K-drama Wednesday: HUNGRY!

ANNYEONG! ANNYEONG!

Hey everyone! I’ve started a new Drama…One I wasn’t even really going to start to be quite honest with you. The only reason I did was because of Mukai, Osamu. I saw him in Atashinchi no Danshi and I just fell in love with him! : D

Having said that let’s move onto the review!

The first episode we meet our main character: Eisuke, played by Osamu; he is the son of a French Cuisine Chef and an Artist. We also meet his band mates: Tsuyoshi and Kenta; played by Kawabata Kaname and Tsukamoto Takashi; who are helping him out with opening up his restaurant: le petit Chou.

We also meet the antagonist of the whole story. He used to go to the restaurant when Eisuke’s mother was still alive. But he deceived Eisuke’s father out of the restaurant and it’s staff…thus kicking them out. (What!?)

WE meet Chie a college student who loves food and has a bit of a fantasy thought about love. She first meets Eisuke when he was posting up sighs for the reopening of le petit Chou. He comes off fairly rude (even if he doesn’t think so) and kind of pisses her off. Later a bunch of his old band buddies come in for dinner.

Earlier there had been a mishap in the kitchen so Eisuke had to go and get more vegetables but he didn’t have enough money to pay for what he really needed. On the way home he spots some delicious looking tomatoes and jumps at the chance to buy them…it turns out that Chie’s family owns them.

Going back to opening night. Everyone is waiting a long time. But Eisuke is still cooking. When they begin to leave he says he can “give back their time.” If he couldn’t he would get on his hands and knees to apologize. (I wouldn’t even go that far for a customer…but I have to remember that this is a drama ha-ha). Let’s just say that it went really well.

Sadly though that was the most customers they had for a week passed by and there were no customers.

The next episode is where we learn more about the hectic schedule that Eisuke is going through. He maybe gets two hours of sleep. He’s up at 7:30 am and doesn’t get home to shower till about 4am…I already know I’m not going to like the girlfriend later and I am already shipping Chie and Eisuke but it’s kind of nice that she ended up going to see him. Though we do see how much this (starting a restaurant) is bothering her, when she is at work and she states she wished he stayed a musician…Look lady family comes first and you aren’t family!

Anyways the episode flowed really well. Eisuke went to go and get a loan but because there is no real plan for the restaurant they can’t loan him anything. He saw a TV while he was waiting and said that a big disturbance will change everything and that cute things will bring him luck. Next scene we see him outside his mom’s old place and handling a pick…thing…I really don’t know what that was. I want to say that it’s kind of like a cabbage head-doll-thingy-ma-bob. Anyways Antagonist dude who I don’t care to remember his name (: P) invites Eisuke to eat at his restaurant. So, of course, Eisuke drags along Kenta and Tsuyoshi.

This scene didn’t really do much for me. I mean it was all subtle reactions to the food and presentation. But I found it funny that Tsuyohsi ended up just ordering a beer instead of wine. I felt bad for one of the sous chefs. The older one. He seemed genuinely shocked to see the ‘young master’ and the chef actually hid from him! Ha-ha-ha! That was too funny. But in the end rain came and brought in a ‘normal’ customer. At first everyone was really nervous but once they settled down everything went smoothly. The couple was just breaking up when they entered but ended keeping a relationship because of the food.

Mitsuko…. I don’t even know what to say about her. At first when I saw her in the first episode I thought she looked like one of those beetles you find under a rock. She was a pastry-chef- in- training. But now she’s waiting tables…She has so many accidents when she’s nervous but that is what makes is kind of endearing. She’s not my favorite character but she’s one that I definitely won’t be forgetting.

Finally everyone has gone home and Eisuke is calling Maria. He apologizes and she repeats 2x that she is angry…BUT! She’s there to scold him. They get all huggy and she says he smells like something delicious. They hear a clang and they find Taku (Miura Shohei) laying on the kitchen floor. He had been released from jail that day and somehow found the restaurant. He was all beaten up and laughed when he saw the two of them. He asked if they were getting all lovey-dovey there before promptly passing out scaring the begeezus out of the two.

Okay that was more of a recap of the two episodes…now the real review.

In all honestly I’m only two episodes in and so far, I’m loving the drama. Osamu is just hilarious and Miori (Chie) is so bubble and adorable that I just want to squish her with hugs. But can we go back to Osamu for a second?

