Mika Nakashima

Still in Ryuusei no Kizuna’s mode…

Nakashima Mika is the singer of the dorama’s Ending song, Orion. Surprisingly she also appears playing in some episodes of the series as Koichi’s weird customer and fan who always calls Koichi with nickname “AXEL”…At the first time I did not recognize her with long hair as Mika Nakashima in my mind always reminds me of NANA. Yes, she was Osaki Nana in NANA live action movies season one and two, the movies that was made according to a manga with same title.  The image of Nana is so attached to her since the life story of Osaki Nana is somehow similar to Mika’s background that she did not go to school and college, instead she went pursuing her music career.

I start recognizing her at Ryuusei no Kizuna when I see her singing the ending song while sitting at Koichi’s restaurant stairs in episode 6. I do not really know if her role in the dorama does exist in the original novel. Even so, in every scene where she appears, I always feel that  it gives more flavors to the story as a whole.

Hereby is the Japanese lyric of ORION in latin 🙂

Naita no wa boku datta
(it was me who cried)
Yowasa wo misenai koto ga sou tsuyoi wake jyanai tte
(not showing your weakness doesn’t mean that you’re strong)
Kimi ga itteita kara dayo, I believe
(because you told me, I believe)

Iki ga tsumetakunaru kaerimichi ni tada hoshi ga nobiteru
(my breath becomes cold and my foot stretches in front of me back home)
Tashikameta bakari no awai nukumori sae mo wasuresou
(I might even forget the warmness that I felt just now)
Hito wo suki ni nareru koto ni hajimete kizuita, ima wa
(I just realized how it feels to love someone)

Naita no wa boku datta
(it was me who cried)
Tsunagatta, fuyu no seiza, kono sora ni kietekanai you ni
(The beautiful winter concellations, hope they don’t disappear from the skies)
Mitsumeteita(n) dayo, I believe
(I looked at it, I believe)

Kajikanda te no hira hanarenu you ni itsu made mo sawareteitai
(I want to protect this hand so that it will never seperate)
Tsutaetai kotoba mo furikaesu noni mada koe ni naranai
(What I want to say doesn’t come out as words)
Tawainai koto de waratte, yasashiku tsutsumu yo, kimi wo
(Laughing at things, surrounding you softly)

Nagareboshi, kazoeteta
(Counting the number of shooting stars)
Kimi to deaeta kiseki ga ima boku ni ikiteiru imi wo
(Because of the miracle that I met you, I’m here right now)
oshiete kureta kara, I believe
(Because you taught me, I believe)

Naita no wa boku datta
(it was me who cried)
Yowasa wo misenai koto ga sou tsuyoi wake jyanai tte
(Not showing your weakness doesn’t mean that you’re strong)
Kimi ga itteita kara dayo, I believe
(Because you told me, I believe)

Itteita kara dayo, I believe
(Because you said so, I believe)

Ryuusei no Kizuna (Falling stars/Meteor’s bond)

Intro…

First of all, this dorama somehow reminds me of Sekai no chuushin de ai wo sakebu (English title: Crying out loud in the middle of the world), where the story plot is presented in present and flashback. Well just my opinion..other would probably will say that it is more typical detective story.

Secondly, [FANS’ ALERT] one of the plus points that I can think of, this dorama is casting young and famous Japanese actors and actress who are frequently appear in many new doramas such as  Ninomiya (Nino) Kazunari as Ariake Koichi (Arashi’s member, previously played in Stand-up and Yamada Taro monogatari), Nishikidou Ryou as Ariake Taisuke (I know him from the most memorable based on true story dorama 1 liter of tears-ichi ritoru no namida), and the beauty Toda Erika as the younger sister Ariake Shizuna (finally she gets a main leading female role for her own after her many supporting roles in Hana Yori Dango 2, Nobuta wo Produce, and the latest one Code Blue).

Storyline…

Based on a novel with a same title written by Higashino Keigo (a Japanese famous mystery book author), Ryuusei no Kizuna is a story of three siblings, Koichi, Taisuke, and Shizuna whose parents were murdered when they were out watching meteor shower in the middle of that night. After the three grow up they have sworned that one day they will find the murder and kill him to avange their parents. I’d  say if we just read this paragraph, the story sounds so common and predictable…just like normal detective and thriller movies that tell about murder murder, crime, and revange.  However the process to find the killer, how each character engages to each other, and most importantly how the series filmed and presented to the audience..are things that make the this story is still interesting to be followed.

In order to match with nowadays situation, the time of the incident is set in November, 1993 and the present is in 2008. So 15 years have passed since the tragedy and still the detectives have not found who is the culprit who killed Ariake couple at that night. Even worse, as mentioned in the engagement letter, the case is about to meet its expiration date by the end of year 2008, meaning that the case is going to be closed even the murderer is not yet found.

