Asian Addicts Anonymous

Riiko has decided that after all Night has done for her in the last episode, she just can’t bear to part with him, thus she agrees to buy him for ¥100,000,000. Even though she has made this decision, it still takes great effort for her to actually put down her stamp on the official documents. She finally manages to do it and Namikiri congratulates her on her purchase and her 70 year loan. Now, I am really dying to know if any type of company would actually ever allow such a long loan as there is no guarantee with a loan that long that you will ever get your money returned. The interest rate is really great, too. Only 1%. I wish my school loans were only at that interest rate. (Chani’s cultural note: As can be seen with Riiko’s stamp, in Japan , rather than signing your signature in Romanji, you have a little stamp called a “hanko” that has the kanji for your name on it, and stamping that onto legal documents and the like is the equivalent of a western signature. Though the Japanese do sometimes use Romanji signatures as well, for autographs and such).

After Namikiri leaves, the Yoshioka [the landlady I mistakenly called Adachi in the previous 2 recaps] comes in with clothes she bought for Night [she lies and says they were bought at an expensive store] and Riiko asks for an extension on her rent payment. Back at Kronos Heaven, Namikiri boasts of his perfect creation and his boss has to iterate that there is nothing that is truly perfect in this world [totally true, ne?]. Meanwhile, Riiko calculates her income and expenses and realizes that even given the low interest and payments for Night, she cannot live on such a meager income. She then gives Night a book on jobs and tells him to go out and work. LOL. Nothing like having your robot boyfriend earn his keep.

Riiko remembers how she forgot to go back to work and help Soshi finish the cream puffs. Soshi tells her that it is okay and that he will be using the cream puffs in the Touto presentation. This shocks Riiko. Using her cream puffs? Meanwhile, her coworkers are getting excited for an overnight group vacation to a hot spring. Riiko wonders if she cannot cancel and get a refund since cash is tight, but that is not possible. Dei who has a crush on Riiko goes over to show her a spa treatment that is available, but Riiko just can’t afford it. She goes to check her makeup and is shocked to see Night in the broken reflection. Looks like Night took her request to find work to heart. He got a job at Asamoto as a janitor.

Night begins working and the office begins questioning Riiko. Since Night introduced himself as Izawa Night, does that mean he and Riiko are married? Riiko immediately protests having any romantic connections with Night who tries to tell their relationship, but is always interrupted by Riiko. She claims he is her cousin and his name isn’t Izawa, but Tenjo. The girls are all gaga over Night, especially Adachi Kyoko. Night recognizes Mika and you can see the wheels turning in the girl’s diabolical mind. You know she’s going to try something on Night sooner or later. (Chani’s cultural note: Incidentally, and I wasn’t sure about this but I double-checked just in case, so now I know: it is perfectly legal for first cousins to marry in Japan. So Riiko is more just explaining that he’s a relative than saying it is impossible for them to be together. However, it seems marrying cousins isn’t extremely common, though it is legal. Either way, don’t expect that declaration to deter at least some of the characters from seeing Riiko and Night as a potential pair. I have seen in various manga and anime relationships between cousins and I’ve always got to remind myself that it’s a different culture and it’s okay to them. My instinct is to be like “ew” but I have to be open and remember that they see things differently. I do think, though, that cousins marrying is probably uncommon because most families would grow up with their cousins and end up seeing them as a sort of brother or sister, and so not want to marry them. But that’s just a guess on my part.)

At the meeting about Touto, Soshi presents the cream puffs as the new item and he is met with only disgust. How can Asamoto Foods, known for its trendy, fancy desserts sell something horrible like that. Say what? None of the people at the meeting, including Masashi will even bother to try the cream puffs. Soshi is then basically called a failure who didn’t take the project seriously. Asamoto-san later asks how the cream puffs were and Masashi complains about how Soshi’s ideas were worthless. Can you say that based on looks alone [they don’t look unappealing to me anyways] when you haven’t even tasted them? Riiko scolds Night for choosing Asamoto and Night explains he did it so they can be together all the time. Soshi then comes up and Soshi relays the news that Riiko’s cream puffs were rejected.

