[REVIEW] Kami no Shizuku - 03
See disclaimer in review of Episode 01.
Kami no Shizuku - le troisieme verre (the third glass)
Plot: When we last left our heroes, Shizuku was having a glass of that dreaded 1985 Mouton in Monopole, and remembering the trauma of finding out on his twentieth birthday that his father had actually betrayed the family. How, we do not find out just yet as the scene switches to a hitherto unseen location - the lair of Tomine Issei, famed wine critic and villainous nutcase. I'm serious. His office has a computer...and shelf after shelf of wine glasses. Is it too mean of me to hope for an earthquake? He's also got the most uncomfortable looking chairs I've ever seen, which appear to be made from crushed supermarket trolleys. No wonder Sara doesn't sit down when she shows up.
Back at Taiyo Beer, things aren't looking good. Shizuku arrives with a spring in his step, clearly ready to get down to work for possibly the first time in his life, but is greeted with the news that yet another client has terminated his contract with them and the department's in danger of being shut down. I'm sure ordinarily Shizuku would love to stay and help them out, but he is conveniently summoned to the Kanzaki house for the next round to begin.
Today's bizarre wine description: kid gets lost, is escorted home by kindly adult. (Who is not immediately arrested the way he would be in the UK.) Basically, it's all about warmth and security, which, as we all know, Shizuku doesn't really have because his childhood was not of the warm and fuzzy variety. He thinks it's a bit odd for his father to be talking about such things.
Nevertheless, it's a challenge to Shizuku, and once again he walks off with the letter to seek help. No, not Alcoholics Anonymous, but Miyabi, who is moaning to Fujieda that Shizuku won't confide in her about his unhappy upbringing. I think Fujieda's secretly hoping for them to get together, actually. Shizuku has to help Miyabi out with some of the kanji (my mind replaced her with Jin for a moment), and he pretty much figures it out for himself. I think all he wants is a sounding board and a seat at the bar, frankly.
Miyabi isn't thrilled when Sara turns up bearing pastries. (I'd suspect they were poisoned, but it's not that kind of show.) Wine-drinking and musing on the description ensues, with Shizuku hitting on 'daily wines' as a possibility. But Miyabi still doesn't get to ask him any probing questions, and when she contemplates her inability to help while at work (yes! work!), she overpours the wine and gets fired. But she'd probably have had to go anyway, as the restaurant is doing pretty badly. Just when all seems lost, she's spotted by an old friend, who unfortunately reminds me of the obsessive fake chef from One Pound Gospel and is therefore immediately in my bad books.
The guy in question is named Takasugi Shinichi...and we know this because the Taiyo Beer folks have just identified him as the guy stealing all their contracts. Takasugi is an online wine seller who sells high class brand wines at low prices, undercutting everyone else. Apparently he's charismatic. I'm not seeing it.
His practices are shady too. Shizuku sounds almost offended by this as he tells Fujieda all about it. Gee, he's come a long way since he lost his wine virginity, hasn't he? Takasugi is clearly a fiend of the lowest order, who doesn't understand wine...but has no problem going on a pub crawl with his childhood friend Miyabi, and Monopole is their fourth stop. I hope he's paying. Miyabi's obviously had a fair bit to drink already!
Takasugi's friendly until he gets introduced to Shizuku - everyone, it seems, knows who his father was, and it rarely makes people more inclined to like him. Takasugi has class issues and resentment by the bucketload, and he doesn't think taste and quality are an issue when it comes to wine because people will buy for the brand. Now, I don't know about you but if I was going to drink something I'd want it to have a pleasing taste, not just a pretty label.
Miyabi finds herself apologising to Shizuku afterwards (she sobered up in a hurry) and tries to make excuses for Takasugi's terribly rude behaviour. Shizuku takes it philosophically and resolves to find a non-brand wine which is tastier than a branded wine for Takasugi, if only to prove him wrong, and hopes that by doing so he might find the Second Apostle at the same time. Because that's what this show's really about, after all: Shizuku's issues with his father.
Speaking of which, he finally agrees to tell Miyabi about that betrayal.Of course Kanzaki-sensei worked a lot, but what Shizuku discovered on his twentieth birthday was that his father had been drinking wine with 'Honoko' on the day Shizuku's mother died - and when confronted about it, Kanzaki-sensei didn't disagree. I think there's something weird going on here - this can't just be a simple affair, can it? - but I guess I'll have to wait and see. Shizuku resolved not to drink wine again from then on, but now he can't stop wanting to drink it. Time for that AA meeting then?
