Broadcast Dates: Wednesdays from July 10 to September 18, 2013 Average Rating: 11.14%
Main Cast:
Esumi Makiko as Chinatsu Tsuboi
Tsubasa Honda as Shiori Maruyama
Becky as Madoka Minami
Sakura Ando as Reiko Abe
Kanna Mori as Misuzu Kojima
Keiko Horiuchi as Masuyo Fukuda
Shohei Miura as Daisuke Samon
Nana Katase as Miki Danjo
Ken Yasuda as Kenji Hoshino
Takeshi Masu as Susumu Maekawa
Kosuke Suzuki as Koichi Shimochai
Think this drama is an good example of the Laws of Diminishing Returns, season one(1998) had a 21.8% average rating, season two(2000) was close with a 20.3% rating but the third season(2002) dropped all the way down to a 16.3% rating which is a solid number but hit dramas back in those days had much higher numbers. Figured that would be the end of the series but was surprised like many others when a fourth season aired in the Summer of 2013, with an average raring of 11.14% think many viewers didn't think do highly of another remake of it. The first season was really one excellent watch, would highly recommend it if you've never seen it, season two was also good but not nearly a must watch like the first season, third season was at best so-so, you can only use the same formula over and over so many times, the third time was not the charm.
Kind of torn on my thoughts for this fourth season, the first 2+ episodes really weren't all that good, one reason is Esumi's character is just so tiring, was really hoping her part would be a part time one but once again she has the lead in the drama. But the last two episodes have actually been a fairly enjoyable watch, wasn't going to finish this series but having just viewed the fifth episode think I'll stick it out for the last four shows, showing enough improvement to make me want to finish it.
The truth is I wanted to watch this and am still watching it because of Tsubasa, to me she's one of the best young actresses around but far too often her dramas she appears in aren't anything to write home about, the "Piece" series from 2012 though is one exception and that really is one that should be viewed. Thought Tsubasa had the lead role in this drama too until I started watching it, she has the second biggest part and her character is by far the most interesting and enjoyable one, actually all the characters except for Esumi's do a solid job. Am going to try to give some very short recaps, hoping for a paragraph or two at most, keep saying that but it rarely works out that way, after the last episode though will give more of a lengthy recap of the series, as of now have no clue how it ends up.
Like the first season the Manpan corporation is looking to downsize and has been fairly effective at cutting their staff but like the first season also there's a group they couldn't get rid of. And that group of six females in the company end up being transferred to the Shomuni unit or shall I say they formed a new unit of Shomuni which had been discontinued. Shiori(Tsubasa) had been a potential candidate for the Olympic Team in pole vaulting and was a part of the Manpan track and field club, it was the only reason she was employed by the company. Her pole vaulting talents were Shiori's only reason for being at the company as she was a totally useless worker who knew zero about computers, answering phones, clerical duties.... really anything one would need to know to work in a company like that. However at a Olympic trial for her pole vaulting she failed and was left off the team, now what was the Manpan corporation going to do with her?
Shiori's supervisors figured she would resign if transferred to the new Shomuni unit, almost every other employee had resigned but not her, there was nothing else she could do to make a living so she stayed on at Manpan. Though different scenarios the other five females who make up the unit were also given an ultimatum to resign or work in the new Shomuni unit, for whatever reason they chose to work there though at least one of them was quite highly skilled, probably more then most of the other workers who were kept aboard.
For the most part that's what the first episode consisted of, just showing us the formation of the new Shomuni unit and a bit of the background of their characters, mainly though we see more of Shiori in this episode which made it an okay watch. One other problem in this drama has been the length of the episodes, first, second and fourth shows were all 57 minutes, that's just way too long for a drama like this but maybe because there's only nine episodes, perhaps another show was planned but was cancelled so they had to fit ten episodes into nine.
Have a few other posts on the series after this one, each one will be looking at two episodes as I'm planning on keeping these recaps short. But of course they'll be plenty of Tsubasa screenshots, no need to tell you how terrific she looks, actually all the time she looks terrific, what we need is for her to get another lead role in a drama. Haven't posted any info on it but she will be appearing in a mini drama that's starting in late March on NHK, will give some news on that soon as it slipped my mind until I was writing this paragraph.
