Asian Addicts Anonymous

We open with Riiko waking up to find a half naked Night leaning in for a morning kiss. She freaks out and jumps out of bed, telling him to put some clothes on. She then looks at the calendar. Night’s return date is closing in fast. Meanwhile, Night sets out a lavish breakfast. This shocks Riiko. Night says her ideal is a man who can cook, right? That’s right. Riiko sits down to eat, but is shocked at the sight of meat in the morning. Then a light bulb goes off and she rushes over to her fridge. Night has used up almost a month’s worth of food for that breakfast [doesn’t really seem possible, but whatever]. (Chani’s cultural note: Most traditional Japanese breakfasts consist of rice, miso soup,and pickled vegetables, though western-style breakfasts are fairly common nowadays too).

At Asamoto, Masashi [Vice-President & Soshi’s older brother] is with his father [the president] discussing expanding their food products to Touto Department stores. Asamoto-san wants to launch a new product for their debut into the stores and furthermore he wants to put Soshi in charge! Soshi who came in late like usual is shocked. Masashi protests as Soshi slacks off too much and Soshi protests as he can’t handle something like that – it’s too annoying. Asamoto-san says that Soshi needs to act like the head of development sometimes and leaves it in his younger son’s hands. Masashi leaves after giving Soshi a week to write up a proposal and Soshi wonders just what to do. Asamoto-san asks Soshi if there is nothing he likes? Soshi at first says no, but then remembers Riiko’s cream puff. (Chani’s cultural note: Department stores in Japan are cooool! 😀 They are usually multi-level stores, each level devoted to one thing or another (men’s, women’s, seasonal, etc). They usually also have toy sections and other fun things, and many of the floors have a place to eat, like a little cafe or something, which is, I’m guessing, where the Asamoto products will be featured).

Riiko is getting coffee for other workers when Soshi spots her. Soshi takes her and drags her back to his office with Mika watching wondering just what is going on. Soshi then asks Riiko to bring in some cream puffs. Riiko wonders what he means. Soshi then reveals he had some the other day and Riiko is horribly embarrassed when thinking that Soshi witnessed such a humiliating scene. Did he really see “that”? Soshi doesn’t reply and just tells her to make the cream puffs and bring them in as he will be using them for a project and then leaves.

Back at the apartment, Adachi is cleaning a light fixture on a step stool. She falls only to be saved by Night. Adachi is immediately enamored with our handsome robot. Why did Night leave the apartment? He made lunch for Riiko! Riiko is on her way to lunch with Mika when a pickpocket grabs her wallet from out of her hand. Night immediately jumps to the rescue and confronts the man, saving Riiko’s wallet. He immediately catches everyone’s attention and introduces himself as Riiko’s ideal boyfriend, surprising everyone. Riiko, however, keeps denying that he’s her boyfriend.

Night’s bracelet flashes blue once more showing that he upset Riiko yet again. Namikiri’s boss Shirasagi [Sasai Eisuke] is not happy. With only these results, how can they start mass-production. They need to find a new test subject right away. Namikiri thinks that Riiko is the best subject to use as she doesn’t love so easily. It really shows the prowess of the product and program if Night can win her heart. Shirasagi compromises by saying that since so much money is wrapped up in this prototype, he can no longer be used for free. Meanwhile, at work, Soshi overhears Riiko getting teased by her hot boyfriend [whom she keeps denying is her boyfriend]. Could he be jealous or just worried?

