After a first episode with the length of a movie, and enough content to fill that time without leaving audiences bored, Pin to Kona (ぴんとこな)’s second episode is bound to be a bit of a pullback – a reining-in of expectations, if you will. All I’m looking for this time is a story doesn’t completely revolve around the love triangle/square and some good kabuki highlights – whether it’s of their training or an actual performance.
We left Ichiya (Nakayama Yuma) in a rather happy state, as he was about to reunite with Ayame (Kawashima Umika) and they’d live happily ever after . . .
. . . except that was the end of the first episode, not the last, and there are some obstacles. You know, like the fact that Ichiya owes his temporary boost to the kabuki world to Yuna (Yoshikura Aoi)’s father, and he has to stay loyal to Yuna or he might lose the chance to fulfill his dream. So, when Yuna’s father calls out to him, Ichiya has to turn away from Ayame, asking her to wait outside for him.
Ayame waits and, sure enough, she bumps into the as-yet unmentioned lead character and final side to the love square, Kyonosuke (Tamamori Yuta). Kyonosuke is understandably bummed out, and even takes a compliment about his performance – that he was good too (in addition to Ichiya, in other words) – badly.
Unfortunately for Ayame, Ichiya has to please his benefactor by meeting with an important guest. That VIP is quite blunt about how fortunate it is that Ichiya will marry Yuna and become Sawayama Sakugoro (Enoki Takaaki)’s successor. Meanwhile, Ayame is left waiting out in the rain.
Still in romantic distress, Kyonosuke receives his new kabuki assignment from his father, who also drops a hint that he may be performing opposite Ichiya again. Kyonosuke resents the way his father refuses to praise him, and is too distracted to practice his new part since his mind is filled with visions of Ichiya and Ayame together.
Of course, they’re not together, but Kyonosuke doesn’t know that – yet.
In fact, Kyonosuke overhears Ayame talking to her friend about waiting in the rain for five hours the next day, and that sure puts the spring back in his step when he decides to talk to her again. But she already knows he was eavesdropping.
She chastises him for listening in like that, but when she blames herself for waiting out in the rain like that, he wisely consoles her by saying that Ichiya probably didn’t mean to leave her like that and simply had to do the meet-and-greet. Just as he tries to further take the high ground, though, she faints.
Kyonosuke carries her to her home, which preempts Ichiya’s attempt to apologize to her.
Remember how one of the themes of the series was the division between classes? Well, presumably this is where Kyonosuke gets to see the way the other half lives, but while he says “eh?” when seeing her home, I have to say that it doesn’t look bad at all. It’s not a noble mansion like he has, but she’s not stuffed in a closet apartment, either.
With Kyonosuke trying to cook for Ayame – possibly his first attempt in the kitchen ever . . .
. . . Ichiya get to talk to Yuna’s father again, which is growing to be his least favorite thing to do. It’s almost like he can tell that any time he spends talking to Sawayama Sakugoro is time during which he’s lost ground in his potential relationship with Ayame.
It’s even worse, because Sakugoro tells Ichiya that he will not be getting the role opposite Kyonosuke this time, and Shohei (Matsumura Hokuto) takes the opportunity to taunt Ichiya. It looks like those jabs are going to be Hokuto-kun’s only part in this drama.
Having gone so far as to fill-in for Ayame at work, Kyonosuke feels like he’s really scored points with her. Okay, but can we get on to the kabuki side of things now? I’ve had my fill of the love square for this episode.
Kyonosuke’s father (Kishitani Goro) gets some negative critique of his son’s uneven acting that seems to shake him. The hierarchy of the kabuki world is unclear to me, but the man he was speaking to was definitely giving advice as a superior.
While Kyonosuke’s cooking is improving thanks to actually following a recipe, his attentiveness to Ayame and the time he spends in place of her at her work surely means that he’s not getting the practice he needs.
Yuna gets more suspicious about Ichiya’s loyalty to her . . .
. . . just as he’s out seeing Ayame to apologize to her and to convince her that he’ll always be hers. Well, we’re pretty sure he means it, but he should come clean about the Yuna side of things. Of course, if he did, the series might be one or two episodes shorter . . . .
At least Kyonosuke is always sure to be listening in and not missing anything:
Kyonosuke’s father is not happy and they have one of their tense exchanges.
At this point, though, Kyonosuke’s broken heart looks like it will really hurt his ability to perform, which will in turn do damage to his relationship with his father.
I think I’m really going to get to hate Yuna. Sensing that Ichiya is drifting away from her, she offers to talk to her father about letting him play the part he had been denied. There’s no mistaking it – she’s basically willing to buy his love if necessary.
It continues . . .
. . . and finally, we get to kabuki practice. Now that Kyonosuke is back to being heartbroken, can he perform?
Will the fact that he now has to do play the part opposite Ichiya because the latter gave in to Yuna make it impossibly hard for him?
Will they, in fact, make a scene that wasn’t in the script?
And how will Kyonosuke’s father take all of this?
We didn’t get a full-makeup performance at the end of this one, so that’s a minus, but I think we’ll get it in the next episode so it’s not a total loss.
There were two highlights to the episode – when Kyonosuke first talks to Ayame at school and the confrontation between Kyonosuke and Ichiya during practice.
The problem with this episode was that the pace was slow, and except for the two strong moments, it felt like we were going around in circles. The scenes themselves were executed well – the acting was fine though not spectacular – but the sense that we weren’t getting anywhere was occasionally frustrating. At the end of episode one, both Ichiya and Kyonosuke were going after Ayame and Ichiya ended up a bit ahead. The first half of this episode largely reinforced that state of affairs.
