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Showing posts with label Love or Not drama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love or Not drama. Show all posts

Saturday, September 4, 2021

"Love or Not" drama from 2017: Episode nine recap

 

 Air Dates: March 20 until May 22, 2017 on dTV/FOD at 2:10 am,  then from July 20 to September 28, 2017 on Fuji. Total of ten episodes and subs were done by neutrinoxs.

 Main Cast: Just these characters but we see the boss of Kosuka and Wataru on occasion.

Yuika Motokariya as Mako Hirosawa.... Interior designer who is 29 in age and it appears she's never had a boyfriend. That's because Mako's heart still pines for a boy she met when she was nine and he saved her from some bullies who were trying to steal her rabbit doll. She finally met the man in the first show and he didn't live up to her expectations at all. But a person who did was Kosuke's best friend Wataru and they began dating in the third show.


Kenjiro Yamashita as Kosuke Usami.... Also 29 in age and the boy that helped out Mako all those years ago. He's currently a Salaryman with the Sanba Shoji company and is not that efficient of a worker. When Mako finally met Kosuke after twenty years she was extremely disappointed, in the first show he moved into the apartment below hers. 


Keita Machida as Wataru Sano.... Kosuke's junior at the company but he knows much more than his senpai and is often bailing him out at work. Wataru's father is extremely wealthy and the women flock to him but early on Wataru fell hard for Mako.


Reina Asami as Shiho Hojo.... Mako's friend since high school and she works as a free lance photographer. Like her friend Shiho is quite timid around men but does have a boyfriend who is a doctor though that may not be a lasting relationship. It wasn't as Shiho broke up with the creep in the fifth show and then began dating Kosuke.


Erena Mizusawa as Misuzu Mori.... Met Mako in high school, she's two years younger, and currently works as a web writer. She is just so darn attractive and also very outgoing, the next man has been trying to woo her but she's set her sights on Wataru. In the fifth episode we learned that Misuzu is the mother of an eight year old boy named Shin!!!! But Misuzu has hooked back up with her ex-husband in the eighth show, will another marriage happen?


Masayasu Yagi as Sota Yabuki.... Owner of the Itsomuno bar/cafe where Kosuke and Wataru often eat lunch or dinner. Sota has been dumped too many times to count by women, after meeting Misuzu in the first show he's fallen head over heels for her but the feeling wasn't mutual until the sixth episode.



Links to the previous recaps:



 We've hit the end of this series and am often sad when I wrap up an enjoyable drama but that does mean another can be started. At this time have no clue what's coming up next but do need to get back to a series that's currently airing. Before I view the last episode want to write this up and bet most of my predictions and scenarios will be wrong. In that first episode most viewers thought that Mako and Kosuke would end up being together. At the conclusion of this show it wasn't a guarantee but it's inching that way and kind of hoping it won't happen. In the final episode there will be a celebration party for someone and think that's where everything will be settled. But then again not everything may be settled as there was a second season but sadly that was never subbed.







 As in the seventh episode not much screen time for Misuzu and Sota though they do have an important sub story going on. They'll also play a key role in the final show and let me discuss their happenings first. In the last show after being gone for so many years Misuzu's ex-husband Shogo suddenly popped up and wants to get back with her and their son Shin. Shogo has changed his ways and is now a successful game creator, Shogo knew he made many mistakes during their marriage and wants to give it another go. To top it off Sota took a liking to this man and though he wants to date Misuzu knows her ex-husband may be a better choice. And for Misuzu that was the choice as in the beginning of this episode told Sota she'd be returning to her husband which of course did break his heart. But not for long as Sota realized what he wants to see is Misuzu and Shin lead a happy life so in the final episode he'll be throwing a celebration party for Misuzu and that could be the key event of the series.

 Meanwhile at the end of the eighth show Kosuke's new girlfriend Shiho had gone to his best friend Wataru for advice and help. Shiho is still so envious of the way Kosuke and Mako get along so well and she'll never change that attitude. Shiho had found the button eye that Kosuke had kept for twenty years which was from Mako's bunny doll which has been discussed in the episodes up until now. Thought Wataru knew but looks like he didn't and that's of Mako being Kosuke's first love when they were nine years old. Wataru hasn't been too jealous of their relationship but over time has become like Shiho and wished they weren't spending so much time together. But Wataru is a stand up person, he told Shiho at the mini encounter to get her act together and stop being so petty. If she didn't like how well Kosuke and Mako got along then become a better person so he'll only have eyes for her, sound advice but don't know if it got through to Shiho.







