"G Senjou no Anata to Watashi" drama: Episode three recap

 

 Air Dates: October 15th until December 17, 2019 on TBS, Thursdays at 10:00 pm

Average Rating: 7.7%, subs were done by Aoihachi

Also goes by the title of You and I on the G-String

Main Cast: Have just viewed the first two episodes so there may much tweaking as the shows go on. Not sure what city this takes place in but it's set in Ishikawa prefecture, perhaps the city of Kanazawa? At the beginning of the first show it was mid April 2018 and by it's end it was already June. In this episode we're quickly up to September.

Haru as Yaeko Kogure.... 27 year old woman who quit her OL job in the first episode and also then she was dumped by her boyfriend. Shortly after that Yaeko heard Mao playing the violin at an event to draw new students, she was hooked on becoming a master right from that moment. At the moment Yaeko is still unemployed living with her parents.

Taishi Nakagawa as Rihito Kase.... College student who is nineteen and lives at home with his married brother, his wife and the parents. Rihito too heard Mao playing the violin at the event and joined her class but he does have a past with her.

Yuki Matsushita as Yukie Kitagawa.... The third student in the class who also attended the event held in a mall. Yukie is much older than the other pair as she's in her forties, she has a husband and an eleven year old daughter but isn't too happy with her marriage.

Yuki Sakurai as Mao Kuzumi.... Works as a violin instructor at a musical school and is teaching the three newbies above. She's 27 in age and was recently dumped by her boyfriend, of all people it was Rihito's brother and Rihito does have a crush on Mao.

Nobuyuki Suzuki as Yuto Kase.... Rihito's brother who is about 27 in age and works in an office. He had been Mao's boyfriend but got another woman pregnant and had to marry her.

Karen Takizawa as Fumi Kase.... Yuto's pregnant wife and actually quite a nice woman.

 There's a few other minor characters, will add them in if their roles become larger.

 Starting with the fifth episode will have the links to the first four shows, no sense having any links today as the posts are just a few above this one. Will admit this series is nothing special or intense in any way but am enjoying it immensely as I zipped through these first four shows. Perhaps because it's because the characters and stories are so down to earth, the main trio are just like everyday people. Have lucked out with dramas like this which is going in blind having no idea what the show is really about. Been a few duds over the years but think my success rate has been quite high and it's a nice change to view shows like this now and again. 

 No intense cliffhanger coming into this show but you should know that for if you're reading this you've probably read the first two recaps. Thanks if you did because I know drama recaps aren't the most thrilling things you'll ever read. In that last show the trio performed at their music school's Autumn recital which was a bit of a flop. They did practice more than usual but come performance time none played as well as they did practicing. However their spirits remained high and they had only begun playing the violin ten weeks before and it's one of the harder instruments to master. As the saying goes once you fall off the horse you have to get right back on, that's what the three will be doing as Yukie wants them to enter the next recital which will be in December. Time is really flying, in episode one the time was June, the first recital was in September and the next recital will be six months after they began playing.

 For that first recital it took a lot of arm twisting by Yaeko to get Rihito to join the two women, that wasn't needed this time as he's a bit gung-ho about it. But is there another reason for wanting to play mused Yukie, isn't remaining close to Mao the real reason for Rihito? Yukie is oldest and most quiet of the trio but every now and again she blurts out something like that which was true and those are the worst kinds of observations. Their teacher Mao is eight years older than Rihito, deep down he does realize the odds are a million to one she would ever date him but in his heart Rihito needs to know for sure. The three this time are practicing even harder and they have to as the recital is rapidly approaching plus they're going to play a much more difficult piece of music.

