Ep 3: Hills no Seikou to wa (What success on the Hills means)
O.A. 28 Apr 05
Ratings: 14.2%
Another interesting episode from this series... I think Takayanagi is starting to feel the heat of letting Shimao work under him because he can achieve the final aim without using Takayanagi's style of doing things i.e. money talks and Shimao is gradually winning over people with his sincerity. I have a feeling that Takayanagi may thwart Shimao's path to success given that he was the very same person who provided the chance to Shimao to prove his worth as a software engineer.
The welcome party for Shimao is held at Takayanagi's apartment and it looks awfully big as compared to when I saw it in Ep 2. Anyway, the grandness of the apartment is a bit too overdone where you have the bathroom so huge that it seems there are more than one cubicles and the ladies can have so much space to redo their makeup together in front of that mirror. Normally, I don't think anyone would go to that extent of having such a big bathroom but it seems like Takayanagi usually entertains his guests at home so there could be a need for that.
And with the growing expectations on Shimao, there would always be those who don't like competition and make things difficult for him. Shimao is given a task to get a Japanese dessert shop to join as Frontier's web shopping merchant but that owner refuses to do it. Although Takayangi knows that his subordinate is deliberately giving Shimao a problem, he turns a blind eye to it and views it as an interesting game to see how far Shimao can go if he doesn't follow Takayanagi's philosophy towards business and money. According to how I see it, even though Shimao is aware of Takayanagi's practical stand towards money and he himself is in need of money to settle debts from the bankrupt family business, there is no way he can say goodbye to his principles so easily just for money. And Takayanagi is eagerly anticipating the day when Shimao's moral values would disintegrate in order to prove that his way of thinking is more superior. That should be the main reason as to why he hired Shimao.
Since Shimao is having problems with the deal, Takayangi tells him to offer more money to the owner, Kiyokawa but this becomes an insult to him. As such, Shimao gets inspiration from his friend, Ryuta on what could possibly cause Kiyokawa to be so resistant to the idea of joining the online merchant scheme. He realizes that the issue is not with making more money but rather Kiyokawa would not want to compromise on the quality of his products just to make money after going through the entire process of the dessert making. In the end, Shimao's willingness to understand the situation and his intention to give up the deal by not forcing Kiyokawa causes a change in the owner who decides to join the scheme. No doubt Takayanagi is glad to solve the matter but the way he was practially staring at Shimao for not following his teachings and using a method entirely different from his values would definitely be a sore point for Takayanagi.
On the other hand, Takayanagi is preparing to buy over Ogura Hotel but the owner refuses to sell it to him, giving the reason that he dislikes Takayanagi. As such, he is angry over this and resorts to force by purchasing enough shares of the hotel to wrest control from the owner. That just goes to show the difference between how Takayanagi and Shimao handle obstacles. One goes all out to achieve the aim regardless of the repercussions while the other strives to achieve a win-win situation not at the expense of anyone.
Meanwhile, Shimao is still avoiding Kaori because he's upset with her close relationship with Takayanagi. I can sense that Kaori seems to be warming up to Shimao and gradually shifting her affections towards him since they have resolved their differences. And in the next ep trailer, seems like Shimao came to her rescue so will this mark the beginning of their romance? I think I mentioned in my last review that Kaori (or rather Matsushita Nao) keeps wearing white clothes all the time. Can she do something about that wardrobe? OK, she might not have a say in that but the lack of colours is getting to me. And it's so weird to see her standing with Kusanagi since she's obviously quite tall and she's not wearing heels in some of the scenes. Somehow, it feels as if she's towering over Kusanagi.
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