"Madoromi Bartender" drama from 2019: Episode four recap

 

 Air Dates: July 14th until September 29, 2019 on BS Japan, TV-Tokyo and TV-Osaka for a total of twelve episodes, is also called Sleepy Bartender

Subs were done by Gabriel F. at DA, shows are ~22 minutes in length

Theme song/intro for the drama

Main Cast: The three woman are housemates and all work as barmaids. None seem to have a last name and it doesn't really matter.

Arisa Yagi as Hiyoko.... Works at a bar named Stream though we haven't seen her in action tending bar there. Hiyoko is originally from Nagoya and like her housemate Kiho we haven't seen enough of her to really know who she is.

Hyunri as Kiho.... Barmaid at the exclusive Elysion Tokyo Hotel

Mai Kiryuu as Yuki.... Owner of a 'pop up bar' named Satellite which she moves on a frequent basis and usually sets up shop in a park. Yuki's only been so-so successful with this unique bar and the main reason could be is because she moves the location so often. Prior to her own bar had worked as a barmaid at the same hotel as Kiho.

 Guest stars for this episode

Yurika Nakamura as Wakao.... Hostess/waitress who works at the Elysion Tokyo Hotel with Kiho, was extremely frustrated when she didn't get a promotion to being a barmaid.

Links to the previous shows:

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

 Another trio pair of recaps for today, didn't think the first three would be too popular and they weren't! But this has been a somewhat enjoyable drama and while it may not feature any stars it's a decent show to kick back on and you will learn much about mixing drinks. I do like Mai who has the largest role in the drama, don't know if it'll work out but going to try having a post or two for her. The guest stars play a key part in this series and you may know this episode's actress who is Yurika Nakamura. She never has lead roles but always has key and large parts in her dramas, especially "Koe Girl" and "Kakegurui".

 Yurika plays the character of Wakao who is a greeter/server at a very ritzy hotel. It's name is Elyison and she works the same night shift as Kiho, Wakao used to work at a dive bar up until a year ago. But one night she visited the hotel bar and was served by Kiho, she was so impressed with the way she prepared drinks and the whole atmosphere of the bar Wakao applied for a job and got it. So for a year she's been just a hostess and server at the exclusive bar but there was an immediate opening for a bartender and Wakao felt sure the manager would select her. That wasn't to be as her junior Yamaji was chosen, she didn't show it then but Wakao felt her life was over.

 The following day Wakao sent messages to the managers and Kiho stating she was leaving the bar, when Kiho arrived at work she was dispatched to bring Wakao back. It appears Kiho took the entire night off then and being a ritzy bar she must have lost a lot of $$ in tips. But then again Kiho did care about Wakao and while the pair weren't close Wakao really respected her senior. For a serious talk of all places Kiho brought her workmate to Yuki's pop-up Satellite bar stall and there was a reason for that. This was the first time the main story didn't center around Yuki, Kiho had much more screen time but the main character in this show was Wakao. She was quite impressed with Yuki's small bar and thought she was doing very well business wise, to me that's far from the truth.

 Wakao kind of needed a wakeup call and Kiho gave her that talk but in a positive way. There was no reason for Wakao to blame everyone, especially Yamaji, for her not getting the bartender position. Though Wakao had been there six months longer than him Kiho said she didn't know the whole story. For instance after Yamaji's shift he would practice making drinks at home and went to other bars to observe how their bartenders created drinks. That kind of calmed Wakao down a bit but of course she's still down in the dumps about not getting the promotion. To Wakao she's almost as good as everyone else and as you can see in the top screenshot above she challenged Yuki to a drinking contest! Not a contest to see who could drink the most but who could create the best drink and Wakao picked the wrong person to challenge, the drink was a Gin Fizz.

 And Wakao did a solid job with her creation, it got a passing grade from Kiho. However Yuki's Gin Fizz was so much better which Wakao had to admit, how did she do it? Before Yuki could give a demonstration Wakao passed out on the bar as she cannot hold her liquor well, next thing she knew it was morning and she woke up in Kiho's living room. There she met the third roommate Hiyori and hopefully we'll see much more of her in the next episode. She works at a bar named Stream and we haven't seen her work there yet, if all else fails Hiyori told Waako to come work with her! Soon Kiho and Hiyori had to leave the house which sent Wakao snooping around as Yuki was still sleeping on the living room floor. Wakao discovered a room which I didn't know was in the house and that was the girl's practice room.

 That liquor cabinet in the practice room would put many bar's to shame, no wonder the three women were such experts at mixing drinks. Now that Wakao was fully awake Yuki gave a demonstration on how she made her unique Gin Fizz, Wakao was mightily impressed and knew she did have to work a bit harder if she wanted to become a bartender at the five star Elysion Hotel. In the last regular scene later on that evening Wakao paid a visit to Kiho at the hotel's bar and though we didn't see the final outcome it appears Wakao has gotten her job back. Once again Wakao was impressed with an act and this time from her new mentor Kiho. She remembered the time Wakao came into the bar before she began working there, Wakao had ordered a Jack Rose and Kiho made it just like the first time which was over a year ago.

 That concludes this recap and will admit this may not be the most exciting show but that's okay as it's quite enjoyable and have met a pair of new actresses who I may do posts for soon. Still torn on whether I'll do recaps for all twelve episodes, seeing as how I'll be watching all of them odds are good there will be a post for all of the episodes. Next post is for episode five which I haven't viewed yet.