Meanwhile, Tomine pays Robert a visit, somehow managing to look even more out of place than the sharp-suited Shizuku. You can tell he's disgusted with Robert's lifestyle, but that doesn't matter because apparently only Robert can tell him what it is that he lacks. Robert hands him a shovel and points to where Tomine should dig...and of course, where Tomine is lacking is that Shizuku would already have been digging, not standing there looking like he'd just bitten a lemon.
Shizuku doesn't have time to dig right now - except perhaps to dig himself and his work colleagues into a hole, having made a deal with Takasugi to form a partnership if the Taiyo Beer crew can find a daily wine which tastes better than the 'Top 5 Chateaux'. Shizuku, for once, is eager to get to work. Everyone else thinks he's just condemned them all, a belief which isn't helped by Shizuku's total ignorance of the brands in question. If he went to work occasionally, perhaps he'd actually pick up some of this stuff considering he's part of the wine department.
Back at the Kanzaki house, which Kiryu the lawyer appears to live in since she's *always* there, Maki tries her hand at a spot of bribery. She argues that the wine collection would be wasted on Shizuku, which is probably true, and is prepared to show her appreciation in a monetary fashion. But Kiryu's not to be bribed, meaning Kanzaki-sensei probably paid her a hell of a lot of money before he went, and Maki leaves with a parting shot about "Honoka". Hmm...
I have no clue what the Saion Corporation (Maki's plaything) does, but right now it's holding a wine-tasting event, where Tomine has a quasi-mystical experience and pulls some faces that could be completely misinterpreted in a different context. Light shines down on him as he realises that it's the thirst for wine that he's lacking, and I do believe Maki is actually laughing as she watches him drink an imaginary glass.
While Fujieda enlightens Shizuku on the joys of common wines, Miyabi complains about her financial situation to Takasugi, with whom she is dining out. Feeling sorry for his childhood friend, Takasugi offers her a job as his secretary. It's not a job that goes well with her desire to be a sommelier, but she does have to pay the rent. He gets her feeling so downhearted about wine, Shizuku and class issues that when she walks into Monopole and finds Shizuku talking with Sara, she runs straight out again.
Shizuku, who is blind to class differences and just wants his friend to revel in his newfound love of wine with him, does the decent thing and chases after her. Alas, Miyabi vows to give up drinking wine and become a secretary (I'm sure she could manage both if she really tried). They both put on brave faces and go their separate ways.
Shizuku's so shocked by Miyabi's declaration that he goes to work and even gets as far as sitting down at a desk with some wine - in the name of work, of course, because he still has to find a wine for Takasugi. His boss is also concentrating hard on work, and has wrangled them a wine-tasting event. Sort of. They get the leftovers of a red wine event (the Saion Corporation one?) and have to wash up the glasses as they go. But at least it's free! Shizuku leaps into action like he's an addict in need of a fix, but the others soon get into the swing of things too.
Not so Tomine Issei, who is isolating himself from everything, not just wine, until the day of the contest. Apparently this means daylight too. I knew he was a nightwalker. Maki looks at her boyfriend like she's wondering whether or not to call for the men in white coats.
Despite being the newest and youngest of the staff, Shizuku somehow does less washing up than anyone else. The perks of being the main character, I guess. He calmly works his way through wine while Tomine frantically sniffs corks and pretends to drink from empty glasses. He's gone into wild-eyed genius mode, a total contrast to the Taiyo Beer guys who have all, rather sweetly, fallen asleep on each other. All but Shizuku, who finds the wine he's looking for - by sight? We can tell by the creepy organ music. He gets flashes of his father's description...though tellingly, not the whole thing.
Next morning, looking none the worse for wear, the Taiyo Beer boys meet up with Takasugi to challenge him over the wines. Accompanying the little upstart is his new secretary, a familiar face to all of them. Miyabi looks odd, all dressed up. To cut a long story short, Takasugi fails the test and is captivated by a cheap, non-brand wine which reminds him of his family and childhood, giving him a sense of security. Shizuku responds with a tale of his own about how Miyabi effectively taught him to enjoy wine like a normal person. She won't be a secretary much longer.
Hundreds of empty wine glasses later, Tomine's a little unshaven and a lot unhinged. Good thing he's rich and can therefore afford to pay for all the broken glasses when he sweeps them to the floor. Finally, he's found the right cork! Maki pours him a glass, which he accepts with a certain amount of ecstasy. (No, not the drug.) He crushes it and sucks the wine/blood combination from his hand while Maki watches, smiling benevolently. I...do not want to know what these two do in the bedroom.
