Asian Addicts Anonymous

As much as I do like Jang Geun Suk, his cameo seemed unwarranted. I had actually, kind of, hoped that he would, you know, reprise Tae Kyung, but he was there as himself. How sad. Oh well. So we have another pointless cameo [and yet it was just what Ren needed to motivate him into actual action]. We got NANA being NANA. Whereas I did feel some sympathy for UEE’s version, I must say that I don’t feel any for Kojima’s version whatsoever. Overall this was a good episode and explained a lot of the “mysteries” floating around. It’s also the set up to a big explosion in the upcoming episode.

So we pick up right where we left off. Miko is telling Ren that she was just looking at a star, but will stop and Ren replies that he doesn’t want her to. In fact, Miko has his permission to like him. This throws Miko for a loop – definitely not something the girl expected. Miko asks if that will be okay. Ren replies yes and does Miko know just how many fans he has because he is the great Ren? This makes Miko happy. Um…yeah…whatever. Still not happy with the whole permission thing. Plus Miko is so clueless as to what Ren means when he tells her to keep watching him and giving her “permission” to like him. Ren should have just plain confessed at that point.

Meanwhile, Yuki is wondering just where Ren and Miko are while Mabuchi complains to RINA about doing something unnecessary and putting Miko in a tight situation. RINA apologizes and puts Mabuchi in a stranglehold when Miko and Ren return. Yuki is enamored with the cute Miko. At this time, Mabuchi gets a phone call from Ando saying that there are reporters claiming that Mio is Shu’s girlfriend. How crazy is that? Mabuchi then says that Mio isn’t Shu’s girlfriend, but rather his twin sister Miko. This shocks the boys and RINA. Meanwhile, Ando explains things to the reporters who cannot wait to meet Mio’s twin sister.

Mabuchi hangs up and says that Mio will become Miko [does anyone else think that sounds silly since Mio is Miko?]. Miko asks if that is really okay. Ren tells her it is fine, just let Shu do all the talking. Miko agrees to this and Shu goes and takes her hand in his, annoying Ren. What annoys Ren even more is Shu giving him a look while telling Miko that from now on she is his girlfriend. The gang gets ready to leave while Ren simmers behind about what Shu said.

They arrive at the office where Ando exclaims over just how alike the twins look. The reporters immediately jump up and surround Miko, cameras ready. Shu blocks her face and says no pictures since his girlfriend is just a normal person. Ando’s assistant seconds this and says they have to keep her privacy. The reporters agree as long as Shu and Miko spill everything about their relationship. Meanwhile, Ando pulls Mabuchi aside and says the seemed to know about this already. Mabuchi denies this and then Ando asks what else is being kept from him. Mabuchi, worried, lies and says nothing.

Shigeko meets with Misuzawa and demands to know if Misuzawa is the twins’ mother as Shigeko saw the scar on Misuzawa’s stomach. It was from childbirth, right? Plus, Misuzawa has a keen interest in the twins and it is unnatural for an unrelated person to want to give half her assets away to strangers. Misuzawa says that she did date the twins’ father, however, she is not their mother. She wishes to give half her assets to the kids because she has wronged them.

The reporters are happy for the scoop. Meanwhile, Miko has changed back into Mio. She immediately apologizes to Shu as she doesn’t want his girlfriend to misunderstand. Shu says that it is okay and then asks if Miko made up with Ren. Miko can’t help but smile and say that Ren has understood her feelings and wasn’t angry at all. This makes Shu supremely unhappy to hear this, but he puts on a smile and says that he is happy they have made up. Liar.

Back at the house, Yuki says that Shu will lose a lot of fans with the new breakout and confirmation of a girlfriend. This surprises Ren. Yuki says that when news of Ren and NANA came out, a lot of Ren’s fans left him for the rest of the members. Ren is shocked, he had no idea. Yuki smiles and says but thanks to that he and Mio got a lot of fans. So Ren had to go see for himself. It was true, his fan base had shrunk considerable. While he is checking this out, he sees a user called “buta-usagi.” Could Miko have taken the fan thing seriously? Ren then smiles as he decides to put Miko to the test.

Meanwhile, Miko is happy that she was able to join Ren’s fan café. She then gets a message saying the new members must be tested before they can become official fans. Ren then asks questions and tells Miko to rate them on a scale of 1-10 [1 being the worst and 10 being the best]. Poor Ren is not happy at all with the scores Miko gives him. He got a low ikemen [good-looking] rating and his tolerance rating was only 2 points. This worries Ren as he believes that Miko’s feelings will be easily changed [since Yuki explained about the fickleness of fans]. Ren’s last question was how much Miko likes him. Miko thinks for awhile as Ren waits on pins and needles, afraid of the answer. When it comes, he is ecstatic. Miko says that for liking Ren, it’s 100 points! The overjoyed Ren grabs the buta-usagi doll he made and hugs it while acting  the silliest I’ve ever seen him act. Cute, yes. Over-the-top, yes. Necessary? Not really. It kind of doesn’t really suit him. Miko is happy as well since she “passed” and is an official fan.

