Based on the Japanese manga “Drops of God,” the multilingual series is about wine. When Camille’s estranged father, Alexandre Leger, a popular face in enology, dies in Tokyo, she arrives there for his last rites. There she meets his favorite student, Issei Tomine. They are asked to take a test that will decide who inherits his property. What is this test? Do they take it? With these questions, let us begin our quest for “Drops of God.”
Spoilers Ahead
An Oenophile’s Calling
Little Camille enters a cellar with his father. She wears a blindfold, and her father begins to put small pieces of sliced raw fruits and vegetables in her mouth, one at a time, using a fruit fork. From celery to litchi to peach to moss, she guesses them all correctly but ends up with a nosebleed. And this condition would remain with her for her entire life. But does this condition result from fruits and vegetables? Or is it something else? We’ll have to wait to find out.
Fast forward 20 years, and Camille is at a club in Paris for her friend’s birthday. There, she meets a guy who is a fan of her book. He tries to kiss Camille, and she almost gives in too, but it doesn’t happen. She is interrupted by a phone call from her father, asking her to come to Tokyo the same night, where he is sick. He has even sent her the flight ticket. She returns to the party, and the fan tries to kiss her with alcohol in his mouth. She pushes him away, but it’s too late as her nose starts to bleed profusely, and she collapses. So it seems that it is alcohol that causes the nosebleeds. She returns home and tells her mom about the call. Her mom, too, doesn’t seem to like her father and thinks that he might be trying to coerce Camille into something. Camille doesn’t like talking about it, and after her phone reminds her of her flight, she decides to leave for Tokyo. This is her last opportunity to find answers from her father.
Issei Tomine has just rejected a woman with whom his parents have fixed a date at a restaurant. While leaving, he gets a call informing him that his teacher, Alexandre Leger, has passed away. While having dinner with his parents, which he has cooked, his mother mentions her disapproval of the career he has chosen. She had mapped out her son’s career, but he’d decided to go into the wine business.
It is nighttime when a private jet lands in Tokyo. Alexandre’s close friend Luca Inglese has come to pick Camille up and gives her the news that her father passed away the same morning. Before going over to her father’s house, he takes her to his restaurant for some food. There, Camille finds out that the reading of her father’s will is going to be held the following morning, followed by the funeral in the afternoon. It is at the restaurant that Camille tells Luca that she doesn’t drink wine, something that comes as a surprise to him. After they have their food, Luca drops Camille at the house, where she is ushered in by Yusuke, the caretaker. Among all the books on his table is also the one that she wrote, titled “La Bulle” [The Bubble]. She calls and informs her mom of her father’s demise. Her mother cannot stop criticizing him, so she just asks her to stop and disconnects.
A Will To Taste
The next morning, Camille arrives at her father’s lawyer, Francois Talion’s, office. This is where she also meets Issei Tomine, her father’s “spiritual son.” Alexandre’s estate includes his $7-million house and his $148-million wine collection. But there is a catch. In order to claim the inheritance, she and Issei will have to take a test. Each of them is provided with a glass of wine, whose taste they will have to determine. They have one month, after which they will be allowed to taste again. Whoever is able to recognize the wine correctly gets the house and the wine collection. Issei takes a sip from his glass. Camille knows what a single sip can do to her, but she takes it anyway. And what follows is yet another nosebleed. She rushes out of the room and snaps at Luca for bringing her despite knowing what she has to do. Luca apologizes, but it’s of no use. She doesn’t care about the inheritance anymore. She comes out of the building and finds herself surrounded by the media, asking about her father’s will. Luca grabs her, takes her to a car, and they leave. Issei walks out and tells the media that he will announce the contents of the will publicly very soon. In the car, Luca tells Camille that he has a message for her from her father, but Camille is in no mood to hear it. She will attend the funeral and then leave for France.
A Spiritual Riddance
After halting for some tissue for her nosebleed, Luca brings Camille to her father’s funeral, which will be carried out following the Buddhist cremation ritual. At the ceremony, she stares at her father’s face in the casket for a minute and returns to her spot. Issei is also present there. After cremation, many of Alexandre’s close ones gather his bones in the urn. Luca helps Camille put a piece inside the urn without dropping it, symbolizing how Luca is helping her get closer to her father. She will be leaving for France the next morning.
Does Camille See Her Father’s Last Message?
Luca brings Camille to Alexandre’s house and takes her to her father’s cherished wine cellar. It is the place where Alexandre and Luca spend their nights. While roaming around the cellar, she finds that many wine bottles have notes on them. One of the bottles has a note saying that Alexandre intended to drink it with his daughter when she turned 18. She breaks into tears and hugs Luca. Maybe she did matter to her father but never got the chance to say it. The next day, while leaving the house, she gets a call from her mother but doesn’t receive it. She then decides to see the message her father left for her with Luca. It is a video recording of her father asking her to learn more about his wines, just as she deserves, from a guy named Philippe who owns the Domaine [the vineyard and the cellar], the very place where he used to make her taste the fruits and plants. In what would be his last request, he asks her to stay. But will she?
If Alexandre has asked Camille to stay, he didn’t mean it literally, as if Philippe owned the Domaine and he was supposed to teach her; she will have to return to France for it. So, what Alexandre must have meant is for her not to disregard him anymore. Perhaps she will return to Tokyo in a month to take the test again, and that will decide whether she inherits all that’s in the will. On the other hand, we have Issei, who seems confident enough about the taste of the wine. “Drops of God” Episode 2 will reveal if Camille visits the Domaine and who Philippe is.