That night at Riiko’s apartment, Night exercises and Riiko wonders why [since he’s a robot]. Night again asks, isn’t it because it’s her type? A guy who looks sexy while exercising? He then makes a pose and asks if he is sexy. LMAO. LOVE Hayami-san in this role! Namikiri then shows up and Riiko is ready to be rid of Night, however, she gets a shock. She needs to pay a 100 million for Night. Say what? Since Night had an extensive injury during the trial period, it means Riiko is responsible for the repairs. No way does Riiko have that kind of money. Of course, this will be waived if she can pay off the fees within 7 days and thus she’ll be able to return Night. The repairs only add up to 1 million. So, what will Riiko do? Of course she will return him. Namikiri was hoping that Riiko would just take the hit and pay the 100 million [in installments obviously – he mentioned a 70 year loan] to take on Night permanently. (Chani’s cultural note: Most fans probably know this already, but the approximate yen to American dollars exchange rate is 100 yen to one dollar, so if you just move the decimal point over two places you get the approximate American dollars equivalent. In other words, buying Night would cost one million dollars, but paying for the repairs is only ten thousand).

The next morning, Night tries giving a morning kiss and he is denied yet again. Riiko takes a look at the calendar. How can she get 1 million yen in time [she’s around 400,000 short]? At work, Soshi asks Riiko about the cream puffs for their meeting, but Riiko says that she didn’t make them because she didn’t think Soshi was serious – it’s not in her temp description. Soshi says it has nothing to do with her job, but Riiko turns him down flat and tells him to stop playing with her before walking away. She can be so dense at times. Meanwhile, Adachi hears noise coming from Riiko’s apartment. Night’s existence is discovered. Back at Asamoto, Soshi is working on a drawing while the others test cakes for research in what they should do for the Touto project. Everyone is shocked when Soshi asks Riiko to taste the cake for him and give her opinion. Riiko takes a look around and immediately excuses herself.

Mika later asks if Soshi might not be interested in Riiko who immediately denies this. Their boss is just toying with her. Riiko then asks where she can get a lot of money fast. She’s willing to do anything. What is Mika’s suggestion? Given Riiko’s depression at Liberte and her asking Fujiko about a woman’s chastity, you know its either prostitution or becoming a hostess – neither good jobs. Riiko asks Fujiko about borrowing money, but Fujiko won’t lend if Riiko won’t tell her why she needs it. Does it have something to do with Riiko’s nameless boyfriend she met the other day? Riiko says that is somewhat right. This man is making Riiko work to give him money? No way! If they only knew…

Riiko goes home and finds Adachi outside her apartment [she was watching Night work out]. Night comes out and Riiko introduces him as her cousin. Can’t have the landlady think that Night is her boyfriend. Riiko then apologizes for not telling Adachi earlier and says that he has come from the countryside to find work. With this explanation, Adachi is appeased and will let Night stay there for the time being. When Adachi leaves, Riiko notices that Night has a spray bottle. Just what is that for. It’s “sweat.” LMAO. Since he’s a robot, he mists himself down to appear like he actually sweats.

So Riiko starts a job as a hostess, but can’t really bring herself to entertain the guests, especially when Soshi comes in! Meanwhile, Mika being the evil twit she is, goes to Riiko’s apartment to see her boyfriend for herself. Needless to say that she is stunned when Night just closes the door on her after she introduces herself. She tries again this time saying she is Riiko’s friend and Night opens up and lets her in after taking down her data. Back at the club, Riiko has been banished to the back to work in the kitchen for awhile. Soshi heads back there too when he notices the rusty fruit. He finds Riiko diligently scraping the rust off the knife before cutting more. Riiko is then requested and she drinks like no tomorrow when she can’t hold alcohol well. At the apartment, in an attempt to break up the couple (?), Mika tells Night about Riiko’s job.

Night goes to Liberte to find Riiko only to be told by Fujiko that Riiko isn’t there and seems to be in some type of trouble. This shocks Night. Riiko said she was fine. Fujiko tells him that girls rarely mean it when they say stuff like that. Apparently Riiko is in a bind and needs some cash fast. Fujiko then tells him to shape up and help. Meanwhile, Soshi is piggybacking the drunk Riiko home. He hears her moan out 400,000 yen and he wonders just what the problem is. At this time, Night shows up and sees Soshi with Riiko. He rushes up and quickly takes her away from the shocked Soshi. What did Soshi do to her? Soshi replies that he is Riiko’s boss and he was just bringing her home since she was drunk, Night accepts this and takes down Soshi’s data. Soshi then also lets Night know that if he is Riiko’s boyfriend, he should be helping her out with her money problem.

