Air Dates: October 3rd to December 26, 2022 Monday nights at 10:30 pm on BS Shochiku
Thirteen 25 minute episodes, subs once again done by GEO9875 at DA
Also known as Pianist in the Shopping District
Main Cast: Usually have to update this section often but don't think that's going to happen in this series. Most of the action will be taking place at the Kajiwara Music Store which is in the shopping district in an unnamed small city.
Kiita Komagine as Ren Sawamoto.... Young man about 22 or so in age who works as an electrician. He still lives with his mother and about ten years ago his father disappeared, how and why were explained in the final three shows. Ren is so talented at the piano but ten years ago stopped playing, when his father left? It seems so as the family piano was sold at that time and it appears Ren has found it at the Kajiwara music store, will finding it spark his interest to start playing again? Yes it did and even after not playing for ten years Ren is still a master.
Mio Yuki as Modori Kajiwara.... About twenty in age and works at her father's music store, she seems to run the place. Midori isn't all that talented as far as music goes but has a dream to be a painter and wants to attend an art school. No one seems to recognize her talent except for Ren, the pair never met until the first episode.
Hiroto Yoshimitsu as Yosuke Kajiwara.... Midori's father and seems to be nice man, also a big fan of music and thinks that his daughter doesn't have much talent at painting!
An Hasegawa as Moe Kato.... Daughter of the next woman and is ten years old. Moe loves the piano but has to sneak into the Kajiwara store to play their street piano as her mother hates the the instrument and would rather see her daughter studying 100% of the time. Moe is a beginner but does show a lot of talent and her favorite piece is "Fur Elise" by Beethoven.
Maki Kubota as Masae Kato.... Moe's mother who as explained hates the piano and owns a clothing shop near the music store, she says the piano is way too loud which I think is a lie. But she has softened her views about the piano as the series has gone on and really encourages Moe these days to play it.
Naho Toda as Sakiko Sawamoto.... Ren's mother and to date don't know much about her but seems she's been secretly communicating with Ren's father all these years.
Previous recaps:
The song we'll hear most from him is "Claire de lune" which was a piece from his 1890 "Suite bergamasque" and besides Idols you also learn there was music before J-Pop! In the second screenshot is the Kajiwara Music Shop where 90% of the action takes place, to date haven't seen the store make one sale! The female above is Midori who runs the shop for her father Yosuke, she's a very upbeat young woman but the last few episodes her attitude about her future has been a bit up and down. Midori's dream is to become a painter but in all honesty is only fair at it, she's failed twice to get into art school and is beginning to wonder should she abandon her dream? The only person to enjoy her paintings has been Ren and Midori noticed at the start of this episode she paints so much better when Ren is playing the piano. There's something about his 'Aura' while playing and even Ren had no clue what Midori was talking about. So she began to think how can she combine her painting and Ren's piano playing together, Midori came up with an idea which is this show's main story.
It didn't seem as though Midori had any concrete plan on what she was going to paint, she thought that Ren's playing would inspire her while the event was being filmed. It's hard to say if Midori is talented or not, better than I am but that's not saying much. Her father Yosuke does support her but has also said her paintings are sadly not all that good. But Ren has always thought Midori's creations were superb and could that be one reason she has that unknown crush on him? Time flew by and it's now Saturday, when the first ever dual video of Ren playing and Midori painting will take place. We did see a bit off Midori's painting such as above but for the most part we didn't see too much of how it was shaping up until the end of the performance.
That's unknown and when episodes are only ~24 minutes in length many things are left for us to figure out. For the final scene Ren and Midori were outside the music shop talking about art and music. To Midori Ren's playing is a tad like Synesthesia for to Midori the music brings colors to her head and is why she can paint so much better while he's playing. So that brings us to the conclusion of this show which while slow was another enjoyable one. Two more episodes to go and will Ren finally be reunited with his father? There is one other question which is about Midori. Her mother died fifteen years ago and the anniversary date of her death will be happening soon. Three episodes ago Midori told Ren she wanted to have a special occasion for the anniversary but no mention has been made since of it.