HOT STEAMY SHOWER SCENE RIGHT OFF THE BAT! Ugh! This drama drew me in with just that fact alone. I mean I may just be fan-girl-ing but I can’t help it. I think most women like a scene with the hot main character showering? Am I right ladies? I know most guys won’t appreciate that part of the scene: They’ll probably be drooling over Maria who is cooking in the kitchen. ^.~

The only thing that I don’t really like about the drama is that both Maria and Aso are kind of expressionless/…mainly Aso…I don’t know why but that really seems to be bugging me. I mean if your going to end being a villain…can I get a little more emotion? I mean Maria is doing okay but I don’t know I guess Korean Dramas kind of spoiled me in that department.

Anyway back to reviewing. I really like the set for le petit Chou, I actually think that, that was a better location than the house. I mean it’s a clean slate. You can change things and not have to worry about keeping it EXACTLY like mama did. He is different so the feeling is different. He has the loosey-goosey attitude while his mother was more straight and narrow. But he was still able to keep up his skills in the kitchen. I mean wouldn’t you think that they would have been a little more rusty than what they were? I know mine would have been…I would have cut myself the very first day.

Maybe he practiced when he was in the band; though, I highly doubt if from the looks of the flashbacks.

That’s another thing I don’t like about the drama. I mean I get the flashbacks but for me they seem really random. It would have made a little more sense if we saw the one with Taku playing after Tsuyoshi had wondered what he was doing. Cause I know some people (like me) didn’t pay attention when his name was apparently mentioned in a previous flashback. Could you at least change the coloring a little bit when you go to a flashback scene? If I hadn’t notice Osamu’s red hair I would have thought that, that was going on in the present. But hey that’s just me.

Beginning of 3. We learn more about Taku and his relationship with the band and how he came to be sneaking into Eisuke’s kitchen. It turns out that after leaving the band after a music slump he went to another band…who got busted for drug abuse the day he showed up to meet them. He has such bad luck! After clearing up the mix up he had a job as a host. Because of his charismatic personality and good looks he gained a lot of customers. As luck would have it though, he pissed off the other hosts with his success and they beat him up with the lame saying that he “broke a rule.”

So Taku exclaims the next day that while the others aren’t going to have bright futures he is. So he’ll work there until he finds another band. But all three had told him to get lost.

You could see that he was hurt but it was quickly covered up…but I think Eisuke noticed it. He ended up leaving and Chie said she had to leave as well and followed him. This is where she learns that he was in a band (well just a little before) but she learns that he had fans. She then tells Taku how at first she didn’t like Eisuke but she fell in love with his cooking.

Taku ends up just volunteering at the restaurant and Eisuke see’s how well he is with the customers. Earlier that day we learn that an actress that used to visit the restaurant was going to show up but she doesn’t go to Aso’s restaurant she ends up going to Eisuke’s because of the name. Maria shows up with the loan manager that turned down Eisuke in the previous episodes. There are a bunch of new faces and Eisuke and the group are happy. The menu is changing and even Eisuke is trying to change. (Yes I know I’m skipping around a bit but this is what pops into my head…I can’t remember everything in the same order all the time, ne?)

In the end the actress says that while his cooking is unrefined he has potential. And she says this at Aso’s restaurant which gets him steamed up so much that he hits a wall. Eisuke learns from the actress the night she left that his mother was making a recipie card for him. And that when she was opening her own restaurant that she also had worries.

The following day Eisuke is at Chie’s house with home made gruel/porriage. It was the same thing his mother made for him when he was sick. He tries to feed her but Chie refuses and says she’ll do it herself but ends up burning herself. Eisuke told her that he’s no good at smiling but he found someone that is better at it than him. (Meaning Taku…Who was hired at the restaurant and is living with Eisuke and his father for free). He takes the food from her and blows on it and feeds her. (she knew she was going to fall even more for him if she kept eating his food). He also got an idea for a new special from her: Onion grain soup. But as a foreshadowing to the fourth he has an idea that this onion this time would make him cry.

Ep 4

We start with maria and Eisuke eating at a macrobiotics restaunt and when Eisuke goes to pay for he is embarrassed when his card was returned to him. Maria then scolds him saying that a restaurant is a place for a meal and she doesn’t want her boyfriend working for one (gosh I really don’t like her). So Eisuke feels down about that thinking that she was on his side.

