Hideaki Takizawa
i had just finish watching another Japanese drama, Antique Cake Store. i found it accidentally while actually i was browsing in crunchyroll for cantonese drama called Gateaux Affairs talking about cake shop too. because i type in 'cake' so i found this drama.
i was attracted because it was lead by Hideaki Takisawa, then i saw Abe Hiroshi (saw him in Dragon Zakura as lead actor) name in the list too. so i try the 1st eps.
the intro had really captured my attention. it started with asking, "why is that cake bring happiness to people?" Why people when they celebrating something they will buy cake? why even only with seeing cake people can smile?
the story is about 4 guys and a cake shop, named Antique cake store. the story starts with introducing the 1st guy, hideaki takizawa as kanda Eizi who is a excellent young boxer. he had just win a competition and rewarded by his trainer (and also his Godfather because he is an orphan) 3 pieces of cakes. later he found out the reason there were 3 cakes instead of 1 -the usual amount of the reward- is because the trainer had to inform him to quit boxing.
feeling sad, he went out for jogging at night and found a cake shop still open. curious he went in. the interior of the shops is very antique, full of antique stuffs. the boss introduce him few types of cakes, and without hesitating he devour all of the cakes left. the boss was so shock and so is eizi because all of it were super delicious. Eizi run to the kitchen and found the cake master, yuusuke, and beg him to teach him how to make all those delicious cakes.
at that moment the cake shops just started operating with only boss and yuusuke. yuusuke with super serious eye contact make the boss agree to take eizi in (while actually..the boss planned to hire cute cute girls to work as waiter ^^;) (but then yuusuke somehow having problem socializing with woman, actually afraid to get near to any woman)
2nd guy is the boss. keitaro. (eizi always calls him 'uncle' and he always insist, 'it's not uncle, it's boss!') he is a rich guy and surprisingly, hate cakes and sweet things. he is funny and good at promoting the products. his family are grandma, mother and auntie.
3rd guy is yuusuke, the cake master. He is a brilliant at making not only delicious but also beautiful cakes. yet himself admit that he doesn't love his job very much. previously he had been keep changing his working place, jumping from one to another cake shop. yuusuke weakness is very shy toward woman. he is labeled with 'not good at communicating with woman'. at times when the shop is very busy outside he still refuse to go out from kitchen to help because the customers mostly is woman ^^;
4th guy is kage. played by Abe Hiroshi ^^ Kage is a childhood friend of boss, whom he called 'waka' (aka. price) out of habit for calling him so since small. kage (aka. shadow) is also a nick name (i forget his name in the drama..because everyone keep calling him kage) he is a stiff looking guy who hardly smile and mysterious looking.
slowly the story introduce more characters, who are the customers of the shops. there's a girl who faint seeing the cakes, there's a boxer whose girlfriend pregnant and want him to find another job, there's a funny guy who fall in love with the girl (who faint seeing cakes), there's kage's daughter, eizi godfather, boss's beautiful grandmother (who become couple at the end ^^)
Not to forget, there's momoko ituka, the newspaper sports writer who come to shop to actually investigate why eizi left boxing world but eventually fall in love with yuusuke at the 1st sight.
the relationship between 4 of them grow and secret about each other unfold. at the last episode they try to clarify all secret, why eizi have to leave boxing, why boss who hate cake set up a cake shop, why yuusuke can end up hating woman and always changing shops, a bit about kage and waka past.
overall, i think it's a standard drama. the cakes all looks nice, hideaki is super cute all the way, boss is funny, yuusuke eye contact tell thousand words, kage is a funny dad who keep missing his daughter. this drama is quite old and i cant find any poster of it ^^;