 In the first scene of the series our three main characters viewed a performance by Mao at a mall and all were hypnotized by the song. It was "G String in the Air" and they wanted to perform at their first recital. But as mentioned Mao said the song was too difficult for newbies so they did something easier which still bombed. This time around the three are determined to perform the piece and in it Yaeko and Yukie will have solo pieces as they found the song too hard to play the entire way through but of course Rihito can. Ten weeks can fly by which it did, the group practiced at least once a week at their local place which was a karaoke bar. With one practice left Rihito dropped a bomb to his two mates. No matter how well or badly the recital goes he will confess his love to Mao after it, if she refuses then Rihito claims he'll leave the class!

 Rihito though has said he's leaving the class at least twice and never did so the women aren't too worried or don't show it. But tragedy struck on the night of the recital which was about Yukie's

mother-in-law. On the morning of the recital at home she suffered a stroke and if Yukie wasn't there she may have died. She's at the hospital with the woman and there's really no way Yukie can leave her though deep down she can't stand the woman. But the show must go on so Rihito and Yaeko will perform as a duo and actually with all of the practicing Yaeko can play "G String in the Air" in it's entirety which is how they'll perform the song. Before the show was an uplifting scene as Rihito and Yaeko are communicating so well, he's used dots on his violin to play many notes but with Yaeko's support he got rid of them before the show.

 You can see the duo performing above and while they're far from masters they did perform the song rather well and the practicing really paid off. No major mistakes were made and though the pair were quite pleased with their playing think Mao was even more happy with their progress. She told them that after the performance and Rihito isn't a very patient young man. Instead of waiting for a quiet moment in front of Yaeko he announced to Mao that he liked her! That stunned Yaeko but to me Mao didn't seem too surprised and think she was waiting for him to finally confess his feelings. But of course she turned him down and didn't state any reason, Mao didn't really need one for remember she is eight years older. 

 Rihito was a bit bummed out but didn't reveal his true feelings until a bit later. After the performance Rihito learned his brother Yuto was in the audience and the pair did have a brief conversation. Rihito didn't tell him about the confession but Yuto has been telling him for a while he had no chance with Mao. Yuto should know better than anyone on that as he had dated her up until eight months ago but dumped her because he got another woman pregnant. Shortly after Yuto and Mao did have a brief reunion which was a bit awkward, she too didn't say a word about Rihito's love confession. Another person in the audience was Yua who is Rihito's classmate at college though for now he didn't know that. One other person in attendance was Han-chan, haven't mentioned her up until now as her role hasn't been large or important. She's Yaeko's cousin and though they appear to be good friends Han acts a bit too superior around her.

 There was one major scene left but it had to last for fifteen minutes. But it was a bit interesting as Yaeko and Rihito really got to know each other very well and in a way have become best friends. At the beginning of the drama Rihito was just nineteen in age but has recently turned twenty, he suggested to Yaeko that they should have a celebration party for their rousing performance. It may have been for Rihito to also drown his sorrows as this is when he revealed his true feelings about Mao to Yaeko. But actually Rihito wasn't as bummed as he thought he would be. As mentioned deep down he knew it was such a long shot that Mao would ever want to date someone so much younger plus of course he'll always remind her of Yuto. 

 Rihito did spill out much more about himself, it's his first time getting drunk and the wall he's built up around him is slowly going away. Also getting a bit hammered and opening about her life was Yaeko, won't go into too much detail as you can view many of her feelings in the screenshots. But she's really become so down about life and the only thing keeping her going is playing the violin. Yaeko is still a tad depressed about being jilted by her ex-boyfriend but she's admitted she may not have loved him, if that was the case does that mean she's never been in love? The pair leaving the restaurant ended the show, they discussed a few more tidbits but both were severely drunk by that point. It was a very important scene though to end off with as Yaeko and Rihito have become so much closer, though an eight year age difference could romance possibly be in the cards in later episodes?

 That Joshuu University isn't real as I searched for it to no avail, also though being rejected by Mao that won't be the end of Rihito attending the violin classes. Nothing more to add save that the fourth recap in this mini marathon is the next post. 

