Junior News Round-Up 003

Not a lot of news to pass on but I have delayed this post long enough. Hopefully the next one will have more to report.


Nozawa Yuki will get another chance at acting by being a part of the cast of an episode of TV Tokyo's Wednesday Mystery 9, a weekly mystery series that airs on Wednesdays at 9PM. The episode he will be in will air on December 12th.

TV Tokyo site (Japanese)


Nakama Junta from B.A.D. will be in a Nagoya local channel, Meetere, special program that will air on December 17th. The program is in celebration of the stations 50th anniversary and will use the theme of trains. It will also have other celebrities in it, like SKE48's Matsui Rena.

Meetere OHP (Japanese)


Also the Fresh Junior concert in Yokohama Arena has added another show. It will now be two shows on December 16th, the first starting at noon and the second at 4PM.

Piece Ep. 7 first impressions

Found this episode a bit easier to follow, it probably helps that it is rather straight forward with what is covered in this episode that ends up clearing more up than adding much more to the mystery.

Instead of a straight recap of Mizuho's conversation with Sugawara we get part of it being from the scene of last episode with some added parts. One such part is that flashback to a gym class we saw in last week's preview that has Sugawara watching Origuchi stand up for Miyamoto-sensei when some male classmates were badmouthing him.

After the opening we skip to Mizuho telling Yanai and Madoka what she learned from Sugawara and Yanai is shocked and refuses to believe that Origuchi would have a relationship with a teacher. They decide to go visit Miyamoto-sensei even though Yanai does not want to, if mainly because he does not want to believe the lead to be true.

When they get to Miyamoto-sensei's apartment he is not there but then a young boy shows up and is surprised to see them there. Miyamoto then shows up and they end up being invited in. They learn the boy is Miyamoto's son, Akito, and that he is a single father. Akito did not know that Origuchi died so when the topic comes up he is quite upset and it is then they learn that Origuchi came by to look after Akito as a babysitter.

We do not get the full story until things fast forward to everyone gathering at the Origuchi household to clear things up. Akito and Miyamoto explain that Origuchi was earning some extra money by looking after Akito for Miyamoto. (Or at least that is what I got out of it.)

We do learn some key information, like clearing up the person Origuchi was talking to on her cell that Yanai assumed was a boyfriend was just Akito. But the topic of a painting come up and Miyamoto has brought it with him to show everyone. It was something special to Origuchi but I was not able to catch what she said about it in the flashback where she talked to Miyamoto about it.

Spotting the initials on the painting, H. N, Mizuho comes to the same conclusion as I am sure most viewers will as well, this was Narumi Hikaru's painting. She is shocked visibly but shakes off the concern Madoka and Yanai show her when they notice that she is shaken by the painting.

While walking with the painting later Mizuho gets lost in her thoughts were she sees visions of high school and the people she has come in contact with as she has searched to solve the mystery. After seeing them as she saw them when in high school she then sees them as she has come to know them and sees what she had missed about them.

Mizuho ends up showing up at Narumi's house with the painting, most likely to confront him about it. She does not seem exactly up to it from her reaction to him but decides to enter the house when he invites her in.

The preview is pretty vague, so I think it is safe to say that they are making sure the viewers do not get enough to be able to guess what exactly will be covered in the next episode. That said, those waiting for the episode where members of Junior group Snow Man will be in will only have to wait until the next episode, as one of the members is shown in the preview.


We have gone down the list of suspects that we were introduced to in the first episode so there really is no other possibility to explore than Narumi not being completely truthful about his relationship to Origuchi when Mizuho asked him about it. But we should have more than one episode left so I feel like I cannot really speculate how things are going to go. I think it is safe to say though we will get the resolution of Origuchi's mystery with Narumi's now.

I am glad there was a way to make this progression feel natural and even though everything feels like it just circled around everything Mizuho has learned and gone through so far has done so much with investing care towards having this mystery solved with making Origuchi a much more complex character that could be cared for.

And I am so glad that Matsumura Hokuto has his role in this drama. I have been hoping for him to get a role that has him get away from the "cool" type character and surprisingly Yanai is that role. At first glance it did not seem that way but once we got past the surface of his character he has shown quite a bit of emotion and it is roles like this that I think will really help Hokuto grow as an actor at this stage in his career.

