Way back during the 1984 Tokyo Olympics, the three girls mused about what they would be doing by the time of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and all of them figure they will probably be married with kids by then….BUT, fast forward to 2017, and when the girls see a plaque commemorating the 1984 Games, the three realize than ALL of them are still SINGLE with no one significant in their lives. and realize they’ve got go out and find suitable boyfriends so that when the Olympics come round again they can fulfill their prophecy of happiness, but finding the right guy is harder than it looks!
There is a guy that Rinko has in mind, Tetsuro Hayasaka (Ryohei Suzuki) the producer of the TV company she works for as a screenwriter. Years ago he confessed his love for her, but back then he was so boring, she passed. Now looking at him as a successful guy with a huge career in front of him, she finds herself interested in pursuing him.
Additionally, her cute young friend Mami Shibata (Ren Ishikawa) tells Rinko that she's noticed Hayakawa staring in her direction for some time now and he must be interested in her. "I think Hayakawa likes you!" she notes.
Whenever any of the girls feels the need to discuss things, they can always find refuge at the bar that Koyuki’s father owns, where they can laugh and gossip with ggod news or complain and drown their sorrows for bad news. She calls them up for their advice on how to deal with Hayakawa....
Unfortunately, it all comes crashing to a halt when Hayakawa confesses to Rinko that he's in love with her friend MAMI, NOT her!!! Arghhh! She immedaitely calls upon her girls to meet at the bar for some serious venting.
Unfortunately, it all comes crashing to a halt when Hayakawa confesses to Rinko that he's in love with her friend MAMI, NOT her!!! Arghhh! She immedaitely calls upon her girls to meet at the bar for some serious venting.
Sympathetic, Koyuki and Kaori tell her she should get serious and become more stylish and then love will surely come, They tell her to wait til Hayasaka is rejected back and then swoop him up! They create a never ending stream of ”What if” situations, til Rinko is amped up and ready to attack again!
Unfortunately, their loud and drunken pronouncements get on the nerves of a young man sitting just behind them, and when Rinko bumps him in her drunken stupor, he lays into them, calling them pathetic “What If” girls who only whine about what could have been and never actually go out and do them.
His name is Key (Kentaro Sakiguchi) and this is a guy that Yuriko has bumped into before, and even then, though they think he is very good looking indeed, are turned off my his icy demeanor.
Adamant to at least interact with guys after the scathing admonishment , the three girls try a French restaurant, where patrons are paired up with members of the opposite sex just to mingle, but even there they find that they are considered “too old” for the majority of the dating public and no guys want to sit with them!!!
On their way back to the bar to wash away the sting of the night’s rejections, the three stumble in just as Key is leaving. They blame him for their predicament: if he hadn’t put them down the other day, they wouldn’t have gone to the restaurant and made fools of themselves. But Key takes no part of the blame and when Yuriko drunkenly stumbles and falls, he curtly says that “a grown woman can pick herself up”.
Well, that really sets them on fire, and from there they make it their mission to show him up and really aggressively try to find the ideal romance. Nobody’s gonna tell THEM that they’re a bunch of “What If” Girls! And even Key has to smile and be impressed when he sees how determined these girls are to put a stiff upper lip and fight!
Ahhh, sounds quite spirited and the show is very colorful to look at but, hmmm, gotta say, Tokyo Tarareba Msume seems like a pretty basic drama so far, with a plot that anyone can surely see coming, i.e.Rinko is bound to fall in love with Key even as Hayasaka decides he wants her back, at least that’s what usually happens in these situations.
Might be better if I even liked any of Rinko’s prospects, but I can’t say I particularly like either of them. Luckily Yuriko acts in such a slapstick and cartoonish way that the show is at least fun and entertaining to watch.Well, it is based on a manga, after all, and the parts where the show goes to animated effects like hearts appearing around Rinko or arrows being shot in her back it’s almost like a cartoon strip come to life! And there’s this running gag throughout the show that whenever Rinko’s conscience speaks to her, they appear in front of her in the form of animated liver and roe pieces, beerating her and telling her if she doesn’t get off her duff she’ll be alone for the 2020 Olympics for Sure! HAHA
So yeah, I’ll definitely be checking in on Tokyo Tarareba Musume, but more for the zany elements and not particularly for the romance storyline. But we’ll see how this one shapes up-
