Tokyo Love Story

Tokyo Love Story (東京ラブストーリー) is a manga by Fumi Saimon. Tokyo Love Story was adapted as a Japanese television drama (dorama) in 1991. It aired on Fuji Television in 11 episodes (plus one special) between January and March 1991. Actors include Yuji Oda, Honami Suzuki, and Narimi Arimori. The drama's theme song, Love Story wa Totsuzen ni by Kazumasa Oda is Japan's 8th best-selling single in history.

Synopsis

Mikami, Kanji, and Satomi have been friends since they were children, having grown up in the same small town in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Now, all three are in their early 20s and have made their way to Tokyo for different reasons. Kanji is last to arrive, having gotten a new job in Heart Sports' sales department and transferring to the Tokyo office. At work, he meets a vivacious new colleague, Rika, as well as being reunited with his best friends from home—Mikami and Satomi. Mikami is Kanji's best male friend and Satomi is their platonic female friend whom both have had a crush on since high school. The situation becomes more complicated as Kanji sees Mikami forcedly kissing Satomi, which upsets Kanji deeply. But he heals his broken heart by developing strong feelings for Rika, who is energetic, funny, encouraging and caring. However, their relationship is a bit unstable because Kanji is dating her on the rebound, and Rika has been having a (not so) secret affair with her and Kanji's boss, Sendo. The affair is de-emphasized in the TV series, but in the manga, the affair is much more important. Rika gets pregnant with Sendo's child (not shown in the drama version). Meanwhile, Satomi thinks that Mikami was just playing with her when he kissed her, and so she rejects him. He turns to a medical school classmate, Nagasaki, and begins pursuing her. Eventually Kanji realizes Satomi's feelings, and he chooses her over Rika.

Cast

• Honami Suzuki as Rika Akana
• Yuji Oda as Kanji Nagao
• Narimi Arimori as Satomi Sekiguchi
• Yosuke Eguchi as Kenichi Mikami
• Akiho Sendo as Naoko Nagasaki

• Tokuma Nishioka as Natsuki Waga
• Kaori Mizushima
• Miki Ito
• Hideyuki Nakayama

Production staff

• Producer: Toru Ohta (大多亮, Ōta Tōru)
• Director: Kozo Nagayama (永山 耕三, Nagayama Kōzō) (episodes 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11), Ouhiko Honma (本間歐彥, Honma Ōhiko) (eps. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10)
• Screenwriter: Yuji Sakamoto

Episode titles and viewership

1. 「出会いと再会」20.7%
2. 「愛ってやつは」20.8%
3. 「二人の始まり」19.9%
4. 「君の翼になる」17.1%
5. 「いつも思い出して」19.9%
6. 「赤い糸に結ばれて」20.1%
7. 「愛は待たない」22.4%
8. 「この恋を信じたい」22.9%
9. 「行かないで」26.3%
10. 「約束」29.3%
11. 「さよなら」32.3%

• SP:「東京ラブストーリー特別編」29.9%

External links

• Internet Movie Database entry
• Review