Sanctuary – J-drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

Episode 5

Episode 5 of Sanctuary starts with Kunishima looking at videos of Oze during and before the fight. She feels like she is drawn to him and even alters her notes to write positive things about him for her article. That morning, Oze (Enno) is trying to avoid fighting with Enga. He flaunts his 21 wins, which enrages the latter. Enno flaunts that he has moved up a rank, unlike Enga, which seems to piss Shimizu off.

As the wrestlers eat their meals, Enno is busy trading stocks. Shimizu discusses his comment about making Enga his attendant and tells him it isn’t right. Enno claims that Shimizu has quit sumo and has no business teaching him how to behave. Enno is cocky about reaching the highest possible rank one day while Kunishima learns that her ex is going to be promoted to a higher rank.

Ensho and Ogawa have drinks and chat about Enno’s attitude. Ogawa claims that he showed consistent results and his attitude can be excused for the time being. He adds that it’s Enya who they should focus on. After winning his comeback match, Enya sustains another injury on his knee which cancels his promotion to a higher rank.

The doctor tells Enya that if he undergoes another surgery, he won’t be able to continue sumo anymore. Enya goes back home to spend time with his son and pregnant wife. In the meantime, Enno has made a name for himself in public where his young fans love his attitude and the older ones ask him to be respectful. Enno visits Nanumi at her apartment and tries to make out with her but she refuses to let him kiss her.

Enga breaks the news of his injury to his wife and tells her that he had quit sumo. She is emotional but claims that she was proud of him nevertheless. At her house, Enno goes through social media and is annoyed by the hate comments online. Enku continues to post negative comments against him. Nanumi leaves to get some drinks for them and Enno decides to go through her lingerie cabinet.

There, he finds her school yearbook and sees that she had slashed photos of a female student named – Nana Koga. Murata invites Enno and Nanumi for drinks at his private bar. Enno seems jealous about the way in which Nanumi appreciates the rooftop bar. Murata offers to be Enno’s patron and support him. Enno agrees to the request after remembering how his father is still in the hospital.

A bunch of hostesses join them and Murata seems to be bribing Enno with money in order to make a mockery out of him. He forces Enno to drink and eat a whole chicken. Meanwhile, Enya tells Ensho that he has made the decision to quit sumo which Enku overhears. Ensho tells Mr Ogawa that Enya had asked his decision to be kept a secret.

At work, Kunishima half-heartedly works on the article about Enya thinking about the news of her ex being promoted. Enno is having a hard time, drinking too much at the party from the night before. Enya challenges Enno to a fight despite Enku’s requests to play with his idol. Enya ignores Enku’s requests and continues to fight with Enno.

Later that night, Enya and Enku practice by themselves and Enku finally breaks down. He tells Enya that he always chooses Enno over him despite his dedication to Enya. Enya tells Enku that Enno is better than him and that he’s hiding something. Enku recalls the hate messages that he sent to Enno online and ends up sobbing.

The sumo wrestling association decides the order of opponents for the next tournament and Inokoshi asks Enya to be placed opposite Shizuuchi. Everyone is shocked to see that Enya was placed opposite Shizuuchi but Enya continues to practice for his final tournament before he retires. Enno notices Enya’s restlessness and asks him to calm down.

During the match, Enno causes an injury to Enya which has him admitted to the hospital immediately. Enku starts beating Enno up for injuring Enya. Enya begs the doctor to give him as much medicine as possible so he can compete one last time. During the day of the match between Enya and Shizuuchi, everyone is shocked to see that Enya hasn’t withdrawn from the bout.

Enno though seems to have lost the motivation to play and plays without any enthusiasm. He is shocked to see Enya participate in the tournament despite his injury. Everyone is excited to see the match and Enya manages to give Shizuuchi his best fight. Shizuuchi eventually wins but Enya’s family is happy to see him perform.

After the match, Enya is in a lot of pain so Ensho takes Enya to the hospital. That night, Kunishima asks Enno to join him for drinks and claims that his sumo had lost the spark. She defends Enno from locals that call him a problem child. Kunishima, in her drunken state, holds Enno’s hand and pleads for him to be better.

That night, Enno is late in coming back to the stable but Ensho ignores it. Enno wonders why his stable master wasn’t angry at him for acting out. The next morning, Enno learns that his upcoming match is going to be against Shizuuchi.

Meanwhile, the reporter investigating Shizuuchi’s case asks him questions about the incident. He asks Shizuuchi to quit his next match in exchange for keeping the information about his past a secret.

That night, Shimizu finds Enno all by himself in the park and tries to cheer the latter up. After this, we then cut to the next day, where Enno and Shizuuchi face each other for their match. Shizuuchi recalls the comments from the reporter and uses much greater force to push Enno, as the episode comes to an end.

The Episode Review

I really empathise with Enya in this episode because he seems too good for the wrestling world. Despite his best efforts, his injury takes over his life. However, he is finally able to redeem himself and leaves the wrestling world on his own account in comparison to the choice of his circumstances.

It is right for Enku to be sad about Enya’s rejection but I hope that by the end of this show, Enku will find confidence in himself. The pissing contest between Kunishima and Nanumi seems unnecessary but its all fun and games for Enno who is getting the best out of this deal. Nanumi is just using Enno for her own benefit and it looks like Enno will be emotionally hurt once he learns about her true intentions.

Seeing how brutal Shizuuchi gets, it is possible that he could be the murderer of his mother and brother but I would hope that this theory is proved false by the end of this season. The show is getting interesting and I cannot wait to see how this one ends.