"G Senjou no Anata to Watashi" drama: Episode four recap

 

 Air Dates: October 15th until December 17, 2019 on TBS, Thursdays at 10:00 pm

Average Rating: 7.7%, subs were done by Aoihachi

Also goes by the title of You and I on the G-String

Main Cast: Have just viewed the first two episodes so there may much tweaking as the shows go on. Not sure what city this takes place in but it's set in Ishikawa prefecture, perhaps the city of Kanazawa? At the beginning of the first show it was mid April 2018 and by it's end it was already June. In this episode we're quickly up to September.

Haru as Yaeko Kogure.... 27 year old woman who quit her OL job in the first episode and also then she was dumped by her boyfriend. Shortly after that Yaeko heard Mao playing the violin at an event to draw new students, she was hooked on becoming a master right from that moment. At the moment Yaeko is still unemployed living with her parents.

Taishi Nakagawa as Rihito Kase.... College student who is nineteen and lives at home with his married brother, his wife and the parents. Rihito too heard Mao playing the violin at the event and joined her class but he does have a past with her.

Yuki Matsushita as Yukie Kitagawa.... The third student in the class who also attended the event held in a mall. Yukie is much older than the other pair as she's in her forties, she has a husband and an eleven year old daughter but isn't too happy with her marriage.

Yuki Sakurai as Mao Kuzumi.... Works as a violin instructor at a musical school and is teaching the three newbies above. She's 27 in age and was recently dumped by her boyfriend, of all people it was Rihito's brother and Rihito does have a crush on Mao.

Nobuyuki Suzuki as Yuto Kase.... Rihito's brother who is about 27 in age and works in an office. He had been Mao's boyfriend but got another woman pregnant and had to marry her.

Karen Takizawa as Fumi Kase.... Yuto's pregnant wife and actually quite a nice woman.

 There's a few other minor characters, will add them in if their roles become larger.

 Starting with the fifth episode will have the links to the first four shows, no sense having any links today as the posts are just a few above this one. Which means you've probably read them and as said in the previous post no need to rehash what's taken place. Main thing is that the trio of newbie violin players seems to be just a duo now, it was in the last show for the school's Autumn recital and that continues on into this episode.

 Reason for our original trio of rookie violin players dropping to a duo is the absence of Yukie but sure she'll eventually rejoin the group. Won't discuss her too much in this recap which should be the shortest of the four done for today. May as well get to her situation first and then concentrate on the other two. It was Yukie's dream to play at a second recital after the trio's first one flopped so badly but tragedy struck on the day of the performance. Yukie's mother-in-law had a stroke at home and if Yukie wasn't there the woman Yumiko may have died. Yukie has never really cared that much for the woman and she had a good reason as Yumiko is a bit of a witch, actually not a bit but a full fledged one! But Yukie ended up being a trooper and has given all else up to care for the woman who had ben living with Yukie, her husband and daughter.

 Yukie though has become down in the dumps since that tragedy took place but has hidden it well. Though not an excellent violinist she truly loved learning how to play but she may have loved becoming friends with Yaeko and Rihito even more. She did meet Yaeko once over a cup of coffee plus did visit the class for it's final session but couldn't stay. You would have to think she'll be making a return to the group as she is one of the main characters. But taking care of her mother-in-law has meant Yukie has had no time to practice the violin, even if she's able to return she'd be too far behind her mates. Above you can see Yaeko talking with Rihito, that was to perform at some mini Christmas shows as a trio and it was shortly after that Yukie said she had to give up the instrument for a while.

 What Yaeko was thinking when she said 'Thank God he didn't remember' is from how the last show ended. She and Rihito were quite drunk after celebrating their fine performance at the second recital. On their way home Rihito had 'trapped' Yaeko and against a wall and she thought a kiss was about to take place. It didn't but have a feeling Yaeko did want it to happen, Rihito was so out of it he couldn't recall anything that happened. But that evening getting sloshed was a key moment in this series as both spilled their guts out about their lives, especially Yaeko. The two could almost be considered best friends now and they've said the only person they can confide in is each other though they still do have some mini blowups towards the other.

