"Takane no Hana-san" drama: Episode ten recap

 

 Air Dates: April 10th until June 27, 2021 on TV-Tokyo, Thursdays at midnight

Based on a manga by Koji Murota, subs were done by LuW

Main Cast: Most of the action takes place at the Mitsubachi Confectionary company in Tokyo. Small cast as there's only four major characters.

Rika Izumi as Hana Takamane.... 32 year old planning department manager at the company. Though a bit older Hana has never been in a relationship and deep down has the maturity of a young teen when it comes to males. For some odd reason she has a secret crush on her young worker Yowaki who is kind of inept and unknown to Hana he also has a crush on her.

Yuki Ogoe as Tsuyoshi Yowaki.... About seven years Hana's junior but could pass for a seventeen year old. He is gung-ho about his work but Yowaki comes up with the oddest promo ideas which leads to Hana constantly putting him down.

Kenta Izuka as Genki Sarada.... Has the nickname of Charada. He's Yowaki's best friend at the company and thinks most woman in the world would die to date him which is far from the truth. Compared to Yowaki he is an excellent worker.

Kanon as Ichigo.... At ~21 in age is the youngest in the office, she's like Sarada as Ichigo thinks men would die to go out with her. She is insanely jealous of Hana's looks and really wants to bring her down which she's attempted a few times and all have ended in failures. 

 Previous recaps

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

Episode four .... Episode five .... Episode six

Episode seven .... Episode eight .... Episode nine

 

 We've finally hit the end of this show and have a trio of recaps for this series today. At the end of April recapped the first two episodes, the subs for the third show were done and then the person doing them dropped the project. So never thought I'd be able to finish the recaps but did find out another person picked this drama up and their subs are so much better than the ones for the first three shows. This will end up being the easiest drama I've ever recapped, not all that much seems to happen in this show but then again there's been no filler and the story has moved right along.

 The links to the previous episodes are right above, you don't need to read all of them but it may be helpful to browse through the last pair as much did happen. The most important incident was at the end of the ninth episode when Hana finally gathered up the courage and told her seven years younger junior Yowaki that she liked him! To Hana's amazement he confessed that he had the same feelings towards her but not much else developed out of that scene which happened in the final two minutes. The main reason for Hana's 'love confession' was that the COP proposal the pair were working on was now complete and Hana wouldn't be able to be so close with Yowaki ever again though he will still work under her at the Mitsubachi Confectionary company's planning department.

 COP stands for Cool Japan Okashi, that final word means sweets and it's to promote Japanese candy and snacks to other countries with a cultural theme. Other companies will also be vying for the huge contract but by the end of the eleventh episode we don't know if Hana's proposal was the winner. But the president and board of directors really liked the idea which was to introduce a new sweet called 'Five Story Pagoda Donuts' which you can see above. That's from a presentation that Hana and Yowaki had to give to the executives, her segment went smoothly as Hana is so adept at speaking in front of others. That's not the case for the timid Yowaki who followed Hana to explain more about the project and it was mainly his idea, his presentation was bombing terribly in front of the directors.

 At first Hana and the others in the audience thought Yowaki sounded like an elementary school boy and he truly did. Hana couldn't let their hard work go down the drain and jumped in to save the day for Yowaki. She quietly gave him a few pointers on how to act and in a miracle Yowaki gave an even better presentation than Hana. The president and board of directors were quite impressed with him and the project, as you can see above they're going to move ahead quickly and get a patent. Guess even if the idea isn't the winning one for the COP contest the company could sell the Pagoda donuts in Japan.

 Now that the presentation was a success and is over with what's to become of Hana and Yowaki after their confessions of love? Neither has an idea where to go next, can understand why for Yowaki as he is a bit of a nerdish man but Hana is quite stunning yet at 32 years old has never had a boyfriend. You can see what happens above, to Hana's disappointment Yowaki has told her they shouldn't start dating or at least not yet. Yowaki knows he's no comparison to the kind of person Hana is, he's vowed to make himself a much better person and until he does Yowaki feels the pair shouldn't date. After Hana let it sink in she could understand the reasoning behind it, she's waited 32 years to have a boyfriend so what's a bit longer?

 Following that scene things were back to normal in Hana's unit. Though she likes Yowaki immensely she still can't stop berating him for his inane new ideas for projects, kind off humorous how Hana can constantly scream at Yowaki all day long yet will never raise her voice at anyone else. We didn't see much of Charada or Ichigo during this show but the pair did eavesdrop on that conversation after the presentation. However Ichigo is about to play a much more important role in the story and she was the key figure in this episode's final few minutes. At first she was using Yowaki as a pawn to try and bring Hana down but over time has really become so fond of Yowaki, her heart is still broken by being rejected by him two shows ago. 

 Since then her consumption of Sake has really increased and did make a comment in the last recap how Ichigo was rapidly becoming an alcoholic. She realized that too and in the second to last screenshot above Ichigo knew she had to change and dumped all of her Sake down the drain. Ichigo works in the General Affairs department but has never been thrilled with what she does. Ichigo has noticed how much fun and job satisfaction Yowaki has working in the Planning department. So in the last twenty seconds of this episode Ichigo marched into the president's office and asked for a transfer to Planning which was approved on the spot! So that move will change things dramatically in Hana's unit as Ichigo can now be able to spend more time with Yowaki, was that the main reason she wanted a transfer? That'll be explained more in episode eleven which is the next recap.