Now enter Jang Geun Suk. Sigh. So happy he was cameoing and so disappointed at the actual cameo. One, I really don’t think Miko acted to character at all. She was so obviously in awe of him it was pathetic. It’s no wonder that Geun Suk discovered her secret as she really didn’t hide how enamored she was and did act rather girly. These scenes were mainly just to showcase the emotions of the boys as they all watched on irritated and jealous of how touchy-feely Geun Suk was with Miko and just how much Miko seemed to like him. Ren, in particular, was annoyed as it showed just how fickle Miko’s emotions could be. After the shoot with Geun Suk is over, he hugs Miko and tells her that he doesn’t know why she’s pretending to be a boy, but he is sure it is hard and he will help keep the secret.

Ren goes off all angry and Geun Suk goes to find him. Geun Suk smiles a knowing smile and places his hand on Ren’s shoulder, but we don’t get to hear what he says at this point. We’ll hear it later, but you know it is in regards to Miko. We then have a fan scenes [not really as good at the Korean ones] before heading back to the band’s house. Ren starts working on the arrangement while Miko gets a call from her aunt, who was shocked to see that Shu was dating Miko [in the newspapers the fans were reading].

NANA meets with a reporter who asks for stories on her latest date with Ren, but NANA has nothing. This irritates her after the interview and she complains about it to Toru who then says that if it was him, he love to go over to Yuki’s home and make a love-filled homemade meal. NANA thanks him for the good idea and decides to visit A.N.JELL’s house. This, obviously, doesn’t bode well.

Miko meets with her aunt and fesses up. Shigeko is surprised, but that’s not the main point now. Shigeko tells Miko about meeting with Misuzawa. She describes her as a friend of the twins’ father. Shigeko explains how Misuzawa wants to meet with the twins. Miko, in hopes of getting information about her mother, heads off to Misuzawa’s hotel, not knowing she will be meeting with Ren’s mother.

Meanwhile, Ren is trying to work on the song, but keeps recalling the past. He looks up information on the composer and sees a picture of Sakuraba. Ren is infuriated that man was the reason his mom abandoned him as a small child. Will he be able to get over his anger and arrange the song? Meanwhile, Miko is taken to see Misuzawa who recognizes her as A.N.JELL’s Mio. Miko, too, is floored to see Ren’s mother. Misuzawa explains that she was a good friend of their father so Miko asks about her mother. Misuzawa says she knows nothing about her and then asks after Miko. Miko says that Mio is somewhere far away and thus can’t see Misuzawa, which disappoints her as she wanted to meet with both of the twins. Misuzawa explains about the song Ren’s arranging and then says she wants to do whatever she can to help the twins while Miko keeps it a secret from Ren for the time being, which doesn’t make Miko happy.

NANA arrives at the house with food. The boys are not thrilled to see her at all which annoys NANA. Ren says that he is sorry, but he and the others cannot lie about their feelings like she can. NANA says that they are going to cook together so she can post it on her blog. When the boys don’t move to do as she says, she once again threatens to reveal Miko’s secret. This gets the boys reluctantly moving to make spaghetti. After the food is made, NANA sits down to eat it. Yuki confesses to putting red bean paste in the sauce to Shu who confesses that he put something in as well. The two smile and look at Ren asking if he put something in as well and Ren just gives an evil grin.

Just as NANA is about to bite into the food, Miko returns home. Miko is surprised to see NANA who then says that her stomach hurts and she can’t eat the lunch, would Miko like it? Miko, who is hungry, agrees and sits down to eat, making the boys very unhappy. They watch on until Yuki can’t take it anymore. He rushes and grabs the food away from Miko saying that he will eat it instead. He then takes a big bite and chokes, eyes bugging out of his head. Yuki then looks over at Ren and calls his name. Ren, abashed, then shows Shu the empty tube of wasabi that he had put in it. Poor Yuki! NANA had figured they’d do something like that. Miko then says she will whip up something delicious, making the boys happy and annoying NANA.

NANA watches how different the boys are with Miko and is jealous. Thus, NANA decides to wreak some havoc and bring up the article about Shu and Miko dating. She mentions just how real the dates Shu described was. Miko then says that Shu has a girl he likes. Poor Shu, put into a corner [*cough*of his own making*cough*], leaves to bring some tea in. NANA follows and notices the shoes that he bought for Miko. She then says that if Shu doesn’t act, Ren and Miko will become close and then it will be too late. Shu doesn’t respond to this and just closes his car door and takes in the tea while NANA dawns and evil smile.