Piece Ep. 6 first impressions

Well we have entered the part of this drama that I know I am missing things to the point that I feel a bit lost. But at least there are still some parts that are easy enough to figure out and follow so I still can get a gist of it.

After a recap and the OP theme we start the episode with Mizuho talking to her friend Remi. I cannot tell if Mizuho has been completely honest with Remi about what she is doing looking into Origuchi's high school connections. But it is clear that Remi most likely holds a piece of the puzzle herself and is not happy with Mizuho, but I think the latter is more for the fact that I think Remi is feeling like Mizuho is taking her friendship for granted.

Mizuho then visits Madoka with Yanai and with Koike present as well. They talk about the notes that Madoka received from an unknown person while she was in school. They say things, I think they question if Koike is a good person and do say something about Origuchi. After discussing it for a bit the four go for a walk and we get to see how Yanai and Madoka got together, which was with Yanai confessing to her on graduation day.

Later as Mizuho thinks about things she realizes that she should talk to Remi. I think she patches things up a bit between them with how they both act. Mizuho meets up with her high school friends at a restaurant and Remi tells her that they figured out who Madoka's stalker was. Megu is the one who figured it out as she caught fellow student Sugawara taking photos from a class trip off the board they were hanging from.

Mizuho, Madoka and Yanai go to Sugawara's house, though Yanai waits outside for the girls. They meet up with him and confront him over the notes. He tries to deny it completely but Mizuho notices that he is using the same kind of paper for memos on his board. Caught he lashes out verbally, causing Madoka to run out of the house. Mizuho goes to follow her while Sugawara pulls out a drawer full of momentoes of Madoka and breaks it on his desk.

Mizuho hears a crash from Sugawara breaking things and runs back into the house, an idea she knows is not that bright. Sugawara though just wants to wallow in his own pity for the most part but he lets her put a band aid on a cut he got from wrecking the drawer and calms down a bit to answer some of the questions Mizuho asks him.

And we get a scene of Narumi randomly. Of course this is not the only random appearance of his character being broody in this episode. I think the writers just want to make sure people remember that his character exists right now as he does not really play a part in the mystery for now.

We the learn that Sugawara happened to have seen Origuchi to into the apartment of their P.E. teacher, Miyamoto. And with that the episode ends.


From the previews we should get some flash backs that will of course delve into this revelation, though I do wonder how this is going to play out as there are sure to be a couple more episodes at least and their is still the matter of Narumi and whatever is going on with him.

While I did enjoy the earlier episodes that focused on Mizuho and Narumi's relationship I am enjoying these episodes that actually focus more on the mystery and looking at other characters much more. But I have always loved things with larger casts so it might be some of my bias there.

We are getting pretty close to what looks like the solving the mystery but we still have dangling plot lines with Narumi that I will only assume will be addressed near the end. I guess if there is any big fault of the drama in general is the fact that the mystery plot and the relationship plot do not really gel together well so when one gets focus the other suffers stagnation.

Piece Ep. 1 first impressions

So for this drama I plan on doing something a bit different. Because it is Nakayama Yuma, one of my favorite Juniors, starring in this and that the story actually seems interesting to me I do want to do a weekly review of it. Though I do not want to get stuck not being able to find subtitles and since my Japanese is still low level I know I am going to miss things as this is the kind of drama where it helps to know what people are saying. But I find my Japanese is good enough to follow the gist of what is going on most of the time. So what I have decided to do is instead of doing the reviews I did with Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou I will instead do kinda what I normally do for drama reviews but for each episode. So do not expect much detail as at most I will only be able to do a basic outline of the episode.


Without further ado then, here is my first impression of the first episode of Piece.

I think it is safe to say that these late night dramas must be doing well enough for some more money being put into them as this first episode is actually double length, so instead of a ~24 minute episode we get a ~48 minute episode.

The opening has most of its focus on the main cast of characters in the show, or who will be for some of them. The song, Missing Piece, is not bad. I think I need to hear the full version to really be able to judge it but so far I like what I hear and cannot wait to have the single in my hands.

Most of the episode focuses on the two central characters, Suga Mizuho played by Honda Tsubasa and Narumi Hikaru played by Nakayama Yuma. of course what sets things off and these two exes reuniting is the death of a high school classmate, Origuchi Haruka.