Takasugi, like all childhood friends turned minor villains, is not such a bad guy and appreciates Miyabi's dreams. He turns over a new leaf, talking about a sense of security and brands, which unfortunately prompts Miyabi to recognise that a sense of security doesn't just come from a wine being common.
Too late! Shizuku's already taken his choice of wine to the battleground. Alas, when he has his wine-vision, when the man takes him home he still feels disquieted, doesn't have that sense of security. Tomine gets it, though. (I hate Maki's wicked smirk here.) Explanation: the wine is from an old grapevine, and the man leading the child home is supposed to be elderly. Old, traditional, comforting, sense of security, you get the picture. An infuriated Tomine delivers a lecture on brands that's basically about Shizuku's daddy issues, illustrated by the photo of Kanzaki-sensei hanging on the wall behind him. Subtle, this show is not.
This round goes to Tomine. Miyabi's idea of cheering Shizuku up is to whack him on the shoulder and tell him off, then get herself employed at his office. Perhaps he'll spend more time there now.
Confirming her position as the shadowy lady pulling strings behind the scenes, Maki visits Robert (who doesn't seem to do much when he's not playing judge except sleep and sing nonsensically to himself) to ask him about "Honoka". Okay, now I'm really curious. Kanzaki Yutaka didn't strike me as the kind of man who'd cheat on his wife (maybe with a bottle of wine, but not with a woman), so what's going on here?
Obligatory Kame commentary: I'm not sure I have any! The problem is, Shizuku's not very interesting. Rather, his background and the situation surrounding him are what makes him appealing to me (other than being played by Kame, of course), but he's somewhat lacking in personality so that makes it difficult to comment on what I thought of Kame's performance. It was so much easier with Kousaku!
Best Scene: Miyabi's sudden employment at Taiyo Beer, and everyone's reaction to it. They all want a tiny, hyper cutie in their office - except Honma, but he's just sore because he fails at being a ladies' man.
Conclusion: Even for such a sedate series, this episode was very slow. The fastest I saw anyone move was Tomine and his frantic quaffing from empty wine glasses. It was sort of inevitable that Shizuku was going to lose this round, having been warned that Tomine's true abilities were incredible, and I think he'll be more careful now. But even with things crawling along at a snail's pace, there's still the mystery there with Shizuku's father and this "Honoko", and that's what keeps me watching. I just have to know what's going on! (And I want someone to wipe the smirk off Maki's beautiful face...)
Kami no Shizuku - le troisieme verre (the third glass)
Plot: When we last left our heroes, Shizuku was having a glass of that dreaded 1985 Mouton in Monopole, and remembering the trauma of finding out on his twentieth birthday that his father had actually betrayed the family. How, we do not find out just yet as the scene switches to a hitherto unseen location - the lair of Tomine Issei, famed wine critic and villainous nutcase. I'm serious. His office has a computer...and shelf after shelf of wine glasses. Is it too mean of me to hope for an earthquake? He's also got the most uncomfortable looking chairs I've ever seen, which appear to be made from crushed supermarket trolleys. No wonder Sara doesn't sit down when she shows up.
Back at Taiyo Beer, things aren't looking good. Shizuku arrives with a spring in his step, clearly ready to get down to work for possibly the first time in his life, but is greeted with the news that yet another client has terminated his contract with them and the department's in danger of being shut down. I'm sure ordinarily Shizuku would love to stay and help them out, but he is conveniently summoned to the Kanzaki house for the next round to begin.
Today's bizarre wine description: kid gets lost, is escorted home by kindly adult. (Who is not immediately arrested the way he would be in the UK.) Basically, it's all about warmth and security, which, as we all know, Shizuku doesn't really have because his childhood was not of the warm and fuzzy variety. He thinks it's a bit odd for his father to be talking about such things.
Nevertheless, it's a challenge to Shizuku, and once again he walks off with the letter to seek help. No, not Alcoholics Anonymous, but Miyabi, who is moaning to Fujieda that Shizuku won't confide in her about his unhappy upbringing. I think Fujieda's secretly hoping for them to get together, actually. Shizuku has to help Miyabi out with some of the kanji (my mind replaced her with Jin for a moment), and he pretty much figures it out for himself. I think all he wants is a sounding board and a seat at the bar, frankly.
Miyabi isn't thrilled when Sara turns up bearing pastries. (I'd suspect they were poisoned, but it's not that kind of show.) Wine-drinking and musing on the description ensues, with Shizuku hitting on 'daily wines' as a possibility. But Miyabi still doesn't get to ask him any probing questions, and when she contemplates her inability to help while at work (yes! work!), she overpours the wine and gets fired. But she'd probably have had to go anyway, as the restaurant is doing pretty badly. Just when all seems lost, she's spotted by an old friend, who unfortunately reminds me of the obsessive fake chef from One Pound Gospel and is therefore immediately in my bad books.