Night gets Riiko home and puts her to bed where he watches her and strokes her hair. The next morning when Riiko gets up, Night is gone! He did leave her breakfast, though. Ok. So for the next half of the episode we see Night and Riiko working their butts off doing odd jobs trying to make the money that Riiko needs. Poor Night. What would he think if he knew the money he earned was so Riiko can return him [which could lead to her data being erased from his memory and Night possibly being scrapped]. Mika keeps bugging Riiko about her boyfriend and Soshi keeps bugging Riiko about the creampuffs and Riiko keeps wondering why Night is always gone. In order to help Riiko, Soshi loans her the money, but Riiko refuses it. She then overhears Soshi tells Asamoto-san that he had a cream puff that almost tasted like how his grandfather made them. Hearing this, Riiko agrees to make cream puffs for him.

On her way home, Riiko catches sight of Night working loading a truck. She then sees him sit down as he ran out of energy and needed to recharge. Riiko quickly runs up and covers him and tells his boss that he’s in the restroom. Riiko then begins loading the truck for him until he has charged enough to wake and help out. Riiko is really touched to learn that Night worked so hard just to earn money for her so she doesn’t have troubles anymore. You can see the guilt set in more and more. While Night recharges in the bathroom as usual, Riiko stays up to make the dough for the cream puffs.

The day arrives to return Night and for Riiko to help Soshi with the cream puffs. She gives Night the envelope of money asking him to give it to Namikiri if he should come before Riiko returns. Night wants to go with her, but Riiko tells him firmly to stay at home. Soshi asks Riiko if she studied baking and Riiko replies that she learned by herself. Soshi watches her every move and listens to her description of how she makes the cream and dough. While they bake, Soshi tells her about his grandfather’s shop. When Riiko asks how his grandfather’s cream puffs tasted, Soshi replies like a smile. What does that taste like exactly?

Riiko goes into her purse after cleaning up and finds Night’s bracelet [it fell off when he powered down at the truck loading job]. She runs off to return it after giving Soshi detailed instructions on what to do if the cream puffs are done before she gets back. She takes off running. When she gets back to her apartment, Namikiri had already collected Night who had prepared a scrumptious meal for Riiko to eat upon her return. Riiko then goes chasing after Namikiri and says that she will buy Night. Looks like she just can’t let him go after he went through all of that for her.

What will happen in episode 3? Stay tuned to find out.

Chani’s comments:

Wow, this episode was hilarious and lots of fun! Again, very different from the manga too. One difference that I think I’ll mention now is that in the manga, the folks at Kronos Heaven get younger and younger the higher up in the command chain they are. For instance, Namikiri is in his twenties, Shirasagi is like 12, the board of directors are kindergarteners, and the president is a toddler who’s ‘ga-ga’s must be translated by his secretary – LOL. Well, obviously that works in a manga but doesn’t exactly fit into real life, so that was scrapped, or at least so far it seems to be given Shirasagi is older or appears older than Namikiri, or at least around the same age.

There isn’t much more to say than that this episode was excellent and I can’t wait to watch more. We get to see a more natural Riiko in this episode and less overly polite, probably because she’s not trying overly hard to win the heart of a man anymore. And we totally feel the guilt set in as Night keeps doing nice things for her , even helping her earn money blissfully unaware that it’s money to essentially get rid of him. Poor Night. And yet, in a way you wish she would just get rid of him and see how great Soshi is, especially after he shares the info about his grandfather with her and they have fun making cream puffs (delicious-looking ones at that)… but that’s jut my personal opinion. Anyway, she couldn’t get rid of him after all that, and really how could anyone? So now the stage is set for the drama, love triangles, and all that jazz.

Can’t wait to see how it gets played out!