In order to supplement her income, Riiko begs Fujiko for a job. Fujiko reluctantly agrees, but only for ¥900 [an hour?]. Night comes looking for work, too. Fujiko can’t afford to hire both of them, but Night can come in on delivery days to help out Kouta. Night helps Kouta bring in the new deliveries while Fujiko and Riiko chat. Fujiko asks if they are living together, Riiko denies it, but Fujiko knows she’s lying. Fujiko then says she believes that Night is a nice guy and that he and Riiko are really suited for each other. Riiko denies this. You know, she is the one who bought him, but yet she keeps trying to distance herself from him all of the time. If she’s going to act that way, then she should never have agreed to buy Night. Meanwhile, Soshi has not given up on the cream puffs, he has a new plan.

The next day, Mika gets dumped by the guy she was using to buy her expensive things. This makes her target Riiko and Night even more. Misery loves company, I guess. Mika confronts Night who is cleaning alone and tries flirting with him. Night is completely clueless to this. Riiko walks in and Mika immediately immediately goes off to see the section chief who is calling her. When Riiko asks what is going on Night holds up his hand and says he thinks Mika is interested in palm reading. His cluelessness is cute…Riiko’s blindness isn’t.

Soshi goes to one of Asamoto’s stores run by an old family friend, Miura-san. Soshi asks how business is and Miura-san tells him it has been doing really well, especially with Masashi’s newest line. Soshi then asks if Miura remembers his grandfather’s cream puffs. Miura does. Soshi then asks Miura to do a trial run of Riiko’s eerily similar cream puffs. Miura is reluctant to go against Masashi, but he does eventually cave to Soshi’s request. Back at the office, Night gives Mika flowers saying they remind him of her. This touches Mika and makes her think her flirtation and good looks are working, but that is not true at all. Night has given everyone in the office, even the male workers, flowers. Night then presents Riiko with a red rose for their undying, eternal love. This gets everyone in the office suspicious once more. There really is something between them after all, right?

Dei and Riiko are to stay late and work on the party for the trip. Riiko doesn’t want to, so she is more than happy when Soshi comes in to talk to her, leaving poor Dei to his own devices, cursing Soshi [for taking away his chance to spend quality time with Riiko]. Soshi immediately asks Riiko to make more cream puffs for him. While this goes on, Mika sees Night waiting for Riiko. She tells him that Riiko is working overtime, so can’t Night send her [Mika] home? Night takes her home and Mika tries to seduce him once more [again he is totally clueless]. He goes to leave and the angry Mika then mentions that Riiko is with Soshi and Mika thinks that Riiko just might like him. This shocks Night and definitely unsettles our robot. He immediately takes off running.

Riiko and Soshi spent all night making cream puffs and are greeted by an agitated Night who wonders if Riiko is cheating on him with Soshi. Riiko cannot believe this. Why is Night acting like this? Night tells Riiko that her ideal is someone who is a little jealous, right? However, Riiko does notice that Night’s jealousy level is definitely not in the “little” range. This angers Riiko, turning Night’s bracelet blue. Shirasagi is not happy with the emotional results that Night is getting. His bracelet has only briefly turned pink twice and is usually always reading blue or black. Namikiri tries to assure Shirasagi that everything is okay, but Shiragasi isn’t happy since Night is supposed to be the “ideal lover,” so if he isn’t getting good results, that’s bad. If this continues, Namikiri will not be allowed to do development on the project anymore. Soshi and Riiko get to the store and Miura tries the creampuff and happily lets Soshi put them out for sale. Riiko asks if it’s really okay and Miura looks back at Soshi and then smiles at Riiko telling her that her cream puffs are delicious.

Time to leave for the trip comes and Riiko is running late. She is so tired from helping Soshi all night, that she sleeps through every single activity. If it’s like this, her money has definitely been wasted. She is told to take out the bags and finds Night who has stowed away. Riiko wants to have fun with Mika, but Night keeps getting in the way, annoying Riiko. In the end, Riiko ends up going to the hot springs alone only to have Night show up unexpectedly [women’s and men’s areas are closed off from each other]. This makes Riiko even angrier at Night. She slips and falls and Night catches her and brings her in close [looks like they are about to kiss]. Mika comes at this moment and is immediately angry. That girl. *Shakes head*.

