Hirate Yurina (Techi) / Keyakizaka46 1st Generation

Rating for 1st episode of Dragon Zakura is 14.8% - this is excellent start, I hope it only goes up from here. I’ve seen some reviews saying that the atmosphere is very different from the first one so definitely some people will be taken back by it. I missed yesterday ep but heard there’re quite some noticeable twists

Teaser for ep 2 is also out. Seems like they’re focusing on Kaede next

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

if the video does not show watch the video here


if the video does not show watch the video here


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

It's the best first episode rating for all the Spring dramas this year! Couldn't have asked for a better start

 

There’s this really insightful interview with Techi on Kaede and her badminton training.Google translate should do just fine for you to get the gist of it. Thanks to the drama Techi now has a newfound interest for badminton, and she got top-notch training too. Even the director, staff and her co-stars are surprised that Techi would go that far for a role. As expected of Techi tbh. She’s also leaning the moves of male players, all the videos in her history are also about badminton games. Ep 2 focuses on Kaede so stay tune for that.

Soft sub for ep 1 is also out School drama, especially when they don’t focus on the romance but the studying part, is not exactly inter-fans’ favorite genre so I’m thankful that someone picked it up.

 

Next thing you know she's playing at the Olympic Games
Thank you for the link @DelicateEmpress I knew there were subs around but didn't know how to find the raw video.

I know it sound weird, but Kaede gifs from episode 2 are SO MUCH like who Techi has been in Keyaki I'm kinda anticipating the mess it will surely happen lol
I wonder if Kaede, at this point, is the character she played so far more similar to Techi herself. The interview answers a little to this question but I'm curious to see how Kaede will develop through the drama.

If it's good.. I may watch the original DragonZakura too with Gakki lol
If someday they'll act together.... well, that would be just amazing

 

Loved this week's episode! Can't wait to watch it with subs later.
Kaede is a really intruiging character and I am excited to see more interactions between her and the other students. Also just like everyone else I am very curious about the relationship between Kaede and Seto.

I am expecting the ratings to drop a bit since its the second episode.

 

Many fans are speculating that the author/scriptwriter may have created Kaede based on Techi. I mean a selfless ace who got pushed too hard by everyone, crushed under pressure and expectations, got injured and had almost everyone turned their backs on her, but is still so kind, forgiving and puts everyone else in front of her? Well we can all connect the dots here. I think out of all her roles so far, Kaede might resemble Techi the most in terms that f personality. Hibiki had almost everything controlled (god knows how much I wish the same for Techi), Erika is more like a forgotten child yearning for love while Hinako is sooooo different.

The response for this episode and Kaede seems really good so I hope this turns to good ratings, although I do expect ratings to drop a bit.

 

Here's a little Techi for the day for good vibes. Hello, everyone.


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

She's so cute there. Couldn't stop smiling.

Cheers!

 

Would anyone happen to know if there's any group working on subbing Dragon Zakura? Thanks.
#TheCurseOfInternationalFans

Same. It was on my recommended list on YouTube and I had the same happy reaction when I saw it.

 

Other than the soft subs I shared in an earlier post, there’re also some websites with hard subs. Right now there’s only subs for ep 1 and we probably have to wait for a few more days for ep 2.
Link 1
Link 2

Other than that, the ratings for ep 2 is still nowhere to be seen. I don’t know what take them so long to release it. Usually we know the ratings 1 day after the broadcast day. However, response for ep 2 has been overwhelmingly good, I see a lot of non-fans praising Techi for her amazing performance in ep 2. Kuroi Hitsuji, Ambivalent and Dance no Riyuu shot up to 27, 31 and 37th in ITunes 24H MV ranking. DnY MV now has 130k likes and is very close to 5.7M views. Techi’s YT channel is at 192k subscribers (took 6 days from 191k, compared to 13 days from 190k-191k). I strongly believe this due partly due to Dragon Zakura effect

 

Do anyone knows how many episodes DZ will have? Sorry if it was already stated.
I have half mind to wait a bit before to watch them

I'm surprised Kuroi Hitsuji was pushed up like that. Usually is one of the few songs intl fans can't stand, and since I love it very much I'm glad to see it being listened to.

 

It should have 11 ep in total and final ep is scheduled to be on July 4. As for mv ranking, I guess Kuroi’s one of the first few things that pop up when you search for Techi + the MV contains many acting elements. Same for Ambivalent, I was really fascinated by Techi’s expressions in the MV when I was getting to know Techi and Keyaki. Anyways I also love Kuroi Hitsuji so much I don’t get the hate over it being too “emo”

 

Public holidays in Japan from May 1 to May 5 (together with another public holiday on Apr 29, this is the 'Golden Week' long holiday for many workers in Japan).