The funeral ends up looking more like a class reunion as friends meet up again. With Mizuho and Narumi meeting again it lets Mizuho reflect back to high school and the start of their romance, as well as gives us the viewer a chance to see the characters and their relationships with each other back then.

Mizuho and Narumi are the main focus of this, but we get to see glimpses of the other characters and it helps give a foundation for them to figure who they are and how they are involved with the story.

It is made clear that Setouchi Madoka played by Suzuki Airi and Suguwara Yuu played by Nozawa Yuki are going to be connected. I am a fan of Buono! which is one of the groups Airi is in, so I am happy to see her in this drama. Both their parts have been small and not very demanding so it will interesting to see how they do later if they have more dramatic scenes.

Skipping ahead a bit but for Matsumura Hokuto fans he does not have much of a showing himself. He is one of the main characters shown in the opening though so I am sure that will change eventually. Of course seeing that it looks like his character, Yanai Takashi, has a direct connection with Haruka it does not seem surprising he will be one of the main characters. Though from what I can tell they seem to both be in the student body council, and anymore has yet to even be hinted at.

In the flashback we get to see a bit of the relationship between Mizuho and Haruka, which is pivotal for the story. Yet from what we have been shown does not look like anything greater than just classmates.

The relationship between Mizuho and Narumi has a real feel to it. While there are certain shoujo tropes going on with it with the aloof series girl with the charismatic bad boy thing going on it still manages to have a natural feel to it. Perhaps because it is not shown as perfect and the two with the characters we are given for them do seem to be acting in accordance to those characters.

And speaking of characters I am so far quite happy with Honda Tsubasa's portrayal of Mizuho. While we get to see her more as a high school student than her college student self there is not a lot of time between the two, yet there does seem to be a more mature aura with her older self. As a high school student she seems like she is only just cracking out of her shell and she sells that well with her moments of being head strong.

I am so glad that Nakayama Yuma finally gets a role that does not make him act broody for the vast majority of the time. Sure his character is a jerk and a mess, but he has charisma. And you can tell it is that charisma is what is keeping him from getting into more trouble than he already has. Because he is the kind of guy you just want to punch in the face at times but don't because you know that for some reason people actually like him.

And that is actually probably a good thing seeing as he cuts a guy, with blood managing to fly from the wound, with a key. That with his earlier safe landing from jumping from three stories up makes me wonder if he came from another story where people had secret superhuman powers. If not then I have no idea how to explain these feats logically.

It is really easy to see that the relationship between Mizuho and Narumi is far from perfect. Narumi clearly has issues and a past that threatens to catch up with him and Mizuho comes off as having lived a sheltered life and trying to figure out what her limits are when she gives herself some freedom. I think their relationship works with these pieces in play but at the same time you can tell it cannot be a lasting one unless there are some major changes the characters go through. Whether or not the couple of years they have had post-high school is enough for that remains to be seen, as so far only Mizuho seems to have gone through some changes in her character.

Back at the funeral we get some more small reminders of the important characters of the series. I do hope we get into their stories soon, because even though I enjoyed watching Mizuho and Narumi I want to get to the mystery and the solving of it.

Haruka's mother recognizes Mizuho's name when she hears it and asks to speak with her. Mizuho reluctantly agrees and is surprised to hear that Haruka seemed to have spoken favorably of her to her mother. And even more so when she learns that Haruka had been pregnant during high school are her mother wants Mizuho to help discover who the father of that unborn child was.

This is where the episode ends and I am really glad this was a long episode as I cannot think of a better spot to end things. The relationships hinted at help set things in place for the mystery plot of the series. And the Mizuho/Narumi relationship is interesting with how rocky it is and after seeing how they got together it makes you wonder how they separated.

Now this is the kind of drama I would have liked to have seen come after Bakaleya. Even though there is a good deal of romance there is also more to it with this mystery thrown into things. Also all main characters seem to be strong enough that you can find reasons for them to do what they do instead of just watch them go through the usual romance tropes for the sake of it.

Of course there is still plenty of story to cover, the manga is eight volumes long for what I can find about it. So that is a lot of material to cover, even if this drama is given twelve episodes and a longer final episode. But at least it means the pace should move along nicely without much dragging.

Though I would like to know if there is something actually up with the stuff Narumi is able to pull off doing. If not I will be disappointed if he does not punch the wall of reality to bring Haruka back to life at the end.