is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

written by

Fumi Saimon is a female Japanese manga artist and novelist. She is best known for the series '' Tokyo Love Story'', which was adapted as a live-action television series. She won the 1983 Kodansha Manga Award for general manga for '' P.S. Genki Desu, Shun ...

. It was published by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

in ''

Big Comic Spirits is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional va ...

'' from 1989 to 1990 and collected into 4 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. ''Tokyo Love Story'' was adapted into a

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thriller ...

in 1991 which aired on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially b ...

in 11 episodes and one

special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...

between January and March 1991. The television drama starred

Yūji Oda is a Japanese actor and singer. He is one of Japan's 11 most popular male entertainers, according to an NHK survey taken in 2004.Mark D. West ''Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in Japan'' 2008 - Page 179 "Fukunaga, the boy band ...

Honami Suzuki is a Japanese actress. Career Suzuki began acting after high school and debuted at age 19 in the television drama ''Asobi Ja Nai No Yo, Kono Koi Wa'' (TBS, 1986). Her breakthrough came in 1991 with the role of Rika in the Fuji TV television ad ...

, and

Narimi Arimori Narimi Arimori (有森也実 ''Arimori Narimi'', born 10 December 1967 in Yokohama, Japan) is a Japanese actress. Filmography Film *''Hoshizora no Mukō no Kuni'' (1986) – Risa *''Final Take'' (1986) – Koharu Tanaka *''Tora-san's Bluebird ...

, and its theme song "

Love Story wa Totsuzen ni is a song by Japanese singer Kazumasa Oda. The song, his best-known work, is featured as the B-side on the single "Oh! Yeah! / Love Story wa Totsuzen ni", the ninth-best-selling Japanese single since 1968, selling approximately 2.7 million ...

" by

Kazumasa Oda is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and composer. He was the leader of folk rock band Off Course from 1969 to 1989, and has done solo work since 1985. As the vocalist of Off Course, Oda wrote many Japanese standard numbers in the 70s and 80s. Th ...

is the 9th best-selling single in Japan.

Plot

Mikami, Kanji, and Satomi have been friends since they were children, having grown up in the same small town in

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

. Now, all three are in their early 20s and have made their way to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

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 Plato's influence on Western culture was so profound that several different concepts are linked by being called Platonic or Platonist, for accepting some assumptions of Platonism, but which do not imply acceptance of that philosophy as a whole. It ...

female friend whom both have had a crush on since high school. The situation becomes more complicated as Kanji sees Mikami forcibly 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, Waga. The affair is de-emphasized in the TV series, but in the manga, the affair is much more important. Rika gets pregnant with Waga'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

as Rika Akana *

as Kanji Nagao *

as Satomi Sekiguchi *

Yōsuke Eguchi is a Japanese actor and singer. Since 1986, he has appeared in a number of television series and movies. He is married to the singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka (born 11 April 1969) is a Japanese pop singer who also is notable as a songwrit ...

as Ken'ichi Mikami * Akiho Sendō as Naoko Nagasaki *

Tokuma Nishioka is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, ...

as Natsuki Waga * Kaori Mizushima as Tokiko *

Miki Itō is a Japanese voice actress and narrator who is affiliated with the Office Osawa () agency.Doi, Hitoshi"Itou Miki" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011. Biography She graduated from the University of Tsukuba. She beg ...

as Ishii *

Hideyuki Nakayama is a Japanese ''tarento'', presenter, actor, and comedian. He is nicknamed and . He is represented with Watanabe Entertainment. He dropped out from Tsunamu Elementary School, North Junior High School (up to two semesters for three years), Persi ...

as Watanabe

Production staff

* Producer: * Director: (episodes 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11), (eps. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10) * Screenwriter:

Episode titles and viewership

#20.7% #20.8% #19.9% #17.1% #19.9% #20.1% #22.4% #22.9% #26.3% #29.3% #32.3% *SP:29.9%

Remake

A remake premiered on FOD (Fuji TV on demand) and

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

in 2020. ;Cast *Kentarō Itō as Kanji Nagao *

Shizuka Ishibashi is a Japanese actress. She is represented by the talent agency Plage. Biography Ishibashi was born as the second of three daughters of actors Ryo Ishibashi and Mieko Harada. She began classical ballet at the age of four and in 2009 went abroad t ...

as Rika Akana *Shō Kiyohara as Ken'ichi Mikami *

Anna Ishii is a Japanese dancer, actress and model. She is a former member of E-girls and represented by LDH. Early life Ishii was born on July 11, 1998, in Tokyo, Japan. She has an elder brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister named Chino Ishi ...

as Satomi Sekiguchi *Hidekazu Mashima as Natsuki Waga *

Riho Takada is a Japanese actress and model. She is best known for her role as Hina Izumi in the ''Tokusatsu'' series ''Kamen Rider OOO''. Filmography TV series Films Dubbing *'' Brain Games'', Cara Santa Maria Cara Louise Santa Maria (born Octob ...

*Miyū Teshima

External links

Internet Movie Database entryReview
{{Weekly Big Comic Spirits 1988 manga 1991 Japanese television series debuts 1991 Japanese television series endