流星の絆
Cast:
Ninomiya Kazunari as Ariake Koichi
Nishikido Ryo as Ariake Taisuke
Toda Erika as Ariake Shizuna
Kaname Jun as Togami Yukinari
Genre: Suspense, Family, Love, Swindlers, Comedy, JDrama
Episodes: 10
Summary: "No one ever died from not seeing shooting stars," is what their father tells them when Koichi and Taisuke's plan to sneak out to at midnight to see the Leonid meteor shower is found out by their parents. They sneak out anyway, despite the heavy rain and their baby sister waking up and making a fuss until they agree to take her along too. None of their elementary school classmates show up, but the rain lets down miraculously so that Koichi and Taisuke are able to see the shooting stars, even though Shizuna had long fallen asleep. They return home, sneaking in through the front door of their family's western-food restaurant, only to discover that their parent's have been murdered, making their father's previous statement almost cruelly ironic.
Taisuke had managed to catch a glimpse of the culprit's face, and that's the only evidence they have other than a vinyl umbrella, that the culprit had seemingly forgotten, though that too had been wiped clean. All three children are put in foster care at Saint George Academy (run by George-san the self-appointed Pierrot of the drama). However, before they leave their home in Yokosaka, they resolve together that once they grow up they will find the criminal, and kill him themselves.
The actual events of the drama takes place 14 years afterwards when even Shizuna, the youngest, is 21. The two brothers and their little sister are supporting each other and trying to live on, although they still haven't forgotten what they had promised at the time of their parent's murder. Koichi who now works at a western-food restaurant in Tokyo, also run by George-san, is still obsessed enough to have the police portrait of the man Taisuke saw coming out of their house as his computer wallpaper. Taisuke and Shizuna share an apartment, with Taisuke doing various part time jobs (one of them being at an adult video shop. Also run by George-san). Shizuna, who was working at a well known firm, had to quit because she was being harassed in a rather juvenile manner by
Koichi, Taisuke and Shizuna are forced to try to use their strength to swindle the money back, indirectly. Having succeeded once, they get a taste for it and more or less become swindlers. In what was to be their last fraud, two events too unbelievable to be coincidences overlap. After 14 years, a chance of finding out who the criminal is and pining him down becomes viable to them and they carry on with the plan, exchanging only the target who was the son of a well known western-food chain, to his father; the man who possibly killed their parents to steal their father's legendary Hayashi Rice. There seems to be only one problem though, and it concerns their little sister.
Review: I love this so much, it's not even funny, in fact it's a bit scary. It's up there topping my list with Nobuta wo Produce, and trust me, to do that is no easy feat.
This is perfect, somehow beautiful, and the epitome of Japanese drama for me, no matter how many dramas it's compared to. It's the epitome of a good story, combined with beautiful settings and people, genuinely good actors and wonderful camera-work and scenery and all that. I have no idea about direction, but even then I appreciated how this was all done.
The story, to begin with, is wonderful. It's quite a serious, heavy tale to swallow; about murders and orphans and shooting stars. However, it is all woven together so beautifully, an intricate myriad of colors including love, laughter, friendship, trust, family. Including sadness, hurt and betrayal. Confusion. Everything, it's here. It's about diamonds, lies and a kind restaurant. It's about Post-its, a delusional section chief and Ohagi-san. It's about letters from Canada. It is truly made of awesome and I fail at describing. This makes you laugh. This just as easily makes you cry.
I love all characters in this. Genuinely love all of them. Except for he-who-shall-not-be-named-because-I-can't-make-the-spoiler-thing-work. I first watched this as it was being aired in late 2008, one episode a week, and I truly was surprised to discover who the criminal was. This time around, when I watched it for the second time, a year later, I knew who the criminal was from the start, and my heartbeat was still racing until the end. I blame this on the wonderful actors.
Nino is probably my favorite out of Arashi, Jun-baited or no. I liked him first when I watched Kiiroi Namida, and this makes me applaud his acting skills once again. He is awesome. So is Nishikido Ryo. Ryo is another whose acting I adore, his dramas are always, always amazing. With Nishikido Ryo and Ninomiya Kazunari being in the same drama, I remember expecting it to be awesome. This however, was even better than I expected. I also liked Toda Erika, and Kaname Jun, and basically everyone else in this. It had a very well executed, very well carried-out feel, and the drama is convincing, and gripping and it is hilarious. I adored all the characters, although my favorite was Tai-nii, with his random stupidity and blabbing. <3
I am still way too amused when I hear anything about Canada or post-its.
Definitely something I will watch over and over and over again. There are no words to describe how awesome this is [despite the sheer amount of blabbing I managed up there at 3:00 am. -__-']. I'm not going to even try attempting to describe my favorite scenes/bits/dialogues because there are way too many and I have [still] way too much to say about them. I will shut up now, yes. This was awesome. A must to watch.
Music:
Beautiful Days by Arashi
ORION by Nakashima Mika
Rating: 10/10 [I would give it a hundred it I could. Ten somehow seems not enough, even if it's out of ten.]
Quotes:
~ At SongStories ~
Note: Nishikido Ryo is a beautiful, beautiful man.
This is another book I will try to get my hands on, and attempt to read in the original Japanese. If I ever get around to finish reading Nobuta wo Produce, that is.
They meet sooner then they thought, and spend a summer trying to succeed with there dreams. To save money and to make the money they have last till summer is over, they try to cook there own meals and came up with the most amusing results, like actually burning a hole through the bottom of the pot they were cooking in O_o
The friendship is also very touching. When the other three guys show up in his apartment, Eisuke barely has enough money, and yet, he goes on and tries to find more work to do because he will now have roommates and he wants to be able to help them. He does not turn them away, or not help them.
So much else happens in this movie and all of it is so important that I am not even going to try telling it all. But I would strongly recommend anyone and everyone to watch this, its not your typical jdrama or movie, its so much more better. Granted, there are no quirky little themes or in your face hilarity, but its different, and totally and completely worth watching.
There is also a 'romantic' element to it although that too is tragic as it mainly deals with unrequited love and disillusionment, although Matsumoto Jun's character DOES get a happily ever after (He is the only one who does). But he is not really a main character in this movie either (At first I was really disappointed but the movie totally made up for the lack of MatsuJun.)
This is definitely not a happy movie. In the end, everyone has to face the harsh realities of life and they give up on there dreams, and choose more practical careers. Nor is it a movie of undying friendship, as they only meet after the particular summer once, in a reunion. It is not a movie that gives you the message that 'if you try hard enough, you will succeed', or 'if you are a good person, good things will happen to you.' Instead, it shows you life.