Not only is Nami yo Kiite Kure an excellent series, but it makes an excellent bookend for Yesterday o Utatte.  It’s nice to have two smart and insightful series about relationships and grown-up problems that are so tonally distinct from each other.  But just to get it out of the way, we’ve had seemingly gratuitous gay-bashing two episodes in a row.  Last week it was mean-spirited humor at the gay (at least purportedly) character’s expense, this time a disturbingly random remark from Minare at directed at him.  What’s up with that?  I sincerely hope it isn’t going to be a weekly occurrence because it’s a distinctly unpleasant note in an otherwise very appealing whole.

Apart from that it’s all good as far as I’m concerned.  There are all kinds of weird and interesting things happening in this story.  And it’s populated with weird and interesting characters across the cast.  As I noted last week you get the sense that everyone here has their own story to tell – no one is only here to prop up the protagonist’s arc.  In point of fact it makes for an interesting contrast, because Minare is basically transparent (more than that, she broadcasts herself to anyone in earshot) while most of the cast are clearly harboring secrets.

We start off on the right foot with the hilarious joke about turtles and Japanese politicians pooping where they eat (the turtles play a sort of silent Greek chorus role, paradoxical as that sounds) and never really slow down.  At first the focus is on finding a sponsor for Minare’s 3:30 AM series.  The minimum buy-in is ¥1.7 million (about $15 K) per month with a six-month commitment.  At first I was wondering if it was normal in Japan for radio personalities to have to find their own sponsors, but Matou-san made it very clear Minare was overstepping her bonds here (and in fact, she should give it a rest and concentrate instead on ideas for the show).

The car accident involving Takarada-san and Minare’s replacement at Voyager (who I assume is an unhatched plot egg) changes all that, though, as it effectively forces Minare to go back to working at the restaurant.  This is fine with Nakahara, for whom it basically means living out his dream of an overworked husband & wife team running a restaurant (starring Minare and himself).  I think Nakahara is basically a good egg, and his affection for Minare genuine and deep.  But he’s just a little too pushy and persistent for comfort, and even as strong and fearless as she is I think on some level Minare herself is a little put off by this.

Nakahara may be in Heaven, but two sets of hands is not enough to run Voyager effectively.  Enter Tachibana Makie (Mamiko Noto, another great addition to a great voice cast), sister of the man who caused Takarada-san’s accident.  He’s in traction so she volunteers to work for free to help out.  Minare’s instincts are spot-on here (that’s already pretty obvious), but Nakahara eventually decides to give Tachibana-san a chance.  Something is off about her immediately – I don’t think Shimura-sensei is even trying to hide it – though as a worker she’s excellent.  But her morose demeanor aside, the first real clue something is seriously off is when she tells Nakahara-san (driving her home after work) that she doesn’t want to go home.

I don’t know the full deal with Tachibana, but at the moment she effectively seems to be trying to drive Minare-san out of the picture.  She’s wormed her way into working alongside Nakahara as assistant chef (she even gets her fried tapioca balls on the menu), she’s updating the blog (with a passive-aggressive snark about Minare being late), and after sleeping at the restaurant she’s gotten herself invited to go home with Nakahara.  Minare (as she admits) is in no position to judge, as she’s effectively rejected Nakahara at every turn, but the alarm klaxons are wailing furiously at this development.

For the moment, though, reality again intervenes – after one whipsaw focus shift from radio to soup curry, Matou’s phone call jerks us back on that topic.  Minare’s first show (title drop!) is to be that morning – 3:32 A.M., 20 minutes, a fiction about a woman who murdered the man who betrayed her.  This scenario is loaded with interesting implications.  Matou is aware (from their very first meeting) of Minare’s personal history on this score and is clearly tapping into that for impact, and his plan is to use Minare to experiment as a producer in ways he’s clearly wanted to for years.  It’s a dangerous game, but then Matou is seemingly a dangerous (and fascinating) person, in a cast full of them.