The guy in question is named Takasugi Shinichi...and we know this because the Taiyo Beer folks have just identified him as the guy stealing all their contracts. Takasugi is an online wine seller who sells high class brand wines at low prices, undercutting everyone else. Apparently he's charismatic. I'm not seeing it.
His practices are shady too. Shizuku sounds almost offended by this as he tells Fujieda all about it. Gee, he's come a long way since he lost his wine virginity, hasn't he? Takasugi is clearly a fiend of the lowest order, who doesn't understand wine...but has no problem going on a pub crawl with his childhood friend Miyabi, and Monopole is their fourth stop. I hope he's paying. Miyabi's obviously had a fair bit to drink already!
Takasugi's friendly until he gets introduced to Shizuku - everyone, it seems, knows who his father was, and it rarely makes people more inclined to like him. Takasugi has class issues and resentment by the bucketload, and he doesn't think taste and quality are an issue when it comes to wine because people will buy for the brand. Now, I don't know about you but if I was going to drink something I'd want it to have a pleasing taste, not just a pretty label.
Miyabi finds herself apologising to Shizuku afterwards (she sobered up in a hurry) and tries to make excuses for Takasugi's terribly rude behaviour. Shizuku takes it philosophically and resolves to find a non-brand wine which is tastier than a branded wine for Takasugi, if only to prove him wrong, and hopes that by doing so he might find the Second Apostle at the same time. Because that's what this show's really about, after all: Shizuku's issues with his father.
Speaking of which, he finally agrees to tell Miyabi about that betrayal.Of course Kanzaki-sensei worked a lot, but what Shizuku discovered on his twentieth birthday was that his father had been drinking wine with 'Honoko' on the day Shizuku's mother died - and when confronted about it, Kanzaki-sensei didn't disagree. I think there's something weird going on here - this can't just be a simple affair, can it? - but I guess I'll have to wait and see. Shizuku resolved not to drink wine again from then on, but now he can't stop wanting to drink it. Time for that AA meeting then?
Meanwhile, Tomine pays Robert a visit, somehow managing to look even more out of place than the sharp-suited Shizuku. You can tell he's disgusted with Robert's lifestyle, but that doesn't matter because apparently only Robert can tell him what it is that he lacks. Robert hands him a shovel and points to where Tomine should dig...and of course, where Tomine is lacking is that Shizuku would already have been digging, not standing there looking like he'd just bitten a lemon.
Shizuku doesn't have time to dig right now - except perhaps to dig himself and his work colleagues into a hole, having made a deal with Takasugi to form a partnership if the Taiyo Beer crew can find a daily wine which tastes better than the 'Top 5 Chateaux'. Shizuku, for once, is eager to get to work. Everyone else thinks he's just condemned them all, a belief which isn't helped by Shizuku's total ignorance of the brands in question. If he went to work occasionally, perhaps he'd actually pick up some of this stuff considering he's part of the wine department.
Back at the Kanzaki house, which Kiryu the lawyer appears to live in since she's *always* there, Maki tries her hand at a spot of bribery. She argues that the wine collection would be wasted on Shizuku, which is probably true, and is prepared to show her appreciation in a monetary fashion. But Kiryu's not to be bribed, meaning Kanzaki-sensei probably paid her a hell of a lot of money before he went, and Maki leaves with a parting shot about "Honoka". Hmm...
I have no clue what the Saion Corporation (Maki's plaything) does, but right now it's holding a wine-tasting event, where Tomine has a quasi-mystical experience and pulls some faces that could be completely misinterpreted in a different context. Light shines down on him as he realises that it's the thirst for wine that he's lacking, and I do believe Maki is actually laughing as she watches him drink an imaginary glass.
While Fujieda enlightens Shizuku on the joys of common wines, Miyabi complains about her financial situation to Takasugi, with whom she is dining out. Feeling sorry for his childhood friend, Takasugi offers her a job as his secretary. It's not a job that goes well with her desire to be a sommelier, but she does have to pay the rent. He gets her feeling so downhearted about wine, Shizuku and class issues that when she walks into Monopole and finds Shizuku talking with Sara, she runs straight out again.
Shizuku, who is blind to class differences and just wants his friend to revel in his newfound love of wine with him, does the decent thing and chases after her. Alas, Miyabi vows to give up drinking wine and become a secretary (I'm sure she could manage both if she really tried). They both put on brave faces and go their separate ways.
