Glass Heart – J-drama Episode 5 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

02-08-2025

A Plagiarised Song
Episode 5 of Glass Heart begins with Tenblank working on a new song. Akane now sports orange hair! Since Kai left, they have a new manager named Gen, who soon drags Naoki out for a meeting.
After he leaves, we see a flashback to the country house, in which Akane holds Naoki's hand and is about to confess her feelings. But he interrupts her and describes how he only lives for music and nothing else. He apologises to her and leaves. At present, Akane convinces herself that she's fine.
After practice, Akane and Kazushi go out to get some food. Akane confesses that Naoki rejected her but that she's fine now. They come across a poster that reveals Overchrome is releasing new work on the same day as them. Toya sends Akane the new song and she realises it's the same melody as the one Naoki just composed.
Naoki, Sho, and Kazushi discuss the situation in Akane's mother's restaurant. Sho suggests they hide this from Naoki and keep their track as is. Elsewhere, Yukino confronts Isagi about the fact that Naoki wrote all of her songs. Isagi makes it clear that she is not his equal and should follow his lead. Meanwhile, Toya gets frustrated that Akane hasn't replied to her.
Akane reaches the recording studio in the morning to find her colleagues in a sour mood. Naoki has found out about Toya's song and cancelled their recording session. He says he has plenty of songs in his head and doesn't want to make a fuss about this one.
Akane runs across town to meet Toya and asks him to change his song because she knows the Tenblank song means a lot to Naoki. Toya calls Naoki and tells him that Akane is his now. He takes her to his studio, where even Toya's colleague Mahiro confirms that they didn't steal the music.
Thanks to the phone call, Naoki rushes to Toya's studio and tells Akane to come with him. Toya then challenges Naoki to a battle, saying they should play both songs and let a crowd decide which is better. The winner gets to release their song. In the process, Akane realises that Toya and Naoki are half brothers! They share a father and both got the melody from Toya's mother.
Naoki even recognises one of Toya's pianos as the one from their childhood, during which Toya had crushed his fingers with the keyboard lid. He plays the music on the piano — it's a sorrowful melody that brings even Toya to tears. Before they leave, Mahiro warns Naoki not to use his music to make Toya unhappy.
As they return, Naoki admits to Akane that he didn't know how to work well with a person he liked. He did things that he regrets. Akane assures him that the Tenblank members love him even if others don't. And they will reach new heights together. When Akane praises the music he played on the piano, he tells her that the second half was inspired by Tenblank's unique sound.
Meanwhile, Yukino is still upset about the fact that Naoki wrote all of her songs. She gets a call from Isagi, who says he's found a way to get a new song for her.
The day of the battle between Toya and Naoki arrives. Toya is in the parking lot when he encounters one of his fans, who stabs him.
The Episode Review
Glass Heart Episode 5 keeps things moving for Tenblank and then adds a bump in the road by bringing Toya and Overchrome back in the picture. The entire plagiarism issue is a nice twist and you're left wondering when and how the theft could have taken place. Which makes the fact that Toya and Naoki are half-brothers a very, very intriguing reveal! It's unexpected but it also make sense in the way they behave around each other. Also, we finally get a glimpse into Naoki's past and learn something more about his character.
The J-drama does like leaving certain things to interpretation though. We never understand why Toya crushed his own fingers with the piano or what led to such a sour relationship between the half brothers. We only get glimpses of this and the rest is left to our imaginations.
It's not a bad thing but this kind of element might get varied reactions. The series continues to be extremely polished though. The camera work is incredibly sleek, the colours are vivid and it's quite satisfying, visually. That final scene does up the drama by quite a bit but we'll have to wait and see where this goes before making a judgement!
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