Sunday, February 27, 2011

Review of Koi ni Ochitara Ep 8

Ep 8: Hills no Shin Shacchou (The new CEO of the Hills)
O.A. 2 June 05
Ratings: 15.9%

Shimao becomes a hot favourite in the business circles ever since his promotion to a management executive in Frontier and literally hogs the limelight which used to be focused on Takayanagi. As a result, he wins an award, "Man of The Year" from an economic magazine and is credited with bringing huge profits to Frontier. However, it is also clear that Shimao no longer looks the same as before...

Mariko and Ryuta plan a small celebration party for Shimao's winning of the award but when he returns home late at night, he cannot be bothered to talk to them as he is engrossed in work.

Shimao raises the next project at a meeting which everyone sees it as feasible but Takayanagi objects to it. He uses the excuse that this project is risky and makes Shimao drop the project. Shimao is furious at this and Kaori reminds him to take it easy as he looks quite frightening these days without a smile.

Ryuta comes to bring sashimi to Mariko for dinner and happens to see her ex-lover Tanisaki at her place. Tanisaki leaves hurriedly upon seeing Ryuta who finds that he is back to pester Mariko to let him meet Shimao in order to make some business deals. Mariko is upset that Tanisaki wants to make use of her. When Shimao comes home, she is unable to bring up the subject as he is busy with work.

The next day, Shimao brings up another proposal during the meeting which is rejected by Takayanagi again. Shimao refuses to give up and wants him to give a reason. Takayanagi says that since he's the CEO, he has the right to reject Shimao's proposal. He also throws in another comment that Shimao should create his own company if he really wants to proceed with the project.

Shimao is undeterred by this and orders his subordinate to go ahead with the project despite Takayanagi's objections. Mariko finally tells Shimao about Tanisaki who wants to meet him but Shimao rejects her outright, saying that he sees no value in meeting Tanisaki. Ryuta gets into a fight with Shimao and tells him to look at how detestable he has become ever since he got promoted.

Shimao meets his business associate who informs him that the project has to be called off because of Takayanagi's pressure tactics. Although they hoped to work with Shimao, they could not disobey Takayanagi's orders since Frontier belongs to him.

Shimao asks Takayanagi out for lunch and states his intention to proceed with the project regardless of Takayanagi's objections. As such, the latter fires Shimao on the spot thus marking the beginning of their battle...

Shimao contacts Lloyd Brothers' Sakuraba to inform him of the dismissal and begin the acquisition of Frontier shares. At the same time, Takayanagi realises that Shimao is eyeing Frontier but loses control of the company due to the financial backup Shimao got from Lloyd Brothers. As a result, Shimao becomes the new CEO of Frontier in just one afternoon. Kirino decides to leave Frontier since Takayanagi is not around while the rest remain behind.

Takayanagi goes drinking and is stabbed by his enemy. Kirino goes to the hospital to take care of him and encourage him to face failure. Shimao also comes to meet Takayanagi and passes sarcastic remarks. When he goes back, he happens to see Kaori who tells Shimao that they should stop seeing each other for the time being. Shimao wonders why Kaori has suddenly turned cold towards him but cannot find the reason behind this...

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This is a very good episode where we see how detestable Shimao had become as a result of success and fame. I never knew that Kusanagi Tsuyoshi can be such an eyesore since he's usually the good guy in dramas. This marks a drastic change in his career and I hope that he can keep up the momentum to the end.

As for Takayanagi, it sure hurts to see him looking so crestfallen. Actually, I think something must be bothering him in the first place since he was preoccupied most of the time and wasn't concentrating on work. And when Kirino asked him how he intended to rein in Shimao who is getting more successful, he simply said that he can just kill the monster he created at any time but I guess he never realised how scheming Shimao had become as a result of that Toujou Boueiki incident. I think that matter made him decide to be ruthless so as to pay Takayanagi back for betraying his trust.

Oh, Shimao is going to get more irritating by the next episode. Will we get to see him live "happily ever after" or will the bad guy fall from the top? That's what I'm really interested in...

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