Ep 7: Hills no Chouten e (Moving towards the top of the hills)
O.A. 26 May 05
Ratings: 16.3%
Shimao and Mariko are upset over having to move out of their house in a week's time. On her way to work, Mariko meets Ryuta and scolds him for going to look for her boyfriend, Tanisaki who is a married man.
Shimao attends a party with Takayanagi and the others in the company and many big shots surround him after hearing about his achievements in Frontier so far. Takayanagi looks on with disinterest at the situation. Suddenly, a guy named Sakuraba from the investment company, Lloyd Brothers comes to Shimao and asks if he is interested to open a company of his own. Shimao thinks that he does not have the capability to do so and rejects the offer. In actual fact, Shimao is very unhappy with Takayanagi over the Toujou Boueki's case and is contemplating leaving Frontier.
At the same time, Kirino alerts Takayanagi of the fact that Shimao may leave Frontier given his recent clash with Takayanagi and that he's become a popular figure in the industry. Takayanagi pretends not to be bothered about it but is hatching a plan to ensure that Shimao stays on.
True to Kirino's concern, Sakuraba comes to Shimao again and asks him to set up his company with Lloyd Brothers' help. He even daggles the option of clearing Shimao's debts for him so that he can keep his house.
Takayanagi offers to make Shimao a management executive in Frontier and offers to clear his debts for him. He also reminds him of the fact that should Shimao quit, he will still be entitled to severance pay besides taking ownership in the company.
Shimao discusses this with Ryuta and he is troubled over whether to accept the offer from Takayanagi since he cannot stand working for him. Ryuta scolds Shimao for being too inflexible and sticking to his principles blindly. He also lets out the fact that Mariko is working as a hostess after work so as to lessen their family financial burden. Hearing this, Shimao tells Mariko that he will accept Takayanagi's offer and become an executive on Frontier's management board. Takayanagi then assigns Kaori and Miyazawa to work under Shimao.
With this appointment, Shimao begins an entirely different lifestyle from before where he gets chauffered to work in a limousine and dines in fine restaurants. Actually, this is part of Takayanagi's plan to change Shimao's values as he believes that once Shimao is used to the good life, his principles will change. In a way, he seems to be bent on proving that no one can withstand the temptations of fame, power and money including Shimao.
Shimao's first assignment as an executive is to handle the project by Miyazawa with CG production company, Giga Works to create a new company. In order to get the project going, Miyazawa has committed more than 100 million yen but has not signed the contract yet. Shimao decides to go to Giga Works personally to seal the deal and sees that the boss signed the contract with another competitor.
Shimao is furious about this and is thinking of how to solve the problem. Kaori and Mariko try to show concern for him but he flares up at them. Shimao decides to use money to get the employees of Giga Works to leave the company and create a new company with them which makes Giga Works bankrupt overnight.
Shimao is standing beside the stage during the press conference of Giga Frontier (the new company he created) and confides in Kaori that he was undecided over whether to make Giga Works bankrupt in the first place. However, his desire to win overcame everything and he felt a thrill for the first time in defeating others. Kaori is increasingly worried about Shimao who seems to be changing and resembling Takayanagi...
This is really an episode with an unexpected twist... If you have seen the trailer, you would have seen that Shimao has become the bad guy overnight and Takayanagi No.2. No doubt Takayanagi is obnoxious when he speaks about money, fame and power all the time, the look on Shimao's face is even more detestable. I never knew that Kusanagi can look so horribly evil in a bad guy's role and the people around him are probably going to be further away from him when he takes over Frontier. In Takayanagi's haste to change Shimao, he has brought about the birth of a monster who is even more ruthless and hungry for success than him. And we can see in the next episode that his decision will be the cause of his downfall...Suddenly, I feel sorry for Takayanagi and it seems like there will be a twist of roles between them. I wonder if success in this case means having to turn away your loved ones and being so ruthless... What a high price to pay!
This episode suddenly changed the flow of the drama and made it more compelling to watch. This has got to be one of my favourites this season...
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