Shizuku's so shocked by Miyabi's declaration that he goes to work and even gets as far as sitting down at a desk with some wine - in the name of work, of course, because he still has to find a wine for Takasugi. His boss is also concentrating hard on work, and has wrangled them a wine-tasting event. Sort of. They get the leftovers of a red wine event (the Saion Corporation one?) and have to wash up the glasses as they go. But at least it's free! Shizuku leaps into action like he's an addict in need of a fix, but the others soon get into the swing of things too.
Not so Tomine Issei, who is isolating himself from everything, not just wine, until the day of the contest. Apparently this means daylight too. I knew he was a nightwalker. Maki looks at her boyfriend like she's wondering whether or not to call for the men in white coats.
Despite being the newest and youngest of the staff, Shizuku somehow does less washing up than anyone else. The perks of being the main character, I guess. He calmly works his way through wine while Tomine frantically sniffs corks and pretends to drink from empty glasses. He's gone into wild-eyed genius mode, a total contrast to the Taiyo Beer guys who have all, rather sweetly, fallen asleep on each other. All but Shizuku, who finds the wine he's looking for - by sight? We can tell by the creepy organ music. He gets flashes of his father's description...though tellingly, not the whole thing.
Next morning, looking none the worse for wear, the Taiyo Beer boys meet up with Takasugi to challenge him over the wines. Accompanying the little upstart is his new secretary, a familiar face to all of them. Miyabi looks odd, all dressed up. To cut a long story short, Takasugi fails the test and is captivated by a cheap, non-brand wine which reminds him of his family and childhood, giving him a sense of security. Shizuku responds with a tale of his own about how Miyabi effectively taught him to enjoy wine like a normal person. She won't be a secretary much longer.
Hundreds of empty wine glasses later, Tomine's a little unshaven and a lot unhinged. Good thing he's rich and can therefore afford to pay for all the broken glasses when he sweeps them to the floor. Finally, he's found the right cork! Maki pours him a glass, which he accepts with a certain amount of ecstasy. (No, not the drug.) He crushes it and sucks the wine/blood combination from his hand while Maki watches, smiling benevolently. I...do not want to know what these two do in the bedroom.
Takasugi, like all childhood friends turned minor villains, is not such a bad guy and appreciates Miyabi's dreams. He turns over a new leaf, talking about a sense of security and brands, which unfortunately prompts Miyabi to recognise that a sense of security doesn't just come from a wine being common.
Too late! Shizuku's already taken his choice of wine to the battleground. Alas, when he has his wine-vision, when the man takes him home he still feels disquieted, doesn't have that sense of security. Tomine gets it, though. (I hate Maki's wicked smirk here.) Explanation: the wine is from an old grapevine, and the man leading the child home is supposed to be elderly. Old, traditional, comforting, sense of security, you get the picture. An infuriated Tomine delivers a lecture on brands that's basically about Shizuku's daddy issues, illustrated by the photo of Kanzaki-sensei hanging on the wall behind him. Subtle, this show is not.
This round goes to Tomine. Miyabi's idea of cheering Shizuku up is to whack him on the shoulder and tell him off, then get herself employed at his office. Perhaps he'll spend more time there now.
Confirming her position as the shadowy lady pulling strings behind the scenes, Maki visits Robert (who doesn't seem to do much when he's not playing judge except sleep and sing nonsensically to himself) to ask him about "Honoka". Okay, now I'm really curious. Kanzaki Yutaka didn't strike me as the kind of man who'd cheat on his wife (maybe with a bottle of wine, but not with a woman), so what's going on here?
Obligatory Kame commentary: I'm not sure I have any! The problem is, Shizuku's not very interesting. Rather, his background and the situation surrounding him are what makes him appealing to me (other than being played by Kame, of course), but he's somewhat lacking in personality so that makes it difficult to comment on what I thought of Kame's performance. It was so much easier with Kousaku!
Best Scene: Miyabi's sudden employment at Taiyo Beer, and everyone's reaction to it. They all want a tiny, hyper cutie in their office - except Honma, but he's just sore because he fails at being a ladies' man.
Conclusion: Even for such a sedate series, this episode was very slow. The fastest I saw anyone move was Tomine and his frantic quaffing from empty wine glasses. It was sort of inevitable that Shizuku was going to lose this round, having been warned that Tomine's true abilities were incredible, and I think he'll be more careful now. But even with things crawling along at a snail's pace, there's still the mystery there with Shizuku's father and this "Honoko", and that's what keeps me watching. I just have to know what's going on! (And I want someone to wipe the smirk off Maki's beautiful face...)