Fuji-TV/FOD homepage link for the show: https://www.fujitv.co.jp/nogizakacinemas/
This drama began on January 21st and ended on March 30th, it had ten episodes featuring one Nogi member who are in the above pic and here's the list of who was in each show plus it's rating:
Episode one- Asuka 7.5/10
Episode two- Manatsu 7.1/10
Episode three- Sayuri 8.0/10
Episode four- Mizuki 6.5/10
Episode five- Hinako 7.4/10
Episode six- Miona 7.7/10
Episode seven- Yuki 8.5/10
Episode eight- Erika 7.0/10
Episode nine- Shiori 7.0/10
Episode ten- Mai 7.5/10
The series aired on Tuesday nights until the end of March. Will give a big thanks to Beam Subs who did the subs for the show, first five episodes were done quickly but then there was a huge gap of two months due to no translators. However the final five shows were completed in about a week and the subs for every episode were solid.
Here we are with the final recap and at the bottom will give my overall thoughts on the series, the good, the bad and the ugly. As you can see Mai was the featured Nogi member in this show and it was one of the last things she's done for the group. Mai is still with Nogi but won't be doing many activities with them in the future, she's mainly sticking around for her farewell concerts but will they ever happen this year? Doubt if regular concerts will be held but will save those thoughts for a group post. To me Mai is a decent actress and excels in shows which are a bit dark and intense, this one was to an extent. Not the best show as you can see by the rating but it did have a very interesting twist at the end and her character's name is Yuri Takei.
Episode title.... 'The Children of the City'
In that first screenshot we saw Yuri at a hospital where they told her to return the following day. It was quite easy to figure out what Yuri's condition was as she kept feeling nauseous and needed to use the bathroom often. Being pregnant was her condition and to give a minor spoiler away we learned by the end of the show it was actually an abortion clinic Yuri was at. Upon leaving the clinic Yuri hitched a ride in a taxi driven by an unnamed driver though we may know what is is at the end.
This driver talked on and on which was leaving Yuri a bit furious, she was in such a bitchy mood which I guess was caused by the pregnancy and whether to abort it. The driver did refer to the 'Dragonball' series a few times and it happened that Yuri was a big fan too. In the front seat was a little girl about eight in age whose name was never mentioned and didn't utter a sound until the very end. That driver kind of beat around the bush about whether the child was her own but the main problem was that she had a meeting with her mean boss and would Yuri look after her?
No Way! was Yuri's reaction but she didn't have much choice in the matter as the little girl jumped out of the taxi and headed into an aquarium. Yuri followed the girl as the taxi drove off and this may have been a test from the driver to see if Yuri was fit to be a mother or wanted to be one, the driver could tell she was pregnant. Things at the aquarium didn't go so well as Yuri was feeling nauseous again and left the little girl to use the bathroom. Upon returning the girl was nowhere to be seen and Yuri became so frantic trying to locate her.
After finally finding the little girl Yuri was furious at first but eventually mellowed out and seemed to take a liking to the girl. Yuri was reminded of her youth so much when she was with the girl who still wouldn't say a sound and it appeared Yuri may have been the same way too, we'll say her age is 27 as that's what Mai is in real life. After a long wait the taxi did return and this is when the episode started becoming much more interesting. Not that that events until now were putting me to sleep but the show went into a much darker mode the last seven minutes.
As you can see above Yuri was asking the driver some personal questions about the girl, one odd inquiry was is she the girl's mother? To that the driver answered NO but it wasn't a case of kidnapping or anything illegal. The driver has been letting the girl ride with her at night as the girl is apparently homeless and is known for wandering the dangerous streets of Shinjuku every night. The driver told Yuri she couldn't have any children so she's kind of 'adopted' the girl and she has no clue about her parent's whereabouts or how she survives the night. The girl up until two minutes were left had never uttered a word but finally blurted out to the driver Momma... which was kind of heartwarming and bet now the driver will officially adopt her....
.... or perhaps not as I did mention in the intro that there was a Major Twist to the ending. After Yuri and the driver had a nice heart to heart talk the taxi driver soon drove her home. Before exiting the vehicle Yuri looked at the woman's name on her ID tag, to her and out surprise it was 'Yuri Takei'! With that the scene in the taxi ended but we still had another minute to go in the show. The setting was back at the abortion clinic and it was actually the same scene from when the show began. A nurse had been calling Yuri's name and she eventually woke up wondering what happened.
There's one of two possibilities, either Yuri was just dreaming or she had some sort out out of body experience which to me is what happened. Perhaps Yuri's fairy godmother was able to get into her head and showed Yuri how her life may turn out if she does have the abortion. There's no way Yuri would ever want to be a cab driver and is that the life that may await her? Yuri thought about things for a few seconds and eventually headed to the operation room as the episode ended. To me Yuri didn't go through with the abortion but they did keep us in the dark about it but her time with that little girl definitely changed Yuri way of thinking about children.
Have those final thoughts after these pics and will say this was a decent way to end the series off with. Gave it a rating of 7.5/10 but that was because of the beginning as the second half was a rather intense and as I've said Mai does well in darker roles or in horror films.
Overall will give this ten episode series a rating of 7.4/10, will recommend it for Nogi fans but if you're not one then you won't miss anything by skipping it. As I've said a major problem was the length of episodes that ranged from 21 to 24 minutes. A half hour show would have worked out so much better as the stories were rushed at times which meant many details were left out and we had to guess at some of them. My other beef is that in four of the shows the Nogi member wasn't the main character and can't understand why, that was especially the case in the ninth episode.
By far the seventh show with Yuki was the best and it's one I'll view again, really seemed a lot of it may have been based on her life and some problems she may have faced being so short. Sayuri in episode three also did a solid job and often she's been given fluffy roles in dramas but to me she's better as a more serious actress. On the flip side though I do like Mizuki her acting leaves something to be desired, her performance was subpar in her show which was the fourth.
She also didn't do that good of a job in the 'Video Girl: Mai' series but she keeps getting such a big push. Just occurred to me now but a member who I really would have liked to have seen in this series was Ayane and bet she'd do well in some sort of dark role but sadly she's not among the more popular members. Now that this series is complete and there's no more new Nogi shows to view will be going back to normal dramas and hoping on Saturday can have two recaps for the "Shiyakusho" drama that aired last Autumn and so far what an excellent show it's turning out to be.
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