Tokyo Tarareba Girls
30-year-old Kamata Rinko is single and a struggling scriptwriter. She has no boyfriend and keeps having night outs at drinking spots with her girlfriends Kaori and Koyuki. “If I become beautiful, a better guy will appear!” “If we grow to like each other, we can get married!” They will not stop talking about these hypothetical questions. Then a younger, handsome, golden-haired guy suddenly utters, “These “what if” women!” and the trio have to face the harsh reality that they are no longer girls. Rinko enters her 30s while still immature, seeking happiness and struggling with romance and work.
Episodes
Three single women in Tokyo fret and worry that they will stay single forever. The waitress, the script writer and the beauty salon employee are eager to find a man and be in a relationship, but the city is not good to them. The writer is invited to a fancy dinner for two by her producer and old friend.
The three women are still on the hunt for the perfect man and a relationship. Actually, at this point it looks like any man would do. None of them wants to remain single. At the same, the blond mystery man has become a regular at the pub . The girls are informed that he is not a loser or a university student or unemployed or any of the things they had imagined. He is a model.
Two of the three girls are experiencing buyers' remorse and regretting what happened the night before. They regroup to review what happened and what happens next when a bicycle mishap leads to their running into a gentleman. To thank him they help with his stained jacket and offer some food and drinks.
The three friends are all in a state of turmoil or change. One is seeing an old boyfriend who has a new girlfriend. One is seeing a married man. One is recovering from the disappointment that was a false start. In the meantime, it is Valentine's Day, which is depressing for most and the girls are no exception.
The three friends are positively single again and are determined to take corrective action. They feel a bout of self-pity wash over them. A visit to a soothsayer tells them a lot and feels like a punch to the face. A chance meeting at a supermarket leads to a handsome man however. He also likes films.
The three friends find themselves in different situations and stages in their respective relationships and quests to find suitable men. One is giddy and on cloud nine. One cannot say no to a man even though she knows she should. One is determined to move past the former boyfriend and find a man who will marry her.
The three friends are off on a short trip with the bus. It is a holiday, but also Rinko has been given a small job creating and writing a script for a web reel featuring and promoting a town. The three women are en route as they ponder what could have been and would have been and as if, et cetra.
Out of the blue Rinko receives a telephone call, which offers her a job at the production company doing what she wants to be doing. This on top of what happened last night with her former boss and his promise to call today. It is turning out to be a good day. Then her former manager invites her to dinner.
The trio of friends' relationships are evolving. Rinko's man asks her to move in with him. Her friend does not open the door to the former boyfriend however. Her other friend is invited over to her boyfriend's, but he is called away in the morning. The blond guy is wasted following an anniversary.
The three friends are still desperate even though one of them has a boyfriend. They have received wedding invitations to more of their friends' ceremonies and are dreading it. In the meanwhile, Rinko, who is finally in a relationship, brings a man home ostensibly to help and give him shelter for the night.
