"Living no Matsunaga-san".... Episode nine of twelve recap

 

 Air Dates: January 9th until March 12, 2024. Tuesdays at 11:00 pm on Fuji-TV

There's ten episodes which average ~23 minutes a show, subs were done by Blitz Subs

Main Cast: If there's anyone who has read many of the dramas I've recapped you know this is an odd one for me. Usually the genre(s) are for police/mystery/suspense/horror shows but every now and again need something a bit mellow or at least not as intense. Which is what this series will be like, viewed the first two episodes which were decent so thought why not recap this drama? Plus I did want to watch a show that featured Hikaru and she has the main female role in this. In real life she will be turning 23 later on this year but in this show plays an 18 year old high school senior named Miko. There will be no love theme in this show as the main male character Jun is 29 in age, I kind of liken his relationship with Miko as being her much older brother. Wrote the character details after the first two shows but know for the third episode there will be a new character added in. To date every scene has featured either Miko or Jun so not all that much is known yet about the others major characters but sure that will change and will edit this section, right below is the 365 Share House.

Hikaru Takahashi as Miko Sonoda.... 18 year old HS senior who lives in Tokyo. However in the first episode her parents were planning on moving to Wakayama as her grandmother was sick and they needed to run her Hot Springs resort. Of course Miko wanted to remain in Tokyo for her final year but she needed a guardian to watch over her. Which at first was her uncle Masahiko and Miko moved into his 365 Share House so all seemed acceptable to her parents. However Masahiko's company was sending him overseas for a few months, would Miko have to move to Wakayama? NO for the second oldest person at the 365 Share House Jun said he would be Miko's guardian which sounded odd at first to the mother who did eventually agree and what kind of adventures will Miko have at the house?

 Kento Nakajima as Jun Matsunaga.... The title of the drama is named after him and can't tell you exactly why. Jun is a 29 year old freelance designer, mainly for book and magazine covers. Now that Miko's uncle has left for a while Jun seems to be the head of the Share House, he can be overly strict and at first did try to give Miko house rules as he's her unofficial guardian. But think deep down Jun is a bit soft hearted and he does care about everyone living at the house. Below is the uncle Masahiko, won't add him into this section as we may not see him again. Jun also has the annoying habit of adding in an extra I to Miko's name meaning he calls her Miiko. His parents died when Jun was young and has lived at the Share House for three years. Before that Jun had worked at an ad agency, why he left is a mystery. Which was revealed in the eighth episode, Jun's superior had stolen the design for a new ad campaign.

Koji Mukai as Kentaro Suzuki.... The other male(for a while) at the 365 Share House, Kentaro is known to be a bit of a playboy and works as a bartender. Of all the residents we know the least of Kentaro's background.

Tomoka Kurokawa as Asako Onuki... This is an actress I like a lot and have seen her in a few other dramas. Asako is the oldest of the 365 Share House residents and owns a nail salon shop in Shibuya. Asako is now 31 in age, when she was 27 she had gotten married but a year later divorced the man though we don't know the reasons.

 Sakurako Okubo as Akane Hattori.... 23 year old who works PT at a curry restaurant, Akane is a bit daffy but seems to be so likable.

Taiyu Fujiwara as Ryo Hojo.... We saw him briefly in the first episode as he was going to move into the house. However Ryo thought it was a regular apartment not a room so he ended up not moving in. But he did at the beginning of the third show as there was an empty room due to Masahiko moving out, Ryo never quite explained why he changed his mind fir so long but it was because of falling for Miko. He's a shy man in his young twenties, works a PT job and is a medical student.

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Previous recaps

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

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

 Above is Sakurako Okubo who plays Akane in this drama and looks entirely different.... and much more clad! Sakurako has done a lot of gravure work and a couple of years ago was going to start doing posts for her but never got around to it, have seen her one other drama and she will be hitting the age of 26 this July. Akane has the main story in this show and all of the details are below, with what takes place will we see her in the final episode? That's because there's only one more show to go after this one and won't view it until this recap is finished, it was nice to do posts for an easier series and this has been one enjoyable show. In that next post will have my final grade and thoughts of this drama, also what will be coming next for recaps which for now will be such an older show.

