[Discussion] Hotelier

why were the two hunters at the staff meeting??

umm..have you actually been following the storyline of the series? lol
they finally took over the hotel..they got the majority shareholding of the company therefore pretty much own it now

i don't remember them actually taking over...i saw them driving the stock up so holders would cash out.

are you suuurree they took over already?

hmm im pretty sure they took over it..theres no other explanation lol
like you said they drove up the stocks so people would sell which would mean their shareholding would increase

if you've done basic company law, you'd know that once a shareholder has over 50% of shares in a company they can pretty much dictate how that company will run by electing the directors of their choice etc. so in this case they would probably elect morimoto to be a director of the company
well this is company law in australia anyway..not sure about other countries

I also got the feeling that they had taken over already from that scene. It seems the stockholders had sold off to "a foreign expatriate" due to the rising prices, and they we're telling the hotel that this man was coming over for a meeting in order to act as a consultant to the hotel now. So the impression it left me with was that Mizusawa must have reached a majority of the shares to have that kind of clout.

I'm interested in seeing how Mizusawa is going to respond to Kyoko's question in the next episode. He had to have known what kind of situation this was going to place her in, hence the listlessness and the talk about things being more complicated than he'd expected. So his telling her that there was no need for her to leave the hotel and to believe him sends a pretty mixed message.

I'm also looking forward to Akane's next move. She's turned out to be far more interesting that I thought she'd be from her introduction. I really wonder how she'll react when she finds out that Yosuke isn't just a bellboy, though she's still pretty fixated on Ogata.

Still, if they really already held the majority of the stock, wouldn't that be clearly stated somehow? I kind of think they don't yet have enough to effectively take it over, but enough to send themselves in as "consultants" who practically get to impose their way, ostensibly to redress the hotel's financial situation...

He is beyond wonderful in this role! Even though his and Yon-sama's characters couldn't be more different, both of them are such an incredible blend of kakkoii and yasashii, that my poor little heart almost can't take it!! At first I was very sad that Shin Dong Hyuk gets so little screen time, but now I realize I would have pretty much died if there was more of him in addition to Mizusawa-sama!

No matter Akane's clinging, Ogata finally realizes how important Odagiri is to him (actually, I think he already kinda does ) and somehow finds the guts to tell her that, whereupon she suddenly realizes she cannot leave him, her first love, so they become a couple to live happily ever after, with Akane (hopefully; we are talking the optimistic version here) settling for Yosuke's sincere love, while Mizusawa-sama has to go back to roaming the wide world, all lonely and sad... And that is the optimistic version, where nobody dies or ends up in prison!

I can't even wrap my mind around Kyoko ending up with Ogata at this point. She's had all the buildup with Mizusawa in these first five episodes, and I just can't imagine any way to develop Ogata enough to become the romantic lead with only three episodes left. While I still fear the possibility some, I'm starting to feel that if it wasn't Mizusawa that she chose, Kyoko would end up alone. I get the feeling that while Ogata has feelings for Kyoko, he really loves the hotel most of all.

I'd really love to see Akane end up with Yosuke. He really likes her, and he's a much nicer guy than she's given him credit for. It would be rather entertaining how that would throw a monkeywrench into her father's plan too. Kinda a moot point taking over a hotel, if the present heir shacks up with your only heir. *chuckle*

I think it was in episode 3 that Mizusawa's side had been talking to the bank about some part of their take over plan and basically saying that the bank was agreeing to it. So I'm not completely sure what that was about, and we've not really gotten more on it yet. Maybe, Japanese business law works kinda like those mystery illnesses that are so popular in doramas. You know the ones that are lifethreatening, but are never given a name or full explanation...

Mizusawa, in whose soul true love has begun to work its miraculous transformations , is now disgusted by Morimoto and the likes of his schemes -- I'm hoping for that because of the signs he's been showing of having started being unconfortable with his own path in life so far. That's why, maybe now he would also prefer to see the hotel doing well once again in the hands of its rightful owners. I think/hope he has a brilliant plan related to that. And although for a while it must mean retrenchment and some painful measures, once it's again freely sailing it can take up again all the employees it had before and some more besides. It's now only a matter of whether Kyoko (and the others) will trust him. As it seems he has the power to impose his plan, the others will probably submit because they have no choice, but for Mizusawa Kyoko's trust would mean the world, that's for sure. Of course, all of this is the imagination and wild guesses of a hopeless romantic so please take it with the proper pinches of salt and add your own thoughts here!

So then I'll keep hoping that she won't end up alone -- somehow it wouldn't fit the story at all, now would it?!

While he seems to be rethinking things, I'm not sure that he's given up the plan yet. I think he might need a little more time before he can change his stance on the hotel. Since Mizusawa doesn't particularly care what most people think of him, he might not have considered all the resentment that Kyoko could have to face from the rest of the staff. So Kyoko might have a real fight with him here and be left trying to figure out which is the real Mizusawa--the cold businessman or the man who stayed out in the rain looking for her lost necklace with his flashlight. Meanwhile, he'll be trying to figure out his priorities in life.

Again, pinch of salt. I figure since we're nearing the end of the series a bigger misunderstanding/fight could make a nice arc in these next episodes.