Mayu Matsuoka: "Suizokukan Garu" drama episode one recap and screenshots

 Start Date: June 17, 2016 on NHK, airs Friday nights at 10:00 pm until July 31st

Main Cast:

Mayu Matsuoka as Yuka Shima

Kenta Kiritani as Ryohei Kaji

Asahi Uchida as Riku Isokawa

Houka Kinoshita as Yoji Morishita

Motoki Nishimura as Takuya Yagami

Naomi Nishda as Ichiko Yoshizaki

Shiro Ito as Ryotaro Utsumi

 Been a while since I've recapped a regular length, every one for the last few months have been ones that are only about 25 minutes long so hope I remember how to do these. What I really hope is that those shorter reviews will carry over to these. Glad to see an under the radar drama like this is being subbed, first episode turned out to be a solid watch and it does promise to be an okay series.
 Mayu plays Yuka Shima who works for the Yottsu Boshi company. However after a few mishaps such as losing four pages of an important document along with being seen entering a love hotel with a few men she is on the verge of getting canned. She easily could have been but instead was transferred to an aquarium the company owns.

 You can go no lower on the company's totem pole than getting sent to work at the Hamakaze Aquarium, it looks like a good place but it's been suffering as attendance has really dropped. At the end of the show the director was told that if the attendance doesn't pick up and the profits start to rise then the company will sell the land for a new apartment complex.
 Back to Yuka though, the incidents which sent her to working at the aquarium weren't her fault as her boss at the main headquarters had set her up for a fall. He was the one who 'lost' the four pages of the document plus had set up Yuka to look like she was entering a love hotel with a few men to take a picture of her, he's mad at a minor event with her that happened two years prior.
 At the aquarium Yuka is what you would think a newcomer would be which is mainly useless. All of the other employees have had many years of training though at least they seem to like her. That is except for her chief Kaji, he wants nothing to do with her and wants her to fail so she'll be sent back to headquarters. Yuka can't be sent back there as this is her last chance with the company and for most of the first episode it appears as though her days are numbered.
 Yuka is assigned to the Dolphin Division where they watch over four of them and get they prepared to do shows for the crowds. One dolphin is a bit of a hard case and he's named C1, Kaji tells her that if he won't eat the fish she's supposed to feed him within a week then she's out. Personally don't know much about dolphins but it appears even if they're hungry they won't eat the food they've been given if they don't trust that person and C1 doesn't trust her at all.

 This is one of those 'underdog dramas', Yuka knew nothing at first but within a week seems to have picked up quite a bit and is getting some respect from many of the other workers. The main director of the aquarium seems to believe in her and tells her not to get down about things, that belief in her comes through at the end.
 And at the end her ex-boss from the company along with her ex-boyfriend who also works there pay a visit to the aquarium, that's when they tell the director of their plans to turn it into new apartments. The pair really put the place down, especially the dolphins. Yuka couldn't bear to hear any more of their sassy talk and really lays into them. The C1 dolphin notices her sticking up for him and the other dolphins which leads him to be able to trust her. With only one fish left to get C1 to eat Yuka throws the fish high into the air with C1 jumping high into the air to grab it, on his fall back into the pool he really splashes her ex-boss/boyfriend which pleased all of the workers and probably the viewers too as they were such a pair of jerks. That jump C1 did was one he hadn't done in six years, since his old trainer had left he refused to do that incredible jump out of the water, now wonder with him doing it for Yuka she'll now be his personal trainer.

 Think the length of this recap worked out quite well, not too long where you would fall asleep and enough info to perhaps get you interested in this series. Really reminds me of another recent drama whose title I can't recall at this moment but perhaps watching the next show(s) will jog my memory. This series is only seven episodes so am planning on recapping two at once so the next ones should be in two weeks and hopefully sooner.
 First episode was 48 minutes, usually most first shows are over an hour long but this one had the perfect length as longer usually doesn't mean better. Promising start to this drama, been a bad stretch for prime time shows recently but have a feeling this one is going to turn out to be an enjoyable view. For you Mayu fans, hopefully her fan base is growing here, have plenty more screenshots of her in the next post.