Back in Tokyo, Soshi learns that Miura has been called out by Masashi about the cream puffs. Word gets back to Riiko and she hurries off to help do damage control [after getting mad at Night for breaking her cell strap that matched Mika’s]. Soshi rushes to Masashi’s office to find Miura taking the blame for the cream puffs. Soshi says it was all his fault, so don’t fire Miura. Riiko bursts in apologizing saying that its her fault, she made them. Soshi again says it’s all his responsibility since he made her. He then begs Masashi to try one. Masashi finally does. You can tell he is shocked that the creampuff is similar to their grandfather’s but he refuses to cave and still won’t accept them as an Asamoto product. However, he chooses not to fire anyone, to their relief. Back at the hot springs, Night has picked up all the beads and is fixing the strap when Mika comes in. Night explains what happened and how Riiko got mad at him for annoying her important friend Mika.

Soshi and Riiko wait to get on a train back to the retreat. Soshi and Riiko go to eat the last two cream puffs and see a little boy stare at it. Soshi then gives his to the boy who happily takes it and declares that it is very delicious, making Soshi and Riiko happy. Riiko then splits hers with Soshi and decides that he is different than what she originally thought. He has a serious side as well, but of course, Soshi has fallen asleep by then. He hasn’t slept all night or day by this time. Yep, you can see Riiko is starting to like her boss a little.

Night has finally finished repairing the strap when Riiko arrives and rushes to her room. Mika then takes the opportunity to kiss Night who shuts down mid-kiss. Riiko comes in to see this scene and when Mika goes to explain that it “isn’t how it looks,” Night smiles and wraps his arms around Mika calling her his “girlfriend.” What happened? Stay tuned to episode 4 to find out.

Chani’s comments:

Well, what can I say about this episode? It…was…HILAROUS! I just loved it! In fact, I think it’s my favorite episode of the three that I’ve watched so far! I was cracking up the entire time, especially in the first half when Riiko is getting used to having Night around… or NOT getting used to it. Her reactions to Night’s antics are so funny. Night, on the other hand, started to get on my nerves by around the middle of the episode, as he was popping up everywhere and annoying Riiko to death, and wasn’t even listening to a word she said when she told him to leave her alone or go away or simply “don’t do that”, to whatever it was he was doing at the time. I mean, I understand that he’s programmed to be the perfect lover, but does that include not LISTENING to the girl who’s supposed to be his lover and trying to learn what she likes and dislikes? I can’t imagine that Riiko chose for him to be a blind, romantic airhead in her survey. That’s one thing that I liked better in the manga Night, because he seemed more intelligent in that respect and genuinely concerned about understanding what does or doesn’t bother Riiko. I guess that’s why manga Riiko liked Night better initially than this one does. I’m not saying I dislike this Night. He has some good qualities. Those particular ones just annoy me.

While we’re sort of on the subject of comparing and contrasting manga versions of the characters with their drama counterparts, let’s talk Soshi. In the manga, he is Riiko’s next-door neighbor and childhood friend (Again, recall that they are all high school students in the manga). His personality is also drastically different. He is a highly responsible, fairly serious individual, who often cooks for Riiko. The drama version is much more irresponsible, carefree, and just very, very different. Even so, I really like both Soshis, and prefer him over Night as a character. He’s got a lot of depth and a lot of really sweet, honest, and heartfelt feelings for Riiko. He also seems, in the drama, to respect her skills as a worker and as a chef, putting so much faith in her creampuffs (which I still maintain look especially tasty ). I really love the sweet scenes they have together, when he tells her about his grandfather’s creampuffs (I think that was last episode, I can’t recall), and when they spend time together talking and sharing a creampuff on the train in this episode.

Incidentally, in the manga, Soshi also has a brother named Masashi. However, manga Masashi is younger than Soshi, much friendlier, and not really an important character at all. He’s very much just background.

So… this series is coming along. I look forward to seeing the twist with Mika and Night in the next episode, and seeing how Riiko’s relationship develops with both Soshi and Night. And if the rest of the episodes are as joyfully comedic as this one was, I’m going to be very happy! ^_^