Aired: January 13th, 2012 - March 9th, 2012
Reason for Watching This Drama: Yokoyama Yuu. I am not kidding.
Reason for Continuing to Watch This Drama: Matsu-ni! And, this is the kind of drama I really enjoy.
When it comes to time travel stories, I've always preferred the type in which the protagonist would go back to their own childhood and affect change in their own life, rather than the ones that go back generations to change history. 13-sai no Hello Work is one of these, where Kogure Teppei (Matsuoka Masahiro) is a police officer who had wanted to be a detective, but ended up in the community safety section where he couldn't find any meaning in his work. On his 35th birthday, he had a particularly bad day at work, was told that there was no way he could improve his job situation when he went to Hello Work, and got dumped by his girlfriend. He got drunk and passed out at a karaoke place, but when he woke up, he found that he had gone back in time, 22 years ago. The "current" him was only 13; he realised that if he guided his past self to a good school and university, then perhaps he would be able to reach for the future/career he wanted.
Kogure (from now on I will call the 2012 him Kogure, and the 1990 him Teppei) made Teppei go to his cram school instead of skipping, but ended up lecturing Teppei's classmates on the futility of being complacent with their good economy, warning them of the impending bubble burst. Obviously no one knew what he was talking about, and most of the students were upset, and Teppei's classroom teacher (Kiritani Mirei) is livid. But as the cram school teachers were confronting him, he was approached by the school principal, who turned out to be some sort of gang leader, or at least in cohorts with one. She told him that she could get Teppei a placement in Tokyo University if Kogure helped her out in return. What she wanted was for Kogure to convince the owner of an old bookshop to sell his shop, which he had kept despite the pressure being put on him, because he wanted to pass it on to his son, Shusuke (who, incidentally, is Teppei's classmate).
Kogure questioned Shusuke if taking over the bookshop is really what he wanted in life, and Shusuke admitted that he was more interested in following girl idol groups. Shusuke's lack of interest helped his father to decide to sell the shop, after all, but thinking of his determination, Kogure asked the cram school principal to wait for a year. One of her men, Takano (Yokoyama Yuu) chased after Kogure, saying that he wanted to be Kogure's follower, but Kogure just kicked him, saying that he hated the name Takano. When Kogure woke up and found himself back in 2012, we're shown why - thinking that he had successfully changed the future, Kogure walked into the police department and went to sit at the chief's seat, only to be told off by his superior - Takano. It's unknown to him, but it's clear that the chief Takano in 2012 is the same Takano that Kogure kicked in 1990; what happened to turn his life around?
Without knowing all of this, Kogure thought that his time traveling had been a dream, but came across a homeless man that he realised was the guy who was in league with the school principal - so his dream must have been real. He rushed to the bookshop to see what had happened to it, and discovered that it was still there, looking the same as ever. He went over to talk to Shusuke, who have taken over the bookshop, and when he walked in he found out that it had completely changed inside. Shusuke sold idol magazines, photo books and paraphernalia, and seemed to have made a name for himself in the girl idol group fandoms. Apparently Kogure may not have changed Teppei (his) life, but he certainly had changed Shusuke's. He asked if Shusuke was happy, and Shusuke confirmed that he was.
From this episode, I think this is my kind of drama. I like time travel themes, and stories that show how the little things we may not think about (Kogure asking Shusuke what he really wanted to do in life) could change things in a big way. And I don't really remember watching Matsu-ni in dramas before - well, there's Kaibutsu-kun, but that's it - which makes this fun. Plus, Yoko! And Kiritani Mirei - I've only seen her in supporting roles in a couple of dramas, and she didn't have a big role in this ep, but I think she's really cute.
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