"Mayonaka ni Hello!" drama, episode one recap

 

 Air Dates: January 13th until March 17, 2022 on TV-Tokyo, Thursday nights at 12:30 am

Also goes by the title of Hello at Midnight and subs were done by Ais at Skewed

Main Cast: Just the top two characters will be in every show but there will be a guest star who will be the main focus of the story. First pic above are the two main characters while the other has who else will be in the episodes. They're Hello Project groups and one will be featured in each show along with their music as the two characters are huge H!P fanatics. The setting is the Sun Plaza Asunama Guest House which has received terrible reviews but is a very inexpensive place to live.

Momoko Kikuchi as Mariko Asunama.... Woman about fifty in age who runs the Asunama Guest House along with her daughter. Though being a bit older Mariko is a mega fan of the Hello Project groups and has been for over twenty years, she's such a fan it's driven many guests away! But she does hold the key to open a special door for the guests who are always struggling in their lives.

Yuno Ohara as Mizuki Asunama.... Momoko's 23 year old daughter who also helps run the guest house but it appears only one person stays there at a time. She just graduated from college but hasn't gone job hunting, though a H!P fan she's not a massive one like her mother.

Guest Stars for this episode

Ito Ono as Azumi Muraki.... Has just moved into the guest house but like most others her stay won't be for too long. She's a 29 year old manga artist who is really struggling as she can never get any of her stories published and is thinking of quitting her dream that she's had for twenty years.

Morning Musume as themselves.... Six members made a brief appearance in this episode towards the end and during that scene we heard their current hit single "Teenage Solution". There was also a few other older MM songs that were played during this show.

Promo video for the first episode

 Seems as though I'm getting farther and farther away from mainstream, prime time shows which is actually a very good thing. However may be recapping a series that just began two weeks ago called "Itoshi Uso: Yasashi Yami" and if I do recap the series the first pair of posts will be in a week or so. About two weeks ago moaned a bit about there not being any Hello Project dramas that featured their groups for so many years. Guess that moaning was heard(!) as this could be considered a quasi H!P drama though no members will have a large or recurring role.

 In each episode a different Hello Project group will be featured which are the five at the top. Seeing as how there's going to be eight(?) shows we may see a few groups more than once. The group's songs will be featured in each show and will have an impact on the guest star's life, in this first episode Morning Musume was featured. From what I've seen so far and read from others this is going to be one very fluffy series but quite often those have turned out to be such enjoyable shows. In the next episode ANGERME will be the guest group along with Beyooooonds. Each group should be promoting their latest single so will also add in the video to, here's the one for Morning Musume's current single which is subbed in English: "Teenage Solution" PV

 You will notice that the screenshots are an odd dimension and one you rarely see these days. Seems 99.8% of the time videos are 16:9 but in this series the dimensions are 4:3 and who knows why? As this drama got underway we heard the old classic Morning Musume song "Morning Coffee" which was also redone by the group over a decade later. The setting is the Asuname Guest House which has received terrible reviews in the past from those who have stayed there. It's mainly because of the the Inn's owner Mariko, though she's about fifty in age is such a mega fan of Hello Project music. So much she's driven residents away as she'll blast their songs any time of the day and Mariko can't understand why everyone in the word aren't massive H!P fans!

 Living with Mariko at the guest house is her 23 year old daughter Misaki who is also a fan of Hello Project but not at the level her mother is. Misaki is 23 in age and has graduated from college but is clueless what to do with the rest of her life. But Misaki does care about the reputation of the guest house as she constantly has to tell her mother to turn the music down and she does cook up some tasty dishes for the guests. Seems only one guest can live at the house at a time and currently it's a 29 year old woman named Azumi who just moved in two days ago. Up until then she had been living with her mother even though she was a bit older, it was mainly because she couldn't afford to live on her own. That's because Azumi is a struggling manga artist who has been unable to sell even one story to a publisher and if she doesn't by the age of thirty Azumi just may quit her lifetime dream.

