Summary:
After being walked out on by Tsukasa during school because of the photos, Tsukushi makes another plea for him to believe her. Even Sakurako speaks up, but Tsukasa is unwilling to listen to either of them. Tsukasa spends the night thinking about it all, and keeps staring at the scarf that Tsukushi put on him back in the elevator. At home, Tsukushi realizes that there must have been a third party around to take the pictures. Sojiro helps her try to solve the mystery, focusing first on the ring that the man was wearing the picture. Meanwhile, Sakurako goes alone to the Domyoji home to ask Tsukasa to help her search for the culprit. He throws a cushion at her, telling her to get out, but meets up with her anyway after his mother made several disparaging remarks about the pictures and what a bad person Tsukushi is. The two briefly run into Sojiro and Tsukushi, but Tsukasa doesn’t speak to her at all. Sojiro and Tsukushi’s investigation leads them to a club, where Sojiro takes up a search, while Tsukasa’s investigation takes him and Sakurako to the hotel room where the photos were taken. Sakurako tells Tsukasa how betrayed she felt, and how he must feel the same way. She then leans in to kiss him, but he suddenly bolts up and leaves, with Tsukushi still on his mind. Sakurako calls Tsukushi and tells her that Tsukasa has forgiven her, and that she should go to Sakurako’s house. Of course, Tsukasa’s not really there; he’s instead out on the street beating up thugs to vent his anger.
While Sakurako is out of the room, Tsukushi happens to see the yearbook open, and realizes that Sakurako knew the F4 from when they were young. However, she becomes frightened when she turns the page and sees Tsukasa’s picture shredded. Meanwhile, Sojiro finds his target, and learns that the man was hired by a woman who went by the name Cherry. At that same time, Akira discovers a bookmark inside of a handkerchief Sakurako dropped, and recognizes where it’s from. The two eventually put the pieces together and figure out that the culprit is Sakurako. By this time, Sakurako has taken Tsukushi hostage in the school cafeteria. She calls Tsukasa to tell him that Tsukushi is waiting and that he should come alone. Sakurako reveals to Tsukushi that she’s responsible for everything because she wanted revenge on Tsukasa. When Tsukasa arrives, Sakurako takes Tsukushi hostage with a knife. She orders her thugs to beat him up, and, for once, Tsukasa doesn’t fight back. After he gets thrown through a table, Sakurako reaches her limit, and cries out to ask why Tsukasa continues to take hits for Tsukushi’s sake. She flashes back to when they were young, when she presented Tsukasa with that bookmark, but he pushed her down and called her ugly. Sakurako reveals that she changed everything to become beautiful for him and can’t understand why he still rejects her. Frustrated that he can only call out Tsukushi’s name, she picks up a chair and slams it down on him. Much to her surprise, Tsukushi takes the hit for him. Having had enough, the disheartened Sakurako leaves. Now that they’re finally alone, Tsukasa painfully picks himself up and confesses that he did it all to protect Tsukushi, because he likes her. Days later, everything seems to have returned to normal with the two even acting like a couple. Tsukushi sees Sakurako getting bullied by the Bitch Three, and surprisingly goes to her rescue. She believes that the Sakurako who was amazed at her mother’s rice balls is the genuine Sakurako. Sakurako apologizes and runs out, and everything seems to have been resolved. As Tsukasa and Tsukushi are horsing around, they hear a familiar voice – Rui’s back!

I like the plot of this episode, but the execution of it is too melodramatic and cliché for my tastes. The lightening and all of Sakurako’s scary faces just felt too overboard. Sakurako seems to suffer from a dual personality disorder, easily bullied in school, but is herself the bully when she’s in her clubbing clothes. She does a lot better (in terms of breaking the Tsukasa and Tsukushi apart and hurting emotionally) when she was plotting from the shadows as opposed to when she reveals herself and had him hurt physically. The end result of her actions brings Tsukushi and Tsukasa closer together, which I guess is the point of it all. I’d rate this episode as the worst one so far, but that’s being compared to a set of pretty strong episodes.
But it is fun to see Sojiro and Akira take more active roles in this episode, even if they still only feel like supporting actors. I wonder if this drama is going to go far enough to develop their characters, or if it’s just going to focus on the Rui/Tsukushi/Tsukasa triangle. As expected, the cliffhanger for this episode is the return of Rui to stir things up again. And let’s not forget that Tsukasa’s mother hates Tsukushi more and more each episode. The preview also shows several shots of Tsubaki – Yay for more Matsushima Nanako!