 The main highlight of that beer laden evening with Rihito is that it's gotten Yaeko to finally try reentering the world. It's getting close to Christmas Day and Yaeko has been out of work since June but she's been getting by as she had a good amount of $$ saved up plus I think she's now getting unemployment. She had quit her OL position as Yaeko thought she would be getting married but she ended up being jilted by her boyfriend. So for the following six months the activity that has kept her going has been learning the violin and to Yaeko it's saved her life. After that evening she's enrolled with the Hello Work site to get a job which hasn't worked out. Mainly because Yaeko wants a music related job but her advisor says that's impossible as she really has no background in it. Yaeko had been so insistent about that kind of job but by the episode's end it appears she'll take anything.

 Yaeko has also enrolled on an online dating service and proclaimed to Rihito near the end of the show that she has a potential suitor. That's what Yaeko said but I'm not totally convinced she was telling the truth, guess we'll find out in the next show. Though no more Yukie the pair have continued to practice at least once a week at their nearby karaoke club, it's the only place that wouldn't complain about the noise. With X-Mas approaching Yaeko came up with the idea of performing at small parties which Rihito isn't quite sure of yet but he may be if some offers start coming in though the pair would just perform for free.

 Of course you knw by now that Rihito was rejected by the love of his life Mao in the previous episode. Must be tough for the two to be in classes together but they're not letting his confession hinder his or Yaeko's violin learning. Rihito knew he would be rejected, Mao is eight years older and is already settled in life but hasn't had a man since she was dumped by Rihito's brother Yuto ten months ago. If Rihito had some brains to him he'd jump at another woman who has been making advances towards him. That's his classmate at Joshuu University Yua who is such an attractive young lady. The pair work together part time at a restaurant and Yua even admitted to Rihito she went to watch his recital performance. For some reason Rihito doesn't want to get close to her or at least for now, he's just turned twenty and am thinking he's never had a girlfriend yet.

 Final segment and though much does happen this is the easier drama I've ever recapped to date. It's the final day of the violin class and Rihito didn't want to attend and it was mainly because he didn't want to see Mao again but it appeared he was over her or has he been lying about that? But he was talked into going to the class by Yaeko and it's a good thing Rihito was there as so wasn't Yukie who couldn't leave the group without saying a final farewell. But she'll be staying in touch with Yaeko and though Yukie has fallen behind the other two in playing would think she'll make some sort of return to the group. One thought just crossed my mind and that's about the class continuing. Six months of meeting just once a week isn't enough for a newbie at the violin, wonder why there isn't a phase two of the class?

 Perhaps there is another class and we haven't learned of it yet, there sill are six shows to go and really not sure how this drama is supposed to end. Perhaps with Yaeko and Rihito becoming a couple even though she's almost eight years older than he is? When you're about to turn 28 like Yaeko is you wouldn't want a twenty year old college student as a boyfriend. But the pair get along so well so maybe that's where this show is headed? Yaeko may want that scenario as in the final scene the pair were walking home from their last class. In an unexpected move Rihito took hold of Yaeko's hand and they strolled down the street as if they were a couple. Yaeko never said a word and deep down I thought she was extremely happy. Rihito had to let go as they needed to separate and could sense that Yaeko was hoping that wasn't the final time he would hold her hand. That scene brought us to the end of this episode and this has been one enjoyable series up until now.

 What Yaeko is referring to above is that when she's extremely happy "Air on the G String" plays in her head but it doesn't happen enough with her. Four solid shows so far and while such a slow paced show I'm truly enjoying it. The characters and story are so down to earth and these are people just like us. Zipped through the first four episodes but need to take a mini break and you know why as there will be at least fourteen posts these two days. But will be back within a week with the next pair of recaps.