For the first time, Viki is releasing a Japanese drama while it is still airing in Japan! They are calling it In Time With You (JP), because it is a remake of a Taiwanese drama of that title. In other places you will find it as I Don’t Love You Yet. What kind of show rates this milestone?

This is a story of a man and a woman, Ren and Yo, who have known each other since their school days and are best friends but have never been a romantic couple. They make a bet that whichever one gets married first will win big bucks from the other.

The show begins with with some confusing scenes which we figure out is Yo dreaming worriedly about reaching her 29^th birthday. Later on at work, her department celebrates but she remains cranky. When her ex-boyfriend offers to help carry a big stack of boxes she tells him she needs no help, which tells us a little bit about her. However when he springs it on her that he is getting married soon, she is upset.

We get several flashbacks of Yo being a new transfer student in high school. Her name is written on the board: Mitarai Yo. (Note: Kanji can be read several ways. The characters used to write Mitarai can also be read as “oteari.” They both mean to wash hands, but Mitarai is a family name and oteari means bathroom.) A couple of students take glee in teasing her about her name. When one of them knocks over a vase and orders the others to clean up, Yo retaliates by using his gym clothes as a rag.

She is a manager at a shoe company. At a planning meeting, she shoots down the ideas of Manazuru, one of her subordinates, to make shoes like ballet slippers. It just so happens that this woman is the new fiancee of Yo’s old boyfriend. A little later when Yo bends down behind a counter to pick something up, she overhears her talking to another woman who calls Yo unfair and refers to her as “Oteari.” Having seen the flashback, we know this is an insult. I expected her to cower behind the counter until the other two went away, but she stands up and faces them and they slink off. That’s my girl!

At this, another woman walks over, congratulates her, and introduces herself as the “ex-ex-girlfriend.” She had dated this guy before Yo did. What a thing to bond over!

Yo vents her annoyance in a long drawn out phone message to her pal Ishida Ren, who is surprisingly sympathetic. He invites her out to dinner that night, but as he is leaving the office to go meet her he has his own little adventure. He passes a woman who is having difficulty with a jammed copy machine and is kindhearted enough to stop and help her. She introduces herself as Kono Maki, a new temp worker. She proves friendly enough that she wipes ink from his face.

We meet one more person of note in this episode. Yo calls her mother to say that she is coming home late. Her mom tells her Happy Birthday, though Yo thought she had forgotten. Her mom is much more down to earth and not nearly as elegant as Yo.

Ren and Yo celebrate her birthday by eating takoyaki together. These are rather like fritters with pieces of octopus, and he expertly cooks them and turns them over. He calms her down about the ex-boyfriend and tells her he was always proud of her for finding things to praise people for.

We see another flashback from high school where he was trying to calm her down after all the mean tricks being played on her. He blurts out that he admires her and she makes a face, thinking it’s just a line. So he claims he doesn’t think that way about her, and he never will; they can just be friends. (She throws that back in his face later!)

Then we return to the present and they make their bet about who will get married first and he gives her a huge stuffed octopus. She complains it is creepy and he replies that she likes octopus. “Only in takoyaki!” she objects, but she takes it home with her. The next day she apologizes to Manazuru and assigns her to design ballet-style shoes for teens.

I thought you’d like to see the official character chart; it gives us all the names. The little black box at top left says Diana Corporation, the company Yo works for. The people are (left to right) Narumi Satoshi (someone we haven’t met yet), Matarai Yo, and Mizusawa Ryusei (Yo’s former boyfriend). At the top right the black box says Serizawa Estate, where Ren works. And the names are Ishida Ren and Kono Maki (the copy machine person). The little black box at lower left says People of Matarai family. They are Haru (mother), Hayato (father) , and Gaku (older brother) Matarai. And the black box to the right says People of Ishida family, Shizuka (mother) and Makoto (older sister) Ishida.

This is a great start to the show! We have a spunky girl and a thoughtful guy on our hands. Follow along with us as it comes out, and let’s see where it goes!

Telzeytalks

Dramas With a Side of Kimchi