she's frantic with worry. So the evening had to be cut short as Natsuo did need to return home, after he dropped Mia off she began to worry does Fumiko have a strong pull over Natsuo that she had never known about? Don't know who the man is right below but he was talking with Haruki who is staying with him as he just can't ever face his father again.

 After returning home Natsuo told Fumiko not to worry, Haruki is a grown boy and if he hasn't come home by morning he'll think of something to do. That wasn't to be as in the morning Natsuo gave Fumiko the brushoff and said he had more pressing matters than to worry about his son staying out all night and left, think Natsuo would be happy if Haruki never returned home! Natsuo's words really put Fumiko on edge and she's very suspicious of her husband for she knows of at least one other affair in the past. She checked his clothing and did notice perfume on the shirt he wore the previous night, as you can see above the first woman to enter her mind was Mia!!!! Wonder why as she's become so close to Mia who has really helped Fumiko out with her mental condition. Fumiko also went through Natsuo's paperwork and noticed many entries on his credit card statement.... many were from visiting a love hotel! So to Fumiko it's not a question of is Natsuo having an affair but with who(?), to her odds are it's with Mia! Right then Haruki returned home and Fumiko asked that question above about his father cheating, that was the last we saw of her or Haruki in this show.

 Down to the final scene and that's the bottom four screenshots above. Mia was at home when her mother Miyuki arrived unexpectedly, good thing Haruki wasn't there. Miyuki is such a strict mother but in the last two shows she has treated Mia much more nicely, in a way she did here too though she had to ask some tough questions. Such as about the piercings on Mia's ears which Miyuki did notice before but never mentioned it until now. But by far the biggest question she had was from overhearing that earlier conversation with Akari, who is this mysterious man she wants to marry???? Miyuki wasn't overly mad, perhaps disappointed that her daughter couldn't come to her for advice and on that note this episode came to its conclusion. The endings to all of these shows have been the best part of an episode but the intensity never carries over, hopefully it will for the final show. That's the next recap and now on to view the episode which at 47 minutes is twice as long as the other episodes.