 The previous episode had ended off in the southern city of Wakayama, Jun had rented a car and driven Miko there to visit her grandmother who was having surgery which ended up not being a serious one. As that episode ended for the first time Miko semi confessed to Jun that she did like him, she immediately regretted saying that and ran away. But before that Miko had told Jun he cares too much about others, especially his roomies at the 365 Share House and needs to pay more attention to his own life which was a minor theme to this show. It's a ten hour drive from Wakayama to Tokyo, luckily for Miko Jun had an inkling on what she was going through so didn't bring the subject up once during their trip. The age difference between Miko and Jun is twelve years which is a lot but Ryo is only 2 1/2 years older than Miko. That's him right above telling Jun that he has liked Miko for a while, if Jun doesn't make some sort of move or at least reject her Ryo will try his luck with Miko. To date all of the Share House residents have had failed romances but that's all about to change.

 For near the beginning the curry restaurant waitress Akane returned to the house telling Miko and Asako that her boyfriend had proposed to her! Akane had been going out with someone for two years which was unknown to all but broke up with the man after the fifth episode. She quickly found another man who also works at the restaurant, they couldn't have been dating for more than 3-4 weeks before he proposed but they had known each other for a while. While Akane was telling her mates the story Jun had returned home and noticed a strange man hanging about outside. Jun brought him in and this man was none other than the person who had proposed to Akane. He was an Indian man named Sanjay and worked as a chef at the curry restaurant, Akane loved his cooking but in front of all said she was turning down the proposal! Sanjay had said he would get a regular job to support Akane which seemed like a good thing but not to her. Sanjay's dream was to open his own restaurant, would he be throwing that away to marry Akane? However Sanjay said to forget about that dream, he loves Akane to no end and his comments did hit home for she did accept the proposal, much more on the couple coming up.

 The next day Jun did clear the air a bit with Miko about their Wakayama trip. He didn't mention Miko's confession and perhaps was thinking it would be better for it to die out, Jun must realize that there's no way a thirty year old man can date a high school senior. In the previous episode did give the details on why Jun had quit working at an ad agency 3 1/2 years ago, his superior had stolen Jun's ideas for an ad campaign. But Jun does miss that kind of work and Miko's comments about Jun needing to care more about himself struck a nerve, he told Miko he's working on a new project for a Whiskey campaign. We did see him give a presentation about it later on but it was a very short scene and no idea yet if Jun's proposal was accepted. That's him in the third to last screenshot putting a blanket over Miko who had fallen asleep studying. Jun did want to wake her but thought better of it, perhaps it's time to step back a bit and let Miko grow on her own. Speaking of proposals what's up with Akane and Sanjay getting married?

 The new couple said they didn't want a wedding ceremony, that was mainly Akane's idea. She announced to all at the Share House that she and Sanjay would be opening their own curry restaurant and it would take place the next month! That's fast and Miko came up with an astute observation, Akane had told all she had paid most of the deposit for the building and supplies. So the newlyweds didn't have much money left over and that's why Akane didn't want to have a wedding ceremony. As Kentaro says above if Jun was there he would say that the residents needed to create their own ceremony for a dear friend such as Akane, needless to say everyone began to work on it right away and it would be a secret from Akane. In the bottom two screenshots above Miko invited her teacher Konatsu to the wedding for she's an old friend of Akane. If you've been reading these recaps you know that Jun and Konatsu had dated at one time, that ended three years ago but the pair are still friends. Miko confessed to Konatsu that the older man she has a crush on is Jun which did surprise Konatsu for she had told Miko in the last show that her romantic feelings for Jun have returned, will he have to pick between the two?

 That Sunday the surprise wedding was going to be held for Akane, shows being only 23 minutes it was quickly that day. Akane had no clue that a ceremony was going to take place, she had returned with Sanjay to the house to pick up her few remaining things. Not there quite yet was Jun who was making that presentation for the Whiskey campaign but did arrive just in time for the ceremony. Some pics of it are above and it was a short passage of rites as Akane and Sanjay both said "I Do" too quickly to the irritation of the 'pastor' Kentaro who had prepared a speech but was unable to use it. Jun was needed as he played the 'father' who gave away Akane, that was because everyone at the house considers him to be their father figure. 

So now there's an empty room at the 365 Share House, wonder if anyone will be moving in for the final episode and whether we'll be seeing Akane again? We're down to the last minute, Konatsu had appeared at the wedding and after was being escorted home by Jun. It was their first chance to have a private conversation and Konatsu did confess to Jun that her romantic feelings for him have returned, what about him? You can see above what Jun's response was to Konatsu, his feelings for her have changed over three years and while he considers her a friend there's no chance of them hooking back up. That's how the show ended with Konatsu being quite stunned and hurt, think she even had a tear running down her cheek and that wraps up this recap. The one for the final episode is the next post and haven't viewed it yet.