 However good fortune finally seems to have smiled at Azumi as an editor Kato at Tokage Books has offered her a job. There was a hot headed female teenage manga artist who refused to finish a story and the editor wants Azumi to wrap it up, she'll even get credit for the first time in a magazine. But the problem was the project had to be finished by the following morning or in twelve hours but Azumi readily agreed though it would mean staying up all night. Quietness is what she needed to write and draw the story but of course with a huge H!P fan in the house quietness is impossible! Downstairs Mariko was in the midst of a Morning Musume marathon and the music was so loid Azumi had to plead with her to turn the music off. Mariko would but only if Azumi listened to one final song which she reluctantly did, it was an old MM tune called "Mikan".

 After the song finished Mariko told Azumi that because of listening to this 'magical tune' a special door will open up for her in the future. What she meant at the time was unknown and her daughter Misaki was wondering if her mother wasn't up to another scheme, one that drives the residents away! Azumi did finish the manga story and it looked superb but her good fortune ended when she arrived at the publishing company. The editor Kato had a backup plan and hired another writer to finish the story and he's decided to use that version which has made Azumi beyond furious and who can blame her. It would have been her first time appearing in a magazine and with her dream gone she's seriously thinking of quitting being a manga artist. On her way back to the guest house that night what should appear in front of Azumi but the above door, one similar to what Mariko mentioned. On the door was written Hello(Project), Azumi was so curious she entered this door which brought her somewhere else.

 That somewhere else was backstage at a concert hall, Mariko also happened to be there and who should be joining them in a matter of second but six members from Morning Musume! Back in 2015 they began to add the year to their name so it being 2022 they're now known as Morning Musume '22. Quickly the scene moved to Azumi's small room at the guest house where the members were singing their current hit single "Teenage Solution". That song has some positive lyrics and it made Azumi reassess her decision to quit being a manga artist. She began to to look through all of her older drawings from over the years and Azumi has had a change of heart about quitting her lifetime dream. She won't and even though her story wasn't published the editor Kato did say Azumi did a superb job on the manga so perhaps she now has an ally in he corner.

 She was alone at the time of making that decision but somehow was whisked away once again. This time to a rooftop where she heard a reprise of "Teenage Solution" and obviously this series is also to promote new Hello Project singles. So as this first episode ended Azumi has decided to move back in with her mother and continue on being an aspiring manga artist, she even said above she would give the guest house it's first ever five star rating! Decent first episode and now on to view the second show which will be the next post. Did talk about the odd dimensions of the screenshots but when you're watching the video it's really not noticeable.

"Mayonaka ni Hello!" drama, episode two recap

 

 Air Dates: January 13th until March 17, 2022 on TV-Tokyo, Thursday nights at 12:30 am

Also goes by the title of Hello at Midnight and subs were done by Ais at Skewed

Main Cast: Just the top two characters will be in every show but there will be a guest star who will be the main focus of the story. First pic above are the two main characters while the other has who else will be in the episodes. They're Hello Project groups and one will be featured in each show along with their music as the two characters are huge H!P fanatics. The setting is the Sun Plaza Asunama Guest House which has received terrible reviews but is a very inexpensive place to live.

Momoko Kikuchi as Mariko Asunama.... Woman about fifty in age who runs the Asunama Guest House along with her daughter. Though being a bit older Mariko is a mega fan of the Hello Project groups and has been for over twenty years, she's such a fan it's driven many guests away! But she does hold the key to open a special door for the guests who are always struggling in their lives.

Yuno Ohara as Mizuki Asunama.... Momoko's 23 year old daughter who also helps run the guest house but it appears only one person stays there at a time. She just graduated from college but hasn't gone job hunting, though a H!P fan she's not a massive one like her mother.

Guest Stars for this episode

Rei Okamoto as Yuuha Mitamura.... Woman about thirty in age who had somehow met Mariko before. She's started a new job which is going somewhat well workwise but Yuuha isn't quite fitting in with her department's 'traditions'.

Mikoto Hibi as Midori.... Smallish role but hadn't seen Mikoto in a drama for close to two years and does she look terrific!

ANGERME and Beyooooonds as themselves.... Just three members from each group and in a surprise didn't perform any of their group's songs.