It’s getting closer to pay day and Eisuke is struggling to figure out how he is going pay everyone. They figure out all of the roles and Eisuke sends taku to the farm to help out. Taku gets scolded by Chie because he is being ungrateful to the work he is going to be doing.

In a few days Eisuke will be turning 30 years old. But on top of that he is worrying about money so he takes a part time job. Aso randomly pops up and gives him some classical music and a blue lobster but if the dish isn’t good he has to pay him back for everything (those lobsters aren’t cheap). Eisuke’s arms are hurting from his part time job. Chie is outside of the restaurant talking to nana about how she could get him to come over to her home without being obvious. She apologizes to Taku about going off on him and he face lights up as he ushers her to a seat.

The lobster that Aso gave them disappeared! The ran around looking all over for it when they found it outside. Taku comes out and says there’s a problem. A grandma and her grand-daughter came in. The grand-daughter was hoping that her grandmother could have to lobster in order to gain some of her lively hood back. After some debat Eisuke decides to make it for her. HE changes the original recipie to fit the story and the granny loves it.

Aso comes in only to find out that he wasn’t getting the lobster he wanted. Eisuke apologizes and gives him a shrimp dish. Aso is still annoyed and says he was will be expecting full payment for all 11 lobsters. Eisuke later on pay day gets in a fight with Kenta about the wages. And Maria come in to see him and patches him up…They’re sitting at the park when she says that they need to take a break. What they both want just aren’t matching up, she gives him his birthday present and leaves.

He falls asleep on the bench is rudely awoken by Chie screaming at him not to die and then heads to the restaurant where the others scold him about not telling them about his part time job. His father had found the dirty clothes and his resume. Tsuyoshi hands him a bear and then the others spray him with theirs wishing him a happy birthday.

Aso is at his restaurant and looking up the comments looks like the lobster fest was a success. He then grabs the food he was given by Eisuke and takes a bite. This is when he was thrown back to his childhood. He just didn’t understand what was happening.

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Honestly these two episodes were really good compared to the first two. I was happy to see more facial emotion from Aso and Maria. You can see how maria is struggling to accept what Eisuke is trying to do, and I can finally see something on Aso’s face!!! I was also impressed with Miura’s acting. I love him as an actor but he really shows both sides of the character. The younger selfish kid and the caring individual who really loves his friends/bandmates (to some extent).  I don’t really have anything bad to say about this drama. Other than I still don’t like Aso but he is actually kind of growing on me.

In all honesty 5-11 I kind of sped through. They were like blurs to me that’s how fast I went through them. But I remember them having to close up shop because the landlord was divorcing and his wife (soon to be ex) couldn’t tell if the food was good or not. She was going to make the warehouse into an apartment complex. Chie was dating tako, trying to get over Eisuke (it wasn’t working.) They proved to the landlady that they did have people who cared for them because Chie had contacted all of their past and present customers to inform them of what was going on. So they got to keep the restraint. Later Aso basically gave Eisuke a offer on a silver platter. He would go and study in france and he would allow him to keep (mostly work at the restaurant with the old name. He would also hire everyone who was there and keep them as staff until he returned. Well he ended up not going and causing Aso to hate him (even though he loved him). Maria and Eisuke were still dating. When they had the opening of the restaurant under the new name Hungry!

I’m going to be nice and not tell you what happens at the end xD but It was adorable.

I actually really loved this drama. Unlike most I felt that the ending was completely appropriate and there were no loose ends that needed to be wraped up. It does leave enough room to where if they wanted to they could continue on with a second season. Osamu is gorgeous. I can’t believe that I missed his acting before! Compared to Atashinchi no Danshi I think that he fit this type of role a whole lot better. For some reason it felt more natural. Not that it didn’t feel that way before but since this was mostly about him, it was more so in my opinion.

5 out of 5 for this drama on everything!

I did have some complaints about Maria in the beginning. Her facial expressions were really weak and I couldn’t really stand a passive girl like that. Maybe I was spoiled by all the Korean dramas that I watched. She felt like a lifeless doll…listless…But the more I saw her in the show she got better…not much, but a little better.

That’s all for this review. Like, G+, Share, Follow. I’ll be back with more episodes soon!

Thanks for reading JDRW!

Annyeong hi-jumuseyo