Kashiwabara (aka Kashi-san), the detective who has been involving in the case, is still not giving up yet. With all of his might he is still doing the investigation while at the same time trying to cooperate with Koichi, the eldest son of the couple who is now 26 years old and running a small restaurant. However, all the times, Koichi always seems not very enthusiastic to find his parents’ murderer in front of Kashi-san. Moreover, everytime Kashi-san asks him about Koichi’s younger brother, Taisuke and younger sister, Shizuna, Kouchi would likely answering that he hardly meets them anymore.

Of course Koichi is telling a lie in front of the detective. In secret, he meets his siblings a lot to track the murderer. Koichi believes the police and their law only will not be enough to punish and to make the culprit suffer. Therefore he keeps motivating Taisuke and Shii (Shizuna’s nickname) that they are going to catch the culprit and kill him by themselves.

Another undercover crime…

However that is not the only thing that the Ariake siblings do everytime they meet.In many episodes, we see that Ariake’s like plotting a fake undercover scenario to cheat on people’s money. Honestly I do not really understand why they do that..because it is not related to the main story and it is just simply another crime form (when I finished watching this dorama I finally found my answer in the last episode).

Just like one time, Shizuna resigns from her work because she has been bullied by her what so called “post-it” manager who also marks her as a “boring girl” by stamping a post-it memo on Shizuna’s forehead. Taisuke and Koichi understand that Takayama, the post-it manager, actually has a crush on Shii but he express that feeling by bullying her. As the proof, since Shii resigns, Takayama keeps sending her sms. Until one day, Takayama gets an accident in the fitness center that causes him to be hospitalized. He does send Shii an sms informing about his condition and expects her to react. Instead of replying the sms, Shii and her two nii-san (read: big-brothers) are plotting a story to make Takayama pay what he has done to Shii. So Shii undercovers herself as a attractive (heavy make-up) nurse named Shiho who is in charge to treat Takayama during his stay in the hospital. Fool Takayama thinks that he is hallucinating Shizuna, the boring girl, working as a nurse but later on it turns that he believes that Shiho is not Shizuna and in fact that Shiho is NOT BORING.

After Takayama is dismissed from the hospital, he wants to continue his relationship with Shiho. So one day he promises to meet her at a cafe. Much to his surprise, Shiho is not alone and there is a guy sitting at the same table with her. The guy is Taisuke who is undercovered as Shiho’s upperclassman working as a new broker selling bonds. Shiho tells Takayama that she wants to help his sempai to reach his sales target and that’s also why she is bringing him along to be introduced to Takayama who is known as an experienced trader who is  familiar in financial instrument trading. To win Shiho’s heart, Takayama starts boasting himself in front of Shii and Taisuke…in the end he ends up investing 1,5 million yen (cash) in two-years-bonds offered by Taisuke. Sometimes later, Shiho tells Takayama that she’s going to study abroad in Canada…and that is how Ariake siblings end their scenario.

Critical clue, dangerous scenario that need more than a sacrifice…

Various undercover scenarios written by Koichi and played by Taisuke and Shizuna slowly bring them to the culprit’s whereabouts. It happens when Koichi gets jealous of his annoying frequent plain-looking customer who always orders Hayashi rice everytime he comes to his place. The customer later on reveals himself as the only heir-tobe of famous Togami restaurant chain in Japan. Koichi cannot accept the fact that he and Togami Yukinari are almost at similar age, both are also the son of restaurant’s owner, but both have different destinies. Yukinari is going to inherit such a big restaurant business while Koichi’s parents were killed and left him with nothing. Those drive Koichi to plot a scenario to swlindle a big sum of money from Yukinari so that later on with that money he and his siblings can reopen Ariake restaurant. Koichi instructs Shii to take a role as a rich college student named Takamine Shiori to allure Yukinari with her beauty with an objective to have Yukinari buy her an expensive jewelery that cost millions yen.

Briefly, none predicts that the last scenario will let them meet the person who ran away from their house at the night of the incident 15 years ago that Koichi and Taisuke believe as the real murderer…What a big coincidence that the person is the owner of Togami restaurant, Yukinari’s father. Even worse….having experienced Yukinari’s natural kind-and-honest nature, Shii as Shiori starts falling for him.

If Togami isn’t the culprit…

Of course it will be very boring if you already know from the beginning that Togami is one and only suspect. So here are my version of the killer nominations:

* Shizuna’s real father who keeps the secret from his wife that he had a daughter with an escort girl, who no other than Ariake Toko. Spoiler: Shizuna is later on revealed that she is not blood-related with Koichi and Taisuke as she was brought along when Toko married to Ariake’s papa.Motive: money lent to Ariake’s couple.

*Kashi-san, whose son was always sick at the time of the incident and finally died 15 years later, who is also always treating Ariake’s siblings as his own children.

*What-so-called: mafia’s ring. Ariake’s couple is gossiped to have borrowed a big amount of money from the mafia..

*Togami’s mama: protecting her husband’s  recipes source.