28 Comments

  1. This episode was so corny that I don’t even know how to describe it…O_O

    I mean, jeez, a hysteric psycho and thunder roaring in the background? How cliched! And why weren’t there any lightning when Tsukasa is shown running towards the school? The director really overdid it.

    Still a great episode nontheless. Rui is back and we’ll get to see some spark fly around XD!

    Rasmiel
  2. Jo, Omni kindly answered your question when you asked it in the HYD #4 summary:

    “what day does the drama come on and what channel #?
    by jo November 12th, 2005 at 10:04 pm”

    “Friday nights at 10 on TBS…in Japan…
    That’s NOT the same TBS as in America :P”

    Tonicart
  3. It was OK.. of course the drama is a bit too over-the-top sometimes, but the way Soujiro did his dective work was funny! For those that read the manga, it seems like they combined the Sakurako arc with when Tsukushi was kidnapped later in the manga by the model guy whose name I forget although we won’t get to see the hospital scene now I suppose. Maybe they’ll do that later.. but it’s only going to be nine episodes. :{

    Just to be clear.. in the manga or the anime, they never fully develop Akira or Soujiro, they are always pretty much characters on the outside looking in, and this is about as involved as they get.

    Considering the next preview, I’d say either the end of episode 6 or somewhere in episode 7 should be another character introduced.. and my favourite one! At least I hope she’s in it!

  4. Lol, This episode was sort of funny – or so I thought at least. Rasmeil is right however though, why wasn’t there n lightning and stuff when Domiyji was running to the school? ..lol…Truth is…I sort of like Soujiro and Akira….they’re interesting characters…But I was sort of questioning like….with Sakurako…why was she able to stand up at those girls at the bar? …and Not when those three bitches were making fun of her? It doesn’t make sense. She cudda just gone with her Clubbosakurako act…and tripped them cudn’t she? …Like…I didn’t understand it..does she feel more Sexy and Strong in her Clubbing clothes? …I see no difference…-_-‘ I don’t like how Rui is back…!!! I didn’t like him very much….actually..I don’t like him at all. Meybe it’s cuz the character playing him is ugly (in my pov) I dunno….but I have a bad feeling about it…..like…..WHY IS HE BACK? Isn’t he chasing his life long dream to be with that model girl?!?! -_-‘………..it seems like he’s gonna come back and take Makino away from Domiyji just like how Domiyji took his apples away from him!! :O:O:O:O:O:O

  5. Is there really only going to be 9 episodes? How come?! I don’t think they will be able to really do the story justice with so few episodes. I know it’s not very fair to make comparisons, but so far, I do believe that the Taiwanese series is better than the Japanese one, neh… @.@” The aspects that the Japanese one is better are the settings are more genuine to the Manga, and they have original soundtrack (although it is sounding more and more like a Harry Potter soundtrack each time I see it… LOL..) In the Taiwanese series, at least to me, the characters are more believable (in the Japanese one, only Tsukushi and maybe Tsubaki, is equally or better than the Taiwanese characters)… One thing I really have a problem with is the fight scenes… I had thought Japanese directors or producers are pretty good at doing these, but, seriously, Tsukasa’s fight scenes are just extremely badly done… It seems either very fake to me, nor do they show Tsukasa’s character as the great “animal-like” agility and strength that he is supposed to have… In this regard, the Taiwanese series does a much, much greater job… ^^”

  6. this episode is my least favorite episode, i agree with some of the comments, like it’s being dramatically over-done by the director (i.e.the thunder in the cafetaria), also did you see when Tsukasa was being hit, he turned his face too early? but all in all, it’s quite good, although in comparison to Meteor Garden, it’s just too lame 😀 anyway, does any of you recognise that there were less/none at all sarcastic/cynical remarks from Rui? i miss them!!!! Rui’s being so sweet here… he’s smilling too much :p

    april
  7. Overall i say it was well executed for a 1 hour episode ~ ep 05

    Considering i never really took to the Taiwanese version anyway , having seen the Anime and manga before hand ; the cliche elements are just so necessary to deliver a otherwise dull syoujo manga plot that received some tweaking and updates to it’s early 90s concepts & better bring out the timeless issues young girls struggle with when their beau is the heir to some major conglomerate >_

    tonbo
  8. I agree the director must have been on happy juice when planning and filming this episode, but I think it’s partly to cover the extremely poor acting of the Sakurako actress. What’s with that cackle in the cafeteria? The writing I’m liking more with each episode. It’s extremely difficult to compress such a large story. If they didn’t combine the 2 story arc they’d never have been able to explain how T and T got so close before they brought Rui back. I agree the fight scenes throughout suck so far. To see another Gokusen alumnus in a much better written and choreographed Manga adaptation. look for Holyland which aired in the spring.