"Takane no Hana-san" drama: Episode eleven recap

 

 Air Dates: April 10th until June 27, 2021 on TV-Tokyo, Thursdays at midnight

Based on a manga by Koji Murota, subs were done by LuW

Main Cast: Most of the action takes place at the Mitsubachi Confectionary company in Tokyo. Small cast as there's only four major characters.

Rika Izumi as Hana Takamane.... 32 year old planning department manager at the company. Though a bit older Hana has never been in a relationship and deep down has the maturity of a young teen when it comes to males. For some odd reason she has a secret crush on her young worker Yowaki who is kind of inept and unknown to Hana he also has a crush on her.

Yuki Ogoe as Tsuyoshi Yowaki.... About seven years Hana's junior but could pass for a seventeen year old. He is gung-ho about his work but Yowaki comes up with the oddest promo ideas which leads to Hana constantly putting him down.

Kenta Izuka as Genki Sarada.... Has the nickname of Charada. He's Yowaki's best friend at the company and thinks most woman in the world would die to date him which is far from the truth. Compared to Yowaki he is an excellent worker.

Kanon as Ichigo.... At ~21 in age is the youngest in the office, she's like Sarada as Ichigo thinks men would die to go out with her. She is insanely jealous of Hana's looks and really wants to bring her down which she's attempted a few times and all have ended in failures. 

 Previous recaps

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

Episode four .... Episode five .... Episode six

Episode seven .... Episode eight .... Episode nine

 

 We've finally hit the end of this series and this is the second of three recaps. Haven't viewed the final episode yet and want to write this up first so there won't be any unintentional spoilers. Have to admit this has only been a so-so drama and 99% of the reason I'm watching this is because of Rika, will say that she's done a fine job in this drama and it's her first comedy role. This series has been kind of inane and over the top at times however overall it's been enjoyable and it has been a nice break from all the serious dramas that I've viewed this year.

 The big development in the last show with the new lovebirds Hana and Yowaki was.... nothing happened!!!! After acing their presentation for the president of Mitsubachi Confectionary and it's main directors Hana thought things would get much more serious but she knows zero about romance. For now Yowaki wants to put their dating on a hold so he can become a better man for her but not quite sure what his goals are, to be a better worker, more interesting, etc.? Unknown to Yowaki overhearing that conversation was Ichigo, she's really fallen for Yowaki the past few episodes and with him not wanting to date Hana at this time does that man Ichigo may be able to move right in and steal his heart?

 That could be tough as it appears Yowaki just has eyes for Hana though there's nothing wrong with a woman like Ichigo who is quite attractive and much smarter than she's let on. At the conclusion of the previous show she had asked for a transfer from General Affairs to the Planning department that Hana directs, her request was approved. That's Ichigo in the top screenshot on her first day at her new assignment, to Hana's dismay her supervisor has ordered Yowaki to be Ichigo's mentor and Hana's still jealous of the girl with good reason to be. But to Ichigo's credit she was all business for the first few days at her new position, she's such a whiz with computers and stats, so much she's actually training Yowaki to do his job!

 While it's so true that Ichigo wanted the transfer to possibly get Yowaki's affections she also had been impressed by how much he loved working in the Planning department. Ichigo was going nowhere in General Affairs and she was envious on how Yowaki and the other Planning department workers loved their jobs. Unknown to all but Charada Ichigo had also been secretly practicing speeches for new products in the company's conference rooms and she should be an asset to Hana's team. The problem is Hana has noticed how closely Ichigo has been working with Yowaki and her jealousy is on the rise again. She put a private note on Yowaki's desk telling him to meet her the following day at a nearby park for a private lunch and not to tell anyone but Ichigo of course happened to discover the note.

 Perhaps she's much more serious about work but Ichigo is still a devious woman. There was no way she wanted the lunch with Hana to take place so Ichigo held back Yowaki saying she had created many new dishes for him to try and rate. When Yowaki tried to slither away Ichigo reminded him that a board director appointed him as her trainer and he needed to stay to eat every single dish! And what a huge amount Ichigo created, enough to keep her crush away from meeting Hana. Ichigo's plan did work for the most part and slightly to her credit Yowaki did enjoy all of the new creations but that after that massive lunch can Yowaki eat one more bite? So while Ichigo's scheme was going well sitting dejected in the park waiting for her new potential lover was Hana and you did have to feel for her. Hana wasn't mad at all as she figured something must have arisen at the office, as she was sitting there leaves began falling on Hana and the lunch she made for her crush, crushed is what Hana's heart was.

 But being a drama there had to be a happy ending and for Hana's sake we're glad there was. Yowaki was finally able to flee from Ichigo, holding his stomach so it wouldn't burst he dashed off to where the love of his life(?) was waiting. By this time Hana had lost all hope Yowaki would arrive but just as she was leaving bursting on the scene was Yowaki. True to his MO he tripped over seemingly nothing and fell on his face which resulted in a bloody nose. But better late than never was what Hana thought as at least her crush arrived and the pair did have time for a mini chat, Yowaki even managed to find room in his stomach for Hana's bento.

 The pair even exchanged Line addresses though Hana needed to give a different one as her main address was the name of Yowaki. Things began moving a bit quicker for the pair, though Yowaki hasn't become the man he's promised to be yet for Hana he invited her over to his apartment that Saturday but of course nothing steamy will be taking place. However the now sneaky Charada spied on Hana when she was replying to the invitation and knows about the get together. In the final few seconds you can see above that it's Saturday and Hana has arrived at Yowaki's pad, unknown to her lurking in the shadows was Charada. His obsession with Hana has risen to the point that he's almost a stalker, more on that in the next post as this concludes this recap.