NANA then calls Miko out. When the boys sit down to eat Miko’s food, which the like, NANA drags Miko in and Miko is wearing the shoes. When Miko finds out they came from Shu, she immediately apologizes, thinking she has tried on shoes that belong to the girl Shu likes. Shu runs out and Miko rushes after him apologizing while Ren kicks NANA out of the house. NANA is unhappy because she wants to be care for like Miko is. Too bad she makes it too hard to like her. Shu then asks Miko to go somewhere with him and Miko does since she feels bad over what happened. Ren goes back inside the house and reads the article, getting angrier by the minute.

Shu and Miko have another heart-to-heart, where she encourages him to get up the courage and to confess to the girl he likes. Shu complained about what he was doing and Miko says that she thought he was cool. She talks about how painful love is, but how you should cherish the feelings. Shu agrees that he needs to man up and get the confidence to confess. I still can’t believe that Miko and Yuki don’t get just how much Shu likes Miko. Even Ren knows, but Shu has always made his feelings obvious by showing Ren just how much he doesn’t like to see Miko and Ren together. Shu also asks Miko to accompany him to his parents as they are worried because of the article. Miko, of course, agrees.

The annoyed Ren isn’t happy that Miko and Shu aren’t back yet. He tries calling only to find out that Miko left her cell phone in her room. He then notices the red envelope on her desk. You know, for a girl who is supposed to be keeping this a secret from Ren, she is doing a horrible job by leaving the proof of her identity out for the world to see. Before Ren can see her father’s face, Miko and Shu return and he hastily shoves the picture back and leaves Miko’s room. Meanwhile, Yuki tries to make a play for Miko only to find she has already left the room. He throws himself on the couch and says that it is hopeless.

Miko goes to Ren’s room to tell him she will be going to Shu’s house. This shocks and annoys Ren more. He calls her a busybody and tells her to mind her own business and let Shu and Mabuchi handle it. Miko says that she can’t since it is her fault that his parents are misunderstanding and worrying. Ren then complains about the article and what Shu and Miko said during the interview. Miko tries to explain things, but Ren is just too angry to listen to the truth. Oy, these two always bicker and always overcomplicate things. Miko sadly heads back to her room and we start getting montages and flashbacks.

The next day dawns and Mabuchi abandons Shu and Miko at the airport. This surprises the two, but they go to continue on their own. Ren is shocked to see Mabuchi at the office and asks him what happened. Mabuchi says he is setting the two up to become closer. This is definitely not what Ren wanted to hear at all. Mabuchi’s attitude is funny considering how against Shu and Miko developing feelings for each other earlier – now he’s egging them on. We get some flashbacks from Ren’s perspective and we finally get to see what Jang Geun Suk told him. Geun Suk says that if Ren is not careful, the angel will fly away. This recollection sends Ren running.

Misuzawa has seen the news article about Shu and Miko and asks Shigeko about it. Isn’t Miko supposed to be far away? If she’s dating Shu, that means she’s in Tokyo, right? Shigeko, covering for Miko, says that she doesn’t know anything either because last she heard, Miko was far away. At the airport, Shu notices Miko’s dour mood. Miko says that she is fine, but you know that Shu doesn’t believe her. Shu then uses this opportunity to ask Miko out. This shocks Miko – what about the girl Shu san likes. Shu doesn’t say anything beyond that he will cherish her more so than Ren does. He then confesses that Miko is who he really likes. This really throws Miko for a loop. He asks Miko to try to start with him before she falls deeper for Ren. It’s okay if she doesn’t return his love at first, that can appear with time. He then tells her to think it over, and if her answer is yes, board the plane with him. He then leaves her to make her decision.

Miko really doesn’t know what to do. Shu has always been by her side, helping her. We get to see all this in flashbacks. But, truthfully, its not Miko understanding all Shu has done and realizing she has feelings for him. No, in this way, it is almost more like an obligation. Before her decision can be seen, she is paged to look out the nearest window. When Miko does, she sees a star being drawn in the sky. It’s Ren’s doing! We then see a girl running towards Shu? Did Miko choose him?

Ren watches the star blow away and wonders if Miko left. But no, Miko didn’t leave. She rushed out to find him, abandoning poor Shu. The girl running towards Shu was someone else. The final boarding call is given and it means that Miko didn’t choose him. Ouch. But that’s what he gets for waiting to damn long. Meanwhile, Miko thanks Ren for the star. Ren said it blew away and Miko says that it still touched her heart. Ren then comes up and embraces Miko. He tells her to listen carefully as he will only say this once – “I like you.”

We then end with some pretty interesting previews for episode 9. The sh*t is about to hit the fan!