    SakuraG
  9. I have never read the manga but it is based after a classic shoujo manga right? So I expected there to be some cheesy scenes at some point. It was going pretty well and dramatic and believable then I watched this and thought,”this is definately shoujo manga based.” Rui is back! WHOO! I’m so tempted to read the manga now but I don’t want to ruin the drama version for myself since the drama is condensed. Isn’t the manga 35 books? 0_0

    Naru
  10. Strong Personal Suggestion: Don’t read the manga befor finishing watching the J Dorama! Otherwise, it will not only ruin the story line for you, but you will also be disappointed at the bad protrayal of Tsukasa… However, do definitely find the Manga and read it after you’ve finished the series, because the original manga is 100 times better than any of the film adaptations.. (Of course, this is very subjective, spoken from a serious Domyoji fan who have just re-read the manga for the Nth time and fell in love with the manga character again…. >\\\\\

  11. OMG… I found out dis site when surfin on the net…
    I was so surprised and happy at the same time 😀
    I’ve watched ep. 1 and ep. 2 of hana yori dango… I’m so excited and can’t wait to watch this part….
    Although i watched Meteor Garden (Taiwan version of Hanayori Dango) and realize all of the sequences… I still wanting to watch the JaPanese version of HANA YORI DANGO!!
    It’s so CooL… wit the different cast…
    I dunno why… but i always fall for Hanazawa Rui for both the taiwanese and japanese hanayori dango… Maybe because of their style and personality..
    Overall I like both Oguri Shun (Hanazawa Rui) and Domyouji Tsukasa(Matsumoto Jun)…

    Thanx for the summary….

    AngeL26_J
  12. Yes I must agree as well that this ep was rather corny (sad since I’ve found it rather great so far despite being condensed so much)… this is a sign that, even in the sake of condensing a story, you shouldn’t merge characters together. Sakurako played the role of Makiko, Sakurako, AND Junpei all rolled into one… no wonder she was over the top in the dorama – SHE CAME FROM THREE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES. o.O Just the extreme natures were too much. Sakurako feigned innocence in the manga and plotted but it was all behind the scenes and felt far more natural… her holding Tsukushi at knife point while watching Tsukasa getting beaten up was too weird. For one, Junpei did all of that and he’s a guy, making such actions more believable. Another is, Sakurako loving Tsukasa despite still hating him at the same time was part of her charm and believability… which was lost when she enjoyed watching him getting his ass kicked like that. Bah… hopefully things won’t be too condensed in the future…

    Scortia
  13. Totally awesome…soooooo much betta than the taiwan thing. Taiwan thing is sooooo lame! LOL I was like LMFAO in every episode!!!! kk a bit sarcastic… boo taiwan thing…the gay METEOR GARDEN… Loved Hana Yori Dango. The Cast is sooo awesome…. OMG I mean like OMFFFFG! SOOOOOO GOOOOD! I Loved it heaps (obviously) Didn’t think it was corny or anything, just thought it was great. Anyway, it’s not very REALISTIC… wateva… boo 2 all of u hoo don’t like it. G4U coz i luv it.

  14. i dont know ur really name so i will call u sawada shin….ur so cute nd handsome!!!i am ur no.1 fan nd nagsubaybay tlga ako nung gokusen kung sn nandun ka!!!nd dis time,panunuorin nko ung bgo mong show na HANAYORI DANGO!!!!GOOD LUCK nd i love u!!!
    Mika,Diana,Melfe,nd Cyrelle,,,,….we LOVE u very much!!!!

  15. Can anyone tell me if Tsukasa will get mad to Tsukushi after he saw the framed up pictures of Tsukushi having sex with the guy that looks like Rui.

    MinistryUndertaker

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