"Madoromi Bartender" drama from 2019: Episode five recap

 

 Air Dates: July 14th until September 29, 2019 on BS Japan, TV-Tokyo and TV-Osaka for a total of twelve episodes, is also called Sleepy Bartender

Subs were done by Gabriel F. at DA, shows are ~22 minutes in length

Theme song/intro for the drama

Main Cast: The three woman are housemates and all work as barmaids. None seem to have a last name and it doesn't really matter.

Arisa Yagi as Hiyoko.... Works at a bar named Stream though we haven't seen her in action tending bar there. Hiyoko is originally from Nagoya and like her housemate Kiho we haven't seen enough of her to really know who she is.

Hyunri as Kiho.... Barmaid at the exclusive Elysion Tokyo Hotel

Mai Kiryuu as Yuki.... Owner of a 'pop up bar' named Satellite which she moves on a frequent basis and usually sets up shop in a park. Yuki's only been so-so successful with this unique bar and the main reason could be is because she moves the location so often. Prior to her own bar had worked as a barmaid at the same hotel as Kiho.

 Guest stars for this episode

Kimiko Yo as Kyoko.... Older manga artist who gave the impression to Yuki that she killed someone.... she did but not a living person.

Links to the previous shows:

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

 Didn't have her name in the guest star section as she had no character name and it was kind of a smallish role. In some of the bottom screenshots you'll see an unnamed editor whose name in real life is Mai Takahashi. Or I should say that was her name as she changed it years ago to Seiko Iwaido but when I saw her at the end that face set off some bells. Mai never starred in many dramas as she was more of a movie actress and bet I've seen ten of her films. Had forgotten all about her but have to admit I really thought she was one oki doki looking woman and was an early fave of mine.

 Mai still appears in many films but hadn't realized she changed her name, shame we didn't see more of her. This fifth show began off with the trio of housemates Hiyoko, Kiho and Yuki sitting in their favorite local restaurant. Not an entirely enjoyable meal as they were served leftovers but something more upset them. On the news was a report of a man who had been killed that day and the apartment was in their neighborhood. That story would kind of creep out Yuki for later that night when she was tending her pop-up bar stall the above mysterious woman grabbed a seat. Once again Yuki only had one customer at her Satellite bar and will she be able to keep it open?

 As you can see this woman named Kyoko really gave off an eerie vibe and told Yuki she recently killed a man she had known for many years, it wasn't her first killing. Hmmm, so wonder if deep down Yuki wasn't thinking of that recent murder? But have to say we viewers knew something was going on which was hidden to keep the story going, didn't appear a real person was killed and none was. This was easily the slowest episode to date or at least for events in the show though it was once again an enjoyable watch. An episode is slightly over 22 minutes in length but the pacing has been so good the time flies right by.

 That's Mai in the third screenshot above, seeing as how she remained unnamed will use her regular name if I refer to her. This chit chat between Kyoko and Yuki went on for a while with Kyoko spilling her guts about her so-called killing. She never mentioned a name nor what kind of relationship it was even though she was pressed a bit by Yuki, then it was sort of obvious no person had been killed so if not then who died? Of course we had to see Yuki in action mixing a drink which you can see above, it was called a Mojito which is a Cuban drink. Kyoko said it was the favorite of the person she 'killed', as usual Yuki made it with a few of her own unique ingredients which to Kyoko was the best she's ever tasted. So while their get together was coming to an end what's happened with Yuki's two housemates Kiho and Hiyoko.

 For the second day in a row they were going to visit their top local eatery, the one which they were at in the beginning of the episode. But to their dismay it was closed but only seemed that way as Kiho discovered the door was unlocked and it appeared there may have been a dead person inside! Not to be as it was just the waitress Soba who closed down early and was in the process of getting smashed! Soba told the gals there was a recent death and it was of the person she loved the most, it was a connection to Kyoko who in a way did kill a man. Soba was in tears because the main character in her fave manga "No Man's Galaxy" had been killed off in the latest issue after being in it for twenty years. Hiyoko began reading the manga and before long she too was in tears, who would kill off such a hero?

 The main character of the manga was named Shu Shark and guess what(?), his favorite drink was a Mojito! So that's why Kyoko had Yuki make one and at the restaurant Kiho was forced by the waitress Soba to make many for her. Not the end of the story as later on that evening Kyoko returned to her editor's office, she was played by Mai who is right above. It was her idea to kill off Shu and while it seemed like a wise idea at first it's become a catastrophe. Kyoko told her not to worry, she spent all night at the office working on the next issue of "No Man's Galaxy" and came up with a solution. Far fetched one as she had the hero Shu coming back to life as she wasn't truly dead but had been whisked away by a time machine, his return will please millions of readers.

 That ends this recap and also all of them! Did view the sixth episode, took screenshots and was ready to begin writing up the post for it. But the episode was extremely boring and it had the same problem most of the other shows did which is that there was no proper ending. The stories were decent but the writing for them wasn't and this did turn out to be a disappointing series after a promising beginning. So while I will watch another episode or two will stop the recaps with this one as there's many other better things to watch and write about. So the six episode rating will be a 7.3/10, had such potential and was kind of enjoyable but to me the writer just did not make this an interesting show. However did like Mai Kiryuu's performance so will try to check out something else she's appeared in.