 Every romance drama seems to have some sort of small keepsake that binds the story and main characters together, that bunny doll and it's missing eye were this show's keepsake. The following night Shiho threw the canister away that held the button eye that Kosuke had for twenty years. But she only threw away the canister in the hopes Kosuke would find it in the trash which he did. But Shiho was playing an experiment on Kosuke to see what his reaction would be, he was upset but not mad which made the situation worse as Shiho wondered why can't Kosuke ever express his true feelings towards her like he does to Mako? Shiho gave him back the red button eye and stormed out of the apartment, last we saw of Shiho in this show. I'd be surprised if they got back together and have said their being a couple was a mistake from the get go.

 The above bottom three screenshots were from this episode's most key scene. Wataru had been staying quite late at his job at the Sanba Shoji company and it appeared it was because Wataru was working on his plans to build a unique hotel in Japan. That's only partially true as we learned he was also studying for an intern test at a prestigious hotel in Switzerland. Those late nights paid off as Wataru aced the test and has been offered a two year internship at the hotel!!!! That news stunned Mako who like us viewers knew nothing of the test or Wataru's plans. But things have to move quickly as Wataru needs to start the internship in two weeks, he's already resigned from his job. So as mentioned that news stunned Mako but even more so when Wataru proposed to her and wants her to come to Switzerland with him! We didn't see her response but Mako did accept the marriage proposal and for now it appears the couple will be leaving Japan in two weeks.







 Guess the riff between Wataru and Kosuke had grown larger as he didn't learn of the marriage until his boss told him at work when he wanted Kosuke to take over some of Wataru's tasks. In the final scene which was kind of long Kosuke met Mako that night at the trash area for their apartment building, there he discovered that Mako had thrown out the bunny doll. She had returned to her apartment by that time and a furious Kosuke ended up going there demanding to know why she was throwing it out. Mako confessed to him that the bunny had been holding her back for so many years as she was clinging to her first crush who she had only known for five minutes. Wasn't sure up until now but this scene answered the question. So while Kosuke knew Mako was that girl he saved from bullies twenty years ago she didn't know that boy had been Kosuke! 

 Kosuke didn't realize either that Mako didn't know he was her first crush and as mentioned neither did Wataru. But ever since Kosuke entered her life Mako can't stop thinking of that incident from twenty years ago and throwing away that bunny may be the only way to get Kosuke out of her mind once and for all. As the episode came to it's conclusion appearing outside of Mako's apartment was Wataru and it seems there may be a bit of a confrontation between him and Kosuke to start the final show off with. Longest recap since the first episode and much did happen in this 23 minute show, now on to view the grand finale and that's the next post.























"Love or Not" drama from 2017: Episode ten(final) recap

 

 Air Dates: March 20 until May 22, 2017 on dTV/FOD at 2:10 am,  then from July 20 to September 28, 2017 on Fuji. Total of ten episodes and subs were done by neutrinoxs.

 Main Cast: Just these characters but we see the boss of Kosuka and Wataru on occasion.

Yuika Motokariya as Mako Hirosawa.... Interior designer who is 29 in age and it appears she's never had a boyfriend. That's because Mako's heart still pines for a boy she met when she was nine and he saved her from some bullies who were trying to steal her rabbit doll. She finally met the man in the first show and he didn't live up to her expectations at all. But a person who did was Kosuke's best friend Wataru and they began dating in the third show.


Kenjiro Yamashita as Kosuke Usami.... Also 29 in age and the boy that helped out Mako all those years ago. He's currently a Salaryman with the Sanba Shoji company and is not that efficient of a worker. When Mako finally met Kosuke after twenty years she was extremely disappointed, in the first show he moved into the apartment below hers. 


Keita Machida as Wataru Sano.... Kosuke's junior at the company but he knows much more than his senpai and is often bailing him out at work. Wataru's father is extremely wealthy and the women flock to him but early on Wataru fell hard for Mako.


Reina Asami as Shiho Hojo.... Mako's friend since high school and she works as a free lance photographer. Like her friend Shiho is quite timid around men but does have a boyfriend who is a doctor though that may not be a lasting relationship. It wasn't as Shiho broke up with the creep in the fifth show and then began dating Kosuke.


Erena Mizusawa as Misuzu Mori.... Met Mako in high school, she's two years younger, and currently works as a web writer. She is just so darn attractive and also very outgoing, the next man has been trying to woo her but she's set her sights on Wataru. In the fifth episode we learned that Misuzu is the mother of an eight year old boy named Shin!!!! But Misuzu has hooked back up with her ex-husband in the eighth show, will another marriage happen?


Masayasu Yagi as Sota Yabuki.... Owner of the Itsomuno bar/cafe where Kosuke and Wataru often eat lunch or dinner. Sota has been dumped too many times to count by women, after meeting Misuzu in the first show he's fallen head over heels for her but the feeling wasn't mutual until the sixth episode.