Mayu Matsuoka: "Suizokukan Garu" drama episode one screenshots

 Though my drama viewing has really decreased the last few years Mayu's series are ones that are truly worth watching. This is the fourth one I've seen her since the beginning of 2015, she's had the lead role in all of them and every one is certainly worthy of a watch.
 Will be doing a few more recaps of her previous series which just ended. 'SonoOkodawari'. Kind of a wacky show but one that's been an entertaining watch, the drama just got finished being subbed so will be doing a few more posts on the show soon.
 Mayu to me is the best young actress around, what I think helps her is that she's not an Idol as very few of them are any good at acting but the stations are kind of forced to have them appear in their dramas. She is a huge fan of Morning Musume and did appear at one of their shows earlier this month, the group is also going to be in the final episode of her 'Sono' drama. Rest of the screenshots from episode one are hear, think I covered most of the main points in the recap though these may help you follow the show a bit better. If you didn't know the title translates over to 'Aquarium Girl'.

Mayu Matsuoka: "Sono 'Okodawari, Ore ni mo Kure Yo!!" drama episodes three and four recaps with screenshots

 Perhaps I'll just do one or two recaps for this series, was thinking of the last two shows of this eleven episode series which ends on June 17th. It's actually been a decent watch but recaps for it don't do it enough justice, it really is an interesting watch but not an interesting drama to read about.
 Hence will keep this very, very short but say that about so many reviews and they end up being well over a thousand words. Mayu and Sairi are emcees of a fictitious 'mockumentary' style of show where they investigate people who have strange obsessions or 'okodawaris'. Decided to keep these two episodes together as it's close to being a two-parter with the guest in episode 3 also appearing in the following show.

 The first guest is a manga writer named Ohashi, the gals visit him at his apartment which is also where he works. At his residence are also four of his assistants, they seem to do all of the drawing for the manga strip. All except one thing which is the eyes, Ohashi's talents lie in drawing eyes which look so simple yet supposedly are difficult to draw. But the main reason for the visit is to find out what Ohashi's obsession is which really isn't too much of a bad one which is that he's addicted to plums and has been since he was a little boy, title of this show was 'Plum Man'.
 Ohashi can make all kinds of concoctions out of plums, one that he made for Mayu and Sairi were 'plum pills'. Mayu thought they had a interesting taste while Sairi wasn't impressed with the taste at all. Shortly after the trio leave his apartment to let the assistants finish the manga and head to a Izakaya to try the plums with alcohol.
 At the Izakaya(bar) things start to get a bit complicated and odd as for some reason Sairi has started to really fall hard for Ohashi. The feeling is mutual too but is it just the alcohol talking? We find out that it isn't as the group heads to a karaoke joint where Mayu ends up doing most of the singing while Sairi and Ohashi cuddle up and have their first kiss which leaves Mayu speechless. Is this just a one night fking or will things continue on, we'll find out in the next show as this one ends at that point.

 It's more than just a one-nighter as Ohashi makes another appearance in the fourth episode with Sairi by his side. He made Sairi late for the next show as she and Mayu are going to interview another manga artist who is part of the Renoir Brothers writing team. It's just a one person team and the name of the writer is Sakon, didn't check if either manga artist is real but have a feeling they're not.
 Sakon has many obsessions though they don't appear to be too odd, really though the only truly odd obsession we've seen was in the first show. One of his obsessions are verandas, he even has a manga titled 'Veranda Man". His other obsession is sleeping which doesn't appear to be a bad one seeing as how most of us like to sleep.

  Sakon though enjoys sleeping on his veranda even when it's quite chilly out like it was in this show. The staff for this show came into Sakon's apartment to set up for the shoot, things got out of hand after that. First he becomes upset with the staff making a mess of his place, Mayu and Sairi then begin making fun of his sleeping obsession and shortly after that Sakon flees his apartment in a rage.
 That happened with about eight minutes to go in this 22+ minute episode, found out it was a much better watch just viewing it without taking screenshots or notes. The ending was quite good with Mayu and Sairi really getting into a heated discussion, there's always a bit of an air between them. Then the pair briefly in the final scene travel to a manga publishers where a masked editor tells them that Sairi is really the star of the show and that Mayu is a disappointment because she tries so hard and ends up coming off quite coldly. Would think that ending will continue on into the next show.

 If you've watched any of these shows you probably know what I mean about it being such an interesting view which doesn't come out so well in a recap. There are quite a few subtle things which go on along with a lot of wackiness and quirky moments, so if you haven't watched any of these yet would recommend it as it's not nearly as boring as it seems in this review,
 Like I said there's eleven episodes in this series with two more to go, think those final two will get a recap here and I'll just end up watching episodes 5-9 for the enjoyment and not to review. Plenty of screenshots from these two episodes even though I didn't take any for the last eight minutes of episode four which had the best scene so far in the series with the spat between Mayu and Sairi.