One of the dramas this season adapted from a book, “Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyoya e Yokoso” tries to capture viewers with fortune telling and stale cases with added a gorgeous onmyouji and his shikigami.
Here is a quick recap of “Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyoya e Yokoso” episode 1,
Quick Recap
“Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyoya e Yokoso” or simply Onmyouya starts with Abeno Shomei (Nishikido Ryo) enjoying a dip at the bath before he heads-out garb in eye-catching outfit. The quaint shopping district was suddenly distracted that even the temple’s priestess- Ayukawa Tamaki (Kashiwagi Yuki)- thought that Shomei was just cosplaying.
Next we see sensei Tadano Michiko (Kurashina Kana) speaking to Sawazaki Midori (Minamino Yoko) regarding her son’s behavior who is sleeping at the moment. Shunta (Chinen Yuri) couldn’t care less if he’s being reprimanded since sleeping is something he finds uncontrollable.
Midori begins to think that the recent bad turn of events that have plagued their family must be a work of ghost possession so she was glad to see a newly-opened “Yin-and-Yang Shop” in the neighborhood. Despite Shunta’s reluctance, he was forced to follow his mother to the shop where they were greeted by Abeno Shomei (Nishikido Ryo), a name resembling Abeno Seimei, a famous onmyouji during the Heian period.
Midori immediately fell for Shomei’s suave moves and opens up to him about her family problems. In the end, Shomei concluded that a ghost is possessing Midori’s mother-in-law, who also happens to be the culprit for the string of bad lucks, that fell in their family. He performed exorcism and asks for a exorbitant fee after. It didn’t sit well on Shunta who thinks that everything is a ruse, he got mad at Shomei, gives him a push, and surprises Shomei as Shunta’s eyes turn feline-like. Shomei instantly got an idea of hiring Junta as his “spirit animal” as a way of repaying a 100,000 Yen worth of Jade-like vase that Shunta broke.
That night, the shopping district’s izakaya is ripe with Shomei-related rumors, it didn’t bode well on them that despite Shomei’s good looks, he runs a pretty shady business. They tell all of this to Michiko, who lives in the izakaya with her grandad, Naito Kenjiro (Sugi Ryotaro), who rented the place to Shomei. Shomei arrives and everyone chose to clip their tongue until the priestess recognized Shomei as the no. 1 host that she met during her yankee days. Shomei didn’t deny that he used to be a host and it just added to Michiko’s ire on Shomei especially when Shomei retaliated on why she hasn’t had a decent relationship.
The next day, Shunta reluctantly done an onmyouji garb and distributes animal cut-outs to not so interested passers-by until a little girl named Yumika comes along. Yumika assumed that her father have been possessed by a fox because of his recent behavior changes that caused her parents to fight a lot especially during night time. Shomei initially thought that its a case domestic violence and told the kid to take her case to the police. Shunta thinks that Shomei is being cold because the girl can’t pay him a fee so he took it upon himself to help the girl by seeing her parents.
That same day, Kenjiro, who is also the head of shopping district, decided to pay Shomei a visit and asked him what’s with his sudden interest with Shunta. Shomei said it was just a sudden impulse and he started telling what a helpful kid Shunta is.
Feeling a bit of conscience for leaving Shunta alone, Shomei follows Shunta and sees a distraught Michiko beside Shunta. Michiko thought that something bad has happened to Shunta but it turns out that he just dozzed-off for while waiting for Yumika’s dad to arrive; he woke-up when Shomei used Shunta’s keen sense of smell to wake him up.
Upon waking-up, Shunta immediately heard the crashing sounds inside the house because of his keen sense of hearing. The trio went to the house where it was opened by Yumika herself. As they entered the room, they were surprised to see the girl’s mother- Kanako- attempting to hit her husband with a chair and the couple stopped upon seeing their surprised visitors.
The couple tried to deny and hide their real situation but they eventually caved-in and told Shomei, Shunta, Michiko, and their daughter the real reason for their fighting. In the end, they managed to vent-out their frustrations to Shomei while at the same time, Shomei managed to convinced them that a ghost is at fault for their demise. Thus, the two let Shomei performed an exorcism.
Everything ended well as the trio was backed at the izakaya to have a late night meal after their trip. Shomei explained that he knows what was really going-on because of the details he has gathered and even admitted that he, himself, does not believe in ghosts. It’s just that in today’s day and age, some adults prefer to believe that a ghost is being responsible for their problems than admit that they are at fault. Shomei earned some good points from Naito that he even made him a barbequed tofu, the shop’s specialty.
The next day, the shopping district association has gathered enough signatures to forced Shomei out of their district because of his shady business. That is until a bunch of kids arrived, including Yumika, and showed the association their own collection of signatures so that Shomei can stay in the neighborhood, which made Naito decided to observe Shomei’s onmyouya for a while and not forced him out. The kids rejoiced and Michiko saw some familiar-looking cut-outs sticked on their bags. Michiko could only grimace as those cut-outs definitely came from the onmyouya and the kids were being used by Shomei to save his ass off.
Back at onmyouya, Shunta asked Shomei why he hired him, Shomei told him that it’s because he is a fox. Shunta just stared with disbelief. Unbeknown to Shomei, a dark figure has arrived…
Review
I had to put this off for a while because of some issues with the raw that I got. In the end, I had to re-watch everything again. Anyway, “Yorozu Uranaidokoro Onmyoya e Yokoso” is this season’s drama that tries to mix Japanese folklore with modern civilization. Being an Onmyouji practicing as an onmyouya is something that was taken seriously during the old times but has become a topic of joke with fake onmyouji’s using divination to profit.
About Ryo’s acting and character, his recent roles has been typical in idol dramas that didn’t showcase his dramatic prowess. His role as Abeno Shomei has been cute but not enough to live a lasting impression. However, his famous “creeper” smile is perfect with his character’s shady persona that it must be easy for Ryo to play this character.
Chinen’s role has been eclipsed with his cuteness so its easy to just go awe with his character despite his puberty zits, oh wait, he’s not in puberty anymore. Chinen as Shunta is just right for him since he’ll probably be playing high school roles for a long time so he should have mastered it. I’m more excited to see his transition to a fox since I’m assuming that he has no knowledge of his other half despite his sensory differences. His association with Ryo is like that of rabid dog and its owner since the two aren’t really seeing eye-to-eye.
Regarding Ryo’s chemistry with Kurashina is, well, lukewarm. I mean, I like the “hate-love” thing but their fighting isn’t really fun or exciting. Shomei comes-off as a “know it all” when it comes to women and Michiko is the typical smart in academics but stupid in love. Nevertheless, the first episode is just an introduction, I’m hoping that there’ll be more to come with these two.
Furthermore, what I like most about this drama is the shopping district people. I know its weird but its like the neighborhood association in “Stand Up!” where parents meddle with the children’s lives in comparison to the shopping district’s rejection with Shomei’s shady shop. Now I’m quite sure that the plot will revolve around the district’s shop-owners, their employees or customers, and the nearby neighborhood. I just hope that the upcoming episodes would have more interesting cases to offer to make full use of Shomei’s clever deduction and keen observation coupled with Shunta’s keen sense of smell and hearing.
All in all, Yorozu will give you a light fare of romance and comedy; something to watch when there’s nothing else to see, or if you wish to flail on Chinen’s cuteness.
CREDITS
Raw : tomapiya
Subs : zuixihuan
Pls. respect the owners’ hardwork by not uploading to any streaming sites nor distributing any of their subbed work.
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