 

There are many j-dorama fansubbers out there, so as Techi gets more work I definitely recommend keeping up with these accounts! MiaMaw is one of them, but the dorama fandom is pretty scattered so you have to be pretty observant (and follow the accounts on twitter) to make sure you don't miss anything.
I haven't seen anyone officially announce Sankaku Mado yet, but I'll keep my eye out for it. I have the Blu-Ray in my cart... I'm so excited to finally watch it!

 

Ep 2 rating is 13.9%, reduced by 0.9% compared to the 1st episode. With this, Dragon Zakura average rating is 14.4% and continues to hold the no.1 place for this year's spring drama. I thought the rating would decrease even more tbh so this is great news. I hope the ratings would only increase from here, especially when they'll start focusing more on the studying part starting from ep 3. While waiting for the subs I did a marathon of season 1 and could now really understand why many people say it's like a different drama. I think season 1 is light and fluffy, there are troubles here and there too but overall is quite relaxed. This season is intense right off the bat so it keeps me engaged. The plot and characters reflect current social issues quite well too so I can't wait to see how the story would develop. In ss1 there's male lead and female lead among the students. I wonder if Nao is the female lead or is it Kaede.

Spoiler: Loveline (don't read if you intend to watch ss1)

For ss1, I was not pleased with how Yuusuke was in a relationship with Yoshino but it's clearly shown that he cares for Mizuno more and that they have feelings for each other even if they don't know that. I felt really bad for Yoshino and hope that we won't have the same complicated love triangle for Kaede. Kaede/Seto seems to be the ship right now. We don't know how deep their relationship is yet I don't mind them develop into something more, just no weird love triangle thing like ss1.

if the video does not show watch the video here

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Based on the credit, clearly Nao is the female lead (actually, she is the main in manga) but it's kinda interesting that the stories of both male (Akira) and female lead (Nao) seem to be connected to Kaede. Honestly, I thought we would have a (potential) tri-angle relationship between Akira-Nao and Akira-Kaede, but it turns out Akira-Kaede and Kaede-Nao The chemistry between Akira-Kaede is no joke so I hope to see this combi appear on dorama couple ranking at the end of this season.

 

It's kinda funny how Nao and Seto have not had any conversations in the drama, when they're both obviously close friends to Kaede (albeit Kaede and Seto relationship seems to be at a deeper level). If they have an episode (even if a filler one) explaining how the two of them got to know each other and got so close I'd welcome it with both hands. Needless to say I'm completely sold with the Seto/Kaede pair lol

Also, soft subs for ep 2 is out

 

Ratings for ep 3 is 12.6%. While I think this series deserves much higher ratings and don’t really understand why the rating decreases, as long as it’s still double-digits I wouldn’t be too worried about it (but I also noticed the response after ep 3 was a bit weaker than ep 2). Ep 3 is absolutely adorable, with comedy relief here and there, some high-quality TechiKai moments and some serious/intriguing moment as well. Kaede is sooooo cute I keeps squealing whenever the camera is on her. If I have someone like her at my school I’d totally fangirl after her all day. Kaede-chan is fantastic.

Ep 1: 14.8%
Ep 2: 13.9%
Ep 3: 12.6%


if the video does not show watch the video here
1st teaser for ep 4! The return of Todai Math Demon and of course, the baka headband. Ep 4 is probably an emotion-heavy episode, but things will work out at the end.


Techi will be on the cover of MAQUIA July issue, released on May 21. This is also her first feature for the magazine. ViVi is also asking fans to send questions for Techi via Instagram. I can smell another feature really near already. Techi’s fashion resources are no joke.

Interview for Asahi. Techi reveals that she appreciates her fans a lot, and is very happy when she receives letters and mails to her radio.


Over the weekend we also have some Saku-Techi moments. Pon wrote on her blog about her favorite dramas also the best ones she’s watching. She includes Dragon Zakura. During showroom, Yuuka also said she’s watching Dragon Zakura and last but not least, the ultimate Techi-Hono crumbs (cre: Kiryu, trans: tmi)

 

As the only Pon-Techi hidden shipper out there (don't say anything, I fought against for years lol) I'm pretty glad Pon is watching Dragon Zakura. I dream about the day they may work together again, but the road is still long.