『東京ラブストーリー』/"Tokyo Love Story" (1991) is often considered one of the best examples of "trendy dramas" of its time and easily ranks as among the most beloved shows in Japanese TV history. With its likeable cast of young, hip characters, an involving and complex love story and featuring one of the most enjoyable, catchy and complementary music themes ever, it is little wonder why the drama is still fondly remembered and continually rewatched over two decades after its debut.
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"Tokyo Love Story" is adapted from popular 80s manga writer 柴門ふみ/Saimon Fumi's (real name Hirokane Junko) 1988 manga series which was originally serialized in 小学館/Shogakukan's 『ビッグコミックスピリッツ』/Big Comic Spirits comic. The tagline for the comic boldly professed - "In Tokyo, anyone can make their own love story" ( 「東京では誰もがラブストーリーの主人公になる」). The series was a minor hit when it was released and was popular enough to catch the attention of Fuji TV Producer 大多亮/Ota Toru who decided to adapt the series to TV in the early 90s.
Interestingly, according to Japan Wiki, when Screenwriter 坂元裕二/Sakamoto Yuji adapted the manga and wrote the script for the series, he modeled all the characters after his favorite foreign actors at the time (Rika - French actress Beatrice Dalle; Kanji - Michael J. Fox; Mikami - Rob Lowe and Satomi - Diane Lane). Sakamoto had originally envisioned the titular couple of Kanji and Rika being played by ウッチャンナンチャン's 内村光良/Uchimura Teruyoshi and 80s JPop idol turned actress小泉今日子/Koizumi Kyoko.
Before principal production began actors 緒形直人/Okada Naoto and 本木雅弘/Motoki Masahiro were initially signed on to portray Kanji and Mikami respectively. It was only by happenstance that both actors had unexpected scheduling conflicts and had to drop out leaving the way for relative newcomers 織田裕二/Oda Yuji and 江口洋介/Eguchi Yosuke to take the parts.The romantic storyline is pretty straightforward: Country bumpkin 永尾 完治/Nagano Kanji (織田裕二/Oda Yuji) has finally landed his dream job in Tokyo working for a trendy, sports retail company "Heart Sports". Kanji has been looking forward to coming out to Tokyo as he can finally reunite with his childhood friend 三上健一/Mikami Kenichi (江口洋介/Eguchi Yosuke) and high school classmate 関口さとみ/Sekiguchi Satomi (有森也実/Arimori Narimi) who had both left their small hometown in Ehime five years earlier to make a new life in Tokyo (Mikami is finishing up his Medical studies while Sekiguchi is working as a kindergarten teacher). Kanji is esspeically eager to see Sekiguchi again as he has always had a schoolboy crush on the shy, genteel girl and hopes that he can finally win her heart. When Kanji arrives in Tokyo he is greeted by the energetic and ever-cheerful 赤名リカ/Akana Rika (鈴木保奈美/Suzuki Honami). Rika has had a rough childhood, moving around with family a lot and has always had to uproot and say goodbye to her friends (she even spent several years in Los Angeles, California). The rest is history.
Rika is instantly smitten with the handsome but brooding Kanji and teases him often by giving him the pet name 「カンチ」/"Kanchi" (after a boy she liked in elementary school who was also named Kanji but was referred to as "Kanchi"). Thus begins the complex and often times frustrating love triangle between the characters - While Kanji has always wanted to date Sekiguchi, she on the otherhand has always fancied and loved Mikami. Mikami, who is your typical badboy, rebel character is a notorious lothario and heartbreaker when it comes to relationships. Sekiguchi and Mikami eventually end up dating (much to Kanji's chagrin) but Mikami's cheating ways (he falls in love with a fellow Medical student, rich girl 長崎尚子/Nagasaki Naoko (千堂あきほ/Sendo Akiho) ends up driving Sekiguchi to tears. Meanwhile, Kanji eventually surrenders himself to Rika's aggressive romantic overtures and they end up becoming a couple. However when he see's Sekiguchi's emotional suffering, he cannot help but comfort her. Confronted with having to choose between the love of his life or Rika's lovable charm, Kanji choses to open his heart to Sekiguchi. After a trip to Kanji's hometown in Ehime, where Rika visits Kanji's old elementary school (she etches her name besides his), a heartbroken Rika accepts a promotion to head up Heart Sports' overseas office in Los Angeles and leaves Kanji.
In an epilogue that occurs three years later, we find that Rika had resigned her position a mere six months after returning to Los Angeles and that she had returned back to Tokyo to rebuild her life again. Mikami and Naoko marry as do Sekiguchi and Kanji. Rika and Kanji reunite with Rika saying her final goodbye to Kanji, content with the memories of the brief love that they shared and looking forward to an uncertain future (There is an interesting video however that features additional "Special Edition" footage (not shown in the drama series) that shows Rika going back to revisit Ehime two years after the events of the drama series on a work assignmet. I'm not sure if this is from the DVD Box Set but it does prove to be an interesting footnote to the drama.
The huge ratings for "Tokyo Love Story" during its initial broadcast was phenomenal and easily made the drama series one of the most watched for that year. It made instant stars of its three young leads 鈴木保奈美/Suzuki Honami, 織田裕二/Oda Yuji and 江口洋介/Eguchi Yosuke and each would find future success both on TV and in movies.
Suzuki Honami's performance in particular was absolutely adorable and it is little wonder why she won the hearts of audiences with her lovable, endearing and charming performance (actress Arimori Narimi remarked that when the series ended she received "hate mail" from furious viewers who were absolutely livid about the fact that her character "stole" Kanji from Rika, breaking her heart). Even rewatching this series for this post, I am still miffed and baffled as to why Oda's character Kanji picked Sekiguchi over Rika.
Some more interesting trivia regarding Suzuki Honami:
Before their breakup Honami was a huge fan of the JPop rock group バービーボーイズ/BARBEE BOYS and even went as far as to ask producers for the drama series 『愛という名のもとに』(1992) for permission to go see their final concert performance during filming.
While Honami's first marriage to F-1 Commentator 川井 一仁/Kawai Kazuhito ended in divorce after just three years, she would eventually be introduced to her current husband, 石橋貴明/Ishibashi Takaaki, one half of the comedy duo the とんねるず in 1998 through a close friend.
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