Links to the previous recaps:



 Another drama is now added to the finished list and one day I will complete the spreadsheet I began with all of the dramas I've viewed. Began that last October and was 90% done with it, listed the title, year, my rating and star of of the show but for some reason abandoned the project, think after this post is done is a good time to work on it again. So this series ended off as we thought it would but won't give that spoiler away yet, wish more of these dramas threw us a curveball at the end. The previous episode ended off with Kosuke finding the twenty year old stuffed bunny Mako had thrown away, details are in the above recap. But at that time her soon to be husband Wataru arrived on the scene and it appeared he would be having a confrontation with Kosuke which never happened. So let's get to the final show which started off on a happy note and also ended that way for some of our man characters though the middle was anything but happy for almost everyone.







 The owner of the Itsomuno cafe, Sota, where the action often took place ended up being the most stand up person out of anyone. He's still pining over losing Misuzu back to her ex-husband but was a man about it and wanted to see her have a happy future along with her son Shin. So Sota held the ceremony and reception at his cafe and it was a joyous celebration, least for a while. Sota gave a nice heart warming speech for the newleyweds and while most of the crowd knew how much he loved Misuzu he put that behind him. As mentioned two posts ago Sota really did like the husband Shogo which made losing her somewhat bearable. So while this celebration was going so well Sota did make an error and for some reason asked his buddy Kosuke to say a few words to the reunited couple.

 While Sota was orating his uplifting and humorous speech Kosuke had been sitting at the bar pounding back double shots of Sake. Kosuke wasn't all that close with Misuzu so don't know why Mako wasn't asked to say a few words instead. As you can see above Kosuke was smashed by the time he gave his mini speech which was so full of hatred, really not towards Misuzu and Shogo but to world in general. To Kosuke there was no such thing as truevlove and are the couple wasting their time getting married? Those words really put a damper on the atmosphere and the party soon moved to a new location but not before Kosuke's best friend Wataru decked him and he truly deserved it. Mako was the most livid of them all so you had to wonder at this point will this pair ever become a true couple as there was only fifteen minutes to go in the series.







 Don't know if that punch knocked any sense into Kosuke but his now ex-girlfriend Shiho was able to get through to him a bit. Say ex for as you can see above the pair have now officially split which may have actually happened in the last show. The two became good friends and should have left it at that, when Shiho moved in is when they began disliking each other. Shiho was very observant and was able to deduce why Kosuke made those mean comments at the wedding reception. That was to drive Mako and Wataru even further away from him and in that way none of the three would feel guilty about that upcoming marriage between Mako and Wataru. That scheme was effective and think only Shiho was able to pick up on what Kosuke's plan was. But as far as the soon to be married couple goes it's also the eve of them departing for Switzerland where Wataru will begin an internship at a prestigious hotel, his dream is to build and manage his own.

 During that evening before their departure Mako finally learned after 9 1/2 episodes(!) that Kosuke was her true first love who she had met at the age of nine which was twenty years ago. Everyone else came to know that about it and why did it take Mako so long? Wataru was the one who revealed the info and think it was because he truly wanted to know who Mako cared about more, sadly it wasn't the good guy Wataru. Mako frantically tried to get in touch with Kosuke but to no avail as he wasn't at his apartment that was below Mako's nor did he answer her 25 phone calls. Kosuke couldn't for he was passed out at Sota's bar after all that drinking but early the next morning was woken by his friend. Sota told Kosuke to act like a man and go for what he wanted more than anything else, Mako is leaving Japan in a few hours and is he going to take the chance of never confessing his true feelings?!







 We've hit the final final five minutes of this series and wish I had those 'cure-all pills' they have in Japanese dramas. That pill allows someone like an extremely hungover Kosuke to run at about three miles in less than five minutes and somehow never encounter a person on the streets of Tokyo!!!! Kosuke had to make that dash in record time before Mako left with his best friend Wataru to Switzerland which he did. Mako kind of helped out as she was taking her time in leaving her place which Wataru noticed and as you can see above that's what took place in the final two minutes, more screenshots of it at the bottom which brings us to the end of this enjoyable drama.

 Have been learning that I don't need to reveal every single detail and it's good to leave some things out in case you would want to view that drama. Won't give this a high recommendation but it was so much better than other shows in this genre and will give it a rating of 8.2/10 which to me is fairly solid. There was a second season that aired eighteen months later, the cast was the same but there was only six episodes and don't think it was ever subbed. So up next is a mystery, do have one current show I need to get back to but before I begin another show want to get some movies out of the way and will be doing reviews for a few of them. Would like that next drama or at least one soon to also star Yuika who is one of my all time faves but it's hard finding shows she's been in that are subbed.