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

 

 Air Dates: January 9th until March 26, 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. Ryo eventually did and its because he had fallen 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

EDIT on March 21st..... Just found out today that there was a mistake at the drama site, this series actually has twelve episodes not ten!!!! So the drama will be ending on March 26th, will recap the final two shows and fairly sure the below grades and observations won't change.

 Thanks again to Blitz Subs for doing this series, think it's the fourth drama I've recapped that they have done and no site gets subs done quicker! This kind of drama is hard to give a grade too, didn't go in with high expectations and mainly wanted to view this for it starred Hikaru. But it did turn out to be a very fun and enjoyable series, much better than I was hoping for so will give it a solid mark of 8.5/10 which could be considered a B. With episodes being just 23 minutes in length there was no time for any filler and the action moved right along, the original story could be considered to be not all that believable but when viewing it things like this could happen. The ending was solid too and glad it turned out that way, it is set up for a second season but not one that could air for five or more years.

 Kento, who played the main role of Jun, hit the age of thirty last week. Have seen him in one prior drama which was "Bad Boys J" from 2013 which had starred some Nogi members. Kento did do an excellent job in this show and he's a member of the boy band Sexy Zone but will be graduating at the end of March, last week they had the #1 single on the charts. It's hard to explain how attractive Hikaru looked in this drama, she may be 22 in age but looks cuter than ever which you will notice in the screenshots. Would like to see more of her dramas but too many have a romance story to them and I can only take so many of those. Let's get to this final recap, the first thirty seconds were a continuation of how the previous episode ended. **** Still not entirely sure on what drama is coming up next, let me take a five day break and then you'll see what the decision was.

 Episode nine had the wedding of Akane and Sanjay, after the event Jun had been walking his ex-girlfriend Konatsu home. Three years ago they had broken up and it was mainly because Konatsu had gone to America to finish her education. She confessed to Jun that her feelings for him have returned, what about Jun? The same can't be said for Jun who told Kontasu he had someone else he liked, sure she thought Miko at the time. So there was no reunion with the ex-lovers and Konatsu quickly left Jun, it was the last we saw of her in this series. Later that evening Jun did Miko the story of Konatsu and how three years ago she was there for him when he was at such a low point in his life. However it's all over now and Jun wants to concentrate more on his future as he's trying to make a successful return to the world of advertising.

 Which has started off well, Jun did work on a project for a Whiskey brand which was accepted by the president of Amari Art Lab. It's not a one time deal as Jun soon got another project so he jumped right into it. But would Jun be willing to take a break from it this weekend, that's what his mate Kentaro at the 365 Share House was wondering. For he has four tickets to the Aqua World aquarium and it sounded like a fun time so Jun said yes to the trip but soon slightly regretted it. For it would be a double date(!), he with Miko while Kentaro would be trying his luck with Asako and have said it before in a recap which is that she is one attractive woman. Miko's father was returning that weekend to Tokyo from Wakayama for an errand but so what said Miko, she'd much rather go to the aquarium with Jun!!!! So he worked day and night on his project during the week and he was successful once again with it but there was a snag which arose later.

 Kentaro has had quite a huge crush on Asako for a while(years) but has never confessed his true feelings towards her. But she does know Kentaro does care for her as this is the third year in a row he's brought Asako out on this exact date. Which is the anniversary of when Asako got divorced, she got married when she was 27 but divorced a year later, she's now 31 in age. So for the past three years Kentaro has brought her out somewhere to help her forget the date which of course didn't happen for Asako but she really has appreciated Kentaro's effort. He should have just knuckled down and asked Asako out for a date but instead suggested they try a kiss and see how that works out. For Asako there was no chemistry with it though the same can't be said for Kentaro who was seeing fireworks! 

 That kiss was witnessed secretly by Miko and why wasn't Jun by her side? The two did have a fun time together, the couples had split up. Just when it appeared Jun was going to tell Miko that he liked her Jun's phone rang and it was an important call. Which was from the president of the Amari Art Lab, Jun's proposal for the new project was fine but he had left something very key out of it. Jun was going to wait on it but Miko dragged the truth out of him, she once again told Jun to stop worrying about others and concentrate more on himself. It's okay to leave her and to return to the office to finish the project, Jun said Miko was 100% correct with that suggestion so left her to finish up that project. After that is when Miko saw that brief smooching scene and that ended the day trip to the aquarium, now it's back home to the 365 Share House and Miko felt during the drive home she was a thorn in their side.

 Which wasn't true as there was nothing going on between Asako and Kentaro... yet. But Kentaro did tell Miko they pair were going somewhere, could he drop her off and then she take the train home? Which did bring a sigh of relief from Miko however it wasn't quite the truth that had been told. For Jun had finished his project and had told Kentaro to drop Miko off, this turned out to be the final scene of the series. Don't know what this Light Park was called but it was an impressive place, some screenshots of it are above and below. What you can also see above is that Jun confessed that he liked Miko but for the first time added in that it was as a woman! Of course Miko's heart began to beat out of control and for the second time she told Jun that she too liked him. But of course there was a catch, with Miko not being twenty she was underage(?) and for now the pair can't do anything except to remain as friends.

 Miko understood that completely and she was just happy enough that Jun liked her as a woman and the series did end off with them hugging. Glad that's how the finale was for Jun is thirty in age and Miko is a high school senior, that is quite an age difference so the ending worked out well. But it does set it up for a second season but one that couldn't take place for another 5-10 years but there have been some dramas where it's happened. Never did talk about the other housemate Ryo who we saw so little of and thought in this series he would have made more of an effort to date Miko. That ends this recap and drama, am glad I ended up viewing this and it is nice to have a change of pace from the action, horror and suspense shows which I prefer and would recommend this show.