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| 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.
--
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