It ended well, though, and the second half was better than the first. Kyonosuke’s character saw some development – heck, he even learned to cook (somewhat). There’s also a subtle change when it comes to our impression of Kyonosuke’s father and Kanjiro (Yamamoto Koji).
I think I’ll have to call this good enough, since they got so much done in the first episode and at least the acting was solid. I hope we get something different in the next episode, though (read: more kabuki).
Thanks for this review. So far I’ve liked all characters developments, except Ayame. Her character does not make sense to me. She has lived alone and had many jobs to support herself for a while. Even she’s 17 , you can tell that she has had a tough life so far. These type of people, dealing with a daily tough life, they will grow-up fast and develop into the type of people that you can call smart, or having “street- smart” personalities. However, Ayame in here is so naive; hence, after her boyfriend came to visit her, she still did not know and had no clues of where and how does he live; she’s still sitting in her house waiting for him, and with only his phone number. This type of girl’s character, I would like the script writer re-write, let her be a young, poor, naive girl who lived with grandparents after her parents’ death, and then she would make more sense for me cheer up for her . Oh well, I’m disappointed at Ayame’s character….. at least she’s cute to look at .
I only watched raw episode 3, it’s amazing, I love both Tama and Yuma’s characters, but Ayame’s naive and clueless more prominent in this episode, I’m frustrated. I’m sorry for this extra rant, waiting for your review of this episode.
I like the characters Tamamori-kun and Yuma-kun play as well – all the scenes with both of them in are golden. Sorry to hear that Ayame’s worse in the next episode, but I guess that was to be expected since they set her on that path in this one. I’ll try to make a point about it in that review. My review of episode 3 might be a bit delayed depending on when I can get subtitles (or if I have to watch with a dictionary in hand instead).
You’re welcome. Interesting point about Ayame – you’re totally right that there’s an incongruity between her experience and her naivete. If I was writing her character with that self-sufficient background, I probably wouldn’t have her waiting in the rain for five hours! Thinking about it, she’s got to make sure that she’s well enough for work and that would be her first priority. The rest of her cluelessness is equally vexing. I agree with your rewrite, too – if I was writing the actions of the naive girl living with her grandparents, that would be a closer match to what Ayame did in this episode. I still wouldn’t have had her waiting in the rain for more than an hour, though.
Ayame was better in the first episode, and now that you mention it, her portrayal in this episode probably added to my discontent with the way it all unfolded, though I wasn’t able to put my finger on it while writing the review. If there’s the same sort of thing in the next episode, I’ll be sure to make a clearer point about it.
Thanks for sharing those insights!
Talking about subtitles, sigh …. I can understand why she’s in such a bitchy, angry mood (you know who I’m talking about right?). Since I’ve known she’s taking 5 or 6 sub projects at the same time and she has to study for her school, taking finals, etc., I always have the urge of jumping in and tell her to take time, slow down, and study for her school first. But it’s none of my business anyway so I zip my mouth up.
Anyway, I’m still patiently waiting for Sophia london subs of episodes 2,3.
Rival between Kyonosuke and Ichya is interesting and I just have a secret wish that both guys will become good friends later. With the girl coming in between, I don’t know if it’s possible though.
By all accounts, it’s the people who can’t read her instructions that have made this frustrating. I don’t blame her because it certainly looked like she was able to handle the subbing – even taking on so many projects, she was quite timely – and it really was the community management aspect of it that caused problems. I’m not thrilled by the situation – I was removed from the community as a leecher (I don’t comment through my livejournal much because, you know, I’ve got this site to air all my thoughts) and I’ll be waiting on sophia london now, too. I’m not going to complain, though – the world is way too full of angst, anger, and drama, and I don’t like to add to it. Unfortunately, while sophia london is handling this series, I’ll have to review Kamen Teacher without subs.
Oooh – I like the idea of Kyonosuke and Ichiya eventually becoming friends! There’s always Hokuto-kun’s character to cause trouble if necessary, or (if I was writing it) there could be some financial issue that threatens the theater, and the two of them have to work together to save it. I really hope we get more than the love square, because I can already see that getting stale by episode four, but I don’t know if it’s possible, either.
I do understand and don’t complain much about the subbers either ( I ‘m worried that she’s spending so much time doing the subs instead of studying for the finals)
I don’t watch Kamen teacher, but as I know, kismyft2 LJ community has someone do the subs, did you check it out yet? I hope you get the subs there so you won’t have a hard time in drama reviewing.
ahhhhh, about Ayame waiting outside of the theater in the rain for 5 hours I think it’s a bit exaggerated but still possible if the girl is so desperate and so much in love (: . But after that she would scold and bitch at the guy who let her waiting that long though haha, considering Ayame’s nature as she likes bitching and angry at Kyonosuke, why not scolding at Ichiya too ?
Yes, let Kyonosuke and Ichiya heal the gap of social classes, become famous partners on the stage for life.
Well, I guess love can get pretty desperate 🙂 Ayame sure does seem to have a huge blind spot when it comes to Ichiya – unable to be suspicious of him or angry at him. I guess that doesn’t change in episode 3, but I sure hope she starts getting upset with him soon (which is to say, I hope she finds out about Yuna soon).
Ah, yes, thank you so much for the tip! I had checked the kmf2 community when initially looking for subs and didn’t find anything, but it looks like someone has picked it up and is doing a good job keeping up with it. That’s a relief!