Kyoko Saito: "Nukarumi no Shokutaku" drama, episode five of nine recap

 

 Air Dates: October 21st until December 16, 2023 on TV Asahi, Saturdays at 11:30 pm

Episodes are 24 minutes in length, subs were done by ArPsanSubs

Main Cast: Not too large of a cast as it appears there will only be six major characters. Of course the main one is Kyoko who is my reason for viewing this drama. Wrote most of the below up after watching the first two episodes, will keep updating this section as we go along. This is a nine episode series so will have three batches of three recaps. The setting has never been mentioned but the location is a smallish city.

 Kyoko Saito as Mia Neijiki.... Young woman of about 24 in age who works at the smallish Super Suzuran market. Until the third episode that is as Mia quit due to her feelings about her manager Natsuo's family. Mia lives with her mother who constantly puts her down but she puts up with it, Mia has zero confidence in herself. The father died eight yeas ago and he too was so strict with his daughter, she's seen no happiness in her life. Until recently as Mia has started an affair with her store manager who is twenty years older, she thinks the world of him and why? His name is Natsuo who is married but his wife is suffering from a mental condition so eventually wanted to break it off with Mia. Who would hear nothing of it and has plans to 'cure' the wife thinking it'll reunite her with Natsuo!? There is another in this ordeal who is the manager's son Haruki who has fallen head over heels for her.... Mia too has feelings for this high school senior.

 Hisashi Yoshizawa as Natsuo Nasukawa.... Did give a lot of info about him above. He's the manager of the Super Suzuran store and is twenty yeas older than Mia. When Natsuo's wife became sick he began an affair with Mia but when the series began it hadn't been going on for too long. When his wife Fumiko's condition became worse Natsuo wanted to end things with Mia as he had to do all of the chores at home which he actually hadn't been doing as it was a pig sty at his apartment! The next character is his eighteen year old son Haruki who is a senior in high school.

Kaito Sakurai as Haruki Nasukawa.... Son of the above man and while skipping school one day had met Mia at the back of his father's store. Haruki has become so smitten with her and the feeling may be mutual but he does have someone who worships him in an eerie way. Her name is Chifuyu and is Natsuo's classmate at school, she's had a crush on him for many years. However Chifuyu has spread rumors around school about the condition of Haruki's mother and how the two once had sex after he pushed himself onto Chifuyu! Which was an out and out lie but she hasn't taken it back and now Haruki has become an outcast at school and is often truant, he is an excellent runner and is on the track team.

Naho Toda as Fumiko Nasugawa....  That's Fumiko below on the left, her mental condition has been improving thanks to Mia and in real life Naho really is a very attractive woman. She's been married to Natsuo for twenty years and it's her problems that have prevented him and Mia from continuing their affair!

Nanoka Hara as Chifuyu Ozaki.... We met her in the second episode and she wants to be with Haruki so desperately, the pair are classmates. The pair have been friends for a while but he wants to end that, Chifuyu comes off as such a sweet young woman but is anything but that! She's spread rumors about the condition of Haruki's mother and has even hinted that he raped her which was such a massive lie.

Mariko Tsutsui as Miyuki Neijiki.... The second screenshot is of Mia's father who died eight years ago, on occasion we will be seeing him in a flashback scene. Miyuki is Mia's mother and she constantly berates her only daughter, this is not a likable mother! The pair do live together and Miyuki often throws in snide remarks such as 'why would any man want you as a wife'!

Previous recaps: May not often refer back to what's taken place so it may be wise to skim through these recaps which aren't too long.

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

 

 Not much of an intro needed for this post and we're already past the halfway point as there's just four more shows to go after this one. Do have a backlog building up of dramas so won't have any problems for a while with not having anything to watch. The one problem could be what to watch next as all look to be fairly good shows. Am leaning towards the Korean series "Night Has Come" which wrapped up it's season last month. Then may start in on a very old one that I've never viewed before which is "Maid Deka" from 2009 which starred such a huge ex-fave of mine who has disappeared, you'll see soon enough what's on tap next.... could also be the last sixteen episodes of "Abunai Deka".

 The last two episodes have ended off with a compelling cliffhanger but the follow up to the scenes weren't as good as they could have been. In that last show Mia was having dinner with her lover Natsuo along with his wife Fumiko who Mia has been helping out with her mental problems, also there was their teenage on Haruki. That could have been one uncomfortable scene so wish it had gone on much longer. Instead it ended after the one minute mark in this episode and as you can see in that top screenshot Mia was overjoyed having dinner with the family, she never had much of a happy and close family upbringing. The son Haruki has such a crush on Mia and was asked by his mother to take her home as the husband Natsuo had consumed a few beers. As just mentioned Haruki has such a crush on Mia and has kept it a secret for he feels she and his father are having an affair, he's right on the money with that and felt, wrongly, that Mia was being used by his father.

 Also thinking that Mia and Natsuo are having an affair is the teenage girl above whose name is Chifuyu. For years she's been head over heels for Haruki who has never returned those feelings, as a matter of fact he despises Chifuyu for spreading cruel rumors about him at high school which were false. Haruki had told her that his heart was for someone else, Chifuyu has been beside herself for days trying to figure out what girl at school had Haruki fallen for? Of course none as Mia is his dream woman, Chifuyu lives right across the street from Haruki's family and had noticed some odd happenings. Such as who is this woman who has been appearing every day at their house(?), we know it's Mia who had been helping Fumiko out with her mental condition and has been successful though Mia does have some major scheme behind it.... that plan we don't know the full details of yet.

 Plus Chifuyu has noticed Mia talking often with Haruki outside of his building, he couldn't possibly be his love or could she? And to top it off Chifuyu has also seen Mia getting a bit too close to his father Natsuo, are those two having an affair was her thought and with that idea she was correct. As the days went on Chifuyu became edgier and edgier watching Mia leave the building, her frustration was so high she finally confronted her. Mia had no clue who this very irate teenager was, Haruki had never talked about her. Mia assured Chifuyu she was just visiting the apartment to help out Fumiko with her condition and when you look at her screenshots you can see how much Fumiko has improved. At one time she did want to be a  graphic designer but her boss had stolen her plans, shortly after she met Natsuo and the pair were wed so for twenty years Fumiko has just been a housewife.

 Mia did assure Chifuyu that nothing was going on with Natsuo or Haruki, it didn't appear Chifuyu was completely satisfied with the answers. But for now she let it drop and have a strong feeling Chifuyu will be a thorn in Mia's side.... if she survives the ending! Later on Mia did meet up with Haruki which are the bottom screenshots above, the pair have talked often but never for a long time. On this occasion they did as both did reveal some secrets about themselves to the other. For example Mia told Haruki about her lonely and sometimes cruel upbringing which is why she tries to help others out as often as possible. Haruki's life has been somewhat similar, he was never abused but his father was always working and his mother has had that mental condition for a while so both could relate to each other. Haruki has still been skipping school often because of those untrue rumors Chifuyu had been spreading. He was the ace of the track team and surprised he hasn't had friends come and drag him back to school as he was well liked. 

 Didn't realize what a long scene this was as it ended the show, remember an episode is just 23 minutes in length. Haruki really hates this unnamed rural town they live in, his dream is for when he finishes high school to move far, far away! Haruki has no definite plans such as how to support himself but there is one thing he's totally sure of, he wants Mia to join him!!!! Who was a bit stunned at what she heard but didn't give an answer of Yes or No, I was thinking leaving town may be the best thing for Mia too. While the pair were conversing they didn't have a clue who was behind them, all of this is in the above screenshots. It was Chifuyu who was beyond incensed at what she heard Haruki tell Mia, this is the dream girl he had mentioned?!

 Yes it was and Chifuyu is a bit crazed, if she can't have Haruki no woman can! She pulled out a box cutter and tried desperately to get at Mia but it was two against one so she really had no chance. Chifuyu did graze Haruki which drew blood, in a fury he pushed his one time friend back and as you can see in the bottom screenshot above Chifuyu tumbled down some stairs. This last minute took place while the credits were rolling, at first Chifuyu did appear to be hurt badly but don't think that's the case. So with that this fifth episode ended and hope this cliffhanger is better than the previous two. The next post is for episode six and that I haven't viewed yet.