Million Yen Women Season 1 Episode 1 Recap – The Mysterious Million Yen Women

Five women and a man eat dinner together. All of the women complain about the food. The man says it would be difficult to follow all their preferences. A young woman in uniform then asks what name they will give the cat they found. All of them suggest different names, Shin being one. A naked woman suggests they shouldn’t give the cat a name as depressing as the house owner.

Shin Michima is a novelist who lives alone. Six months ago, five women arrived in his house: 30-year-old Minami Shirakawa, 26-year-old Hitomi Tsukamoto, 24-year-old Yuki Kobayashi, 20-year-old Nanaka Hiraki, and 17-year-old Midori Suzumura.

Shin doesn’t know who sent the invitations to the women, but they have to live together and follow certain rules. Shin can’t ask the women any questions or enter their rooms. They also have to eat dinner together, and he has to look after them. They pay Shin one million yen every month. As they are having dinner, the fax machine beeps, and a letter containing the word “die” comes out.

The first person who arrived at Shin’s house was Hitomi Tsukamoto. Shin’s house was messy, and garbage bags were scattered everywhere. Shin was surprised to see a woman inside his house, but Hitomi remained calm and told Shin that she’d be living with him from that day forward. Shin said he would call the police which left Hitomi confused. She mentioned the invitation she received and handed one million yen to Shin. That day, five women arrived and gave him one million yen each. Minami Shirakawa even told Shin to move the altar out of the living room.

Shin’s editor, Mr. Sakurai, arrives at the house and meets Minami who is on her way out. Minami thanks Sakurai for being interested in Shin’s novel even if he is not a really good writer. Sakurai defends Shin and insists he is a good writer. Minami then enters the car waiting for her outside and drives off.

Shin hands Sakurai the manuscript he’s been working on, and Sakurai shows him a novel by another author. The other author’s book had sold millions of copies on its fourth day. Shin feels sorry that his novel could never be that successful, but Sakurai tells him they will work together. Shin admits he hates the author of the book, Yuzu Hanaki.

Inside the car, Minami talks to someone on the phone and mentions Ayane‘s name. She puts the phone down as they pass by a billboard of a woman named Ayane Hirokawa.

As Shin writes his novel in the middle of the night, blood appears on the paper he is writing on. He looks up and sees a man holding a bloodied knife. The man moves quickly and appears just in front of Shin’s table. He wakes up from his nightmare just as the fax machine beeps and shows another message. This time it says, “Your life is pointless.”

Shin picks up the book by Yuzu Hanaki that he threw in the trash earlier. Minami arrives and removes the letter from the fax machine, crumples it, and throws it in the trash. She sits near Shin and tells him to look for another work because he is only 31 years old. She then asks Shin if he is getting enough sex; Shin says he makes love. Minami stands up and sits on Shin’s lap and tells him women make love to men and not the other way around.

Shin admits living with young women doesn’t bother him, but it turns him on. Shin goes to a comfort club to see Hotaru. Hotaru mentions she is happy that Shin comes to see her again. Hotaru notices Shin is turned on, so she makes the first move. 

One of the five women, 17-year-old Midori Suzumura, goes to school and is greeted by a young man who asks her for cash. Midori tells the young man not to come near her school and gives him money. 

Shin is still at the comfort club and is in the tub with Hotaru. She asks for Shin’s number, but Shin insists he doesn’t have a phone because he is terrible with gadgets. Hotaru doesn’t believe him at first, but Shin convinces Hotaru that he doesn’t even use a computer. The real reason he doesn’t use a phone is that he doesn’t have friends or family to contact.

One morning, one of the women, Yuki Kobayashi, suddenly says Tatsuyuki Michima, Shin’s father. Shin gets surprised Yuki knows about his father, but he tries to act cool, believing he doesn’t have anything to hide. The fax machine beeps again and shows a letter saying, “Murderer! Go to hell!”

Shin’s father is on death row for killing his wife, his wife’s lover, and the police officer who arrived at the scene. It‘s why nobody dies in Shin’s novels — his father is a murderer.

Our Thoughts

The five women already showed very distinct characteristics even if it’s just the first episode. Even the quietest woman overshadows the lead actor’s character in the show. Shin is timid and just follows all the requests of the women. The story is even more interesting because no one knows who sent them the request to live with Shin. Everyone just kind of like went on with it. We expect to know more about the women as the story progresses.