 Was wrong on some of my assumptions in the first post. Figured with the two above groups appearing in this episode we would hear some of their songs but that wasn't the case. Instead they 'performed' a few older Morning Musume tunes but the lyrics in one were changed around a bit. While it was nice to hear those songs would have preferred hearing some tunes from the two groups, especially Beyooooods and that is how their name is spelt. They're one of the newer Hello Project groups and everything I've heard from them has been quite good. They are an energetic and fun group, here's the link to one of their videos which is subbed in English: "Vitamin E" PV

 Don't expect these recaps to be get a huge amount of views unless you're a Hello Project fan plus I will admit it's kind of cheesy but it's been enjoyable enough through two shows. Once again the screenshots came out as 4:3 instead of the usual 16:9 and am baffled on why. Guess that's the way the video was taped but doesn't that mean that's the dimension that aired on TV? When watching the video you don't notice the odd dimensions at all as you can adjust how you're viewing it if using VLC.

 The Asunama Guest House currently has zero guests staying there and it could be because of the older woman above who is the owner. Her name is Mariko and what a huge Hello Project fan she is, she'll play songs from all of their groups night and day which has driven everyone away! Her 23 year old daughter Misaki seems to have sense for business and is trying to attract more long term guests but with a mother like Mariko it's proving to be almost impossible. This episode's main guest star wasn't a resident of the house but someone who had met Mariko before, her name is Yuuha. She's about thirty in age and has just began a new job at a gaming company where she designs the boxes and such. Yuuha had somehow met Mariko on the Internet and at the time Yuuha was struggling to find a job, with Mariko's help she wrote up a dazzling resume' which helped Yuuha get her current job.

 But every now and again a screenshot does come out in the 16:9 format, isn't that extremely odd? Don't think I'm doing anything wrong so let me investigate this unless someone reading knows an answer. Back to the story and Yuuha is a competent worker but is just so shy and is having difficulties fitting in on a personal basis. At the end of each month her small five person designing team throws a celebration and one person is responsible for the food and drinks. Up until now the foods that the others have supplied have been quite unique but also very expensive, it's Yuuha's turn to run the mini party and she's at a loss on what to do. Being somewhat new she doesn't have a lot of money and is having such a difficult time trying to figure out what cheap dishes would please everyone.

 That was until out of the blue Yuuha received a text from Mariko who said to turn around and enter the 'magical door'! Somehow Mariko has this 'special power' where she can make a door with the word Hello(Project) appear and if a person enters it'll be the first step into solving their problems. A baffled Yuuha saw the door and thought what did she have to lose, after entering it she ended up backstage at a concert hall where her fiend Mariko was waiting. She didn't have much to say to say to Yuuha and instead introduced her to three members from the ANGERME and Beyooooonds pop groups. Yuuha has no clue about the world of J-Pop so had no idea who these six girls were, they quickly grabbed her arm and before she knew it Yuuha was in the room where her hiring interview was held. Sitting at a table were the three interviewers who wanted Yuuha to tell them how she's fitting in with the company and is she happy, this is all part of a dream or least we think it is!

 During this segment figured we'd hear a song or two from one of the groups. That we did but not their own as they performed a pair of older Morning Musume hits which were both excellent songs but have heard them hundreds of times already. But they did have some very positive and inspiring lyrics and while Yuuha is not a J-Pop fan they made her think about her current situation at the company, some advice from the members also helped quite a bit. So in the final scene Yuuha's party for her coworkers was a smash though it didn't appear it would be to Yuuha. Instead of some exotic or expensive dish Yuuha brought instant beef bowls which confused her four mates. Yuuha explained that the tradition was the person supplying the food would have what was very enjoyable to them.

 And to Yuuha it was instant beef bowls as she hasn't been at the company for too long and couldn't afford some extravagant spread. But that brought back some fond memories to her four mates as they remembered when they too had to eat instant soup and ramen when they first started out. So to Yuuha's pleasant surprise all dug in and really enjoyed the meal and the trip down memory lane which brought us to the end of this second episode. A show is about 24 minutes in length so things do wrap up in a hurry. As mentioned in the beginning this is a drama that will mainly appeal to Hello Project fans and the best part have been the songs though wish we heard more newer ones. Two somewhat decent shows though certainly not a must watch, will be back in two weeks with the next pair of recaps and hopefully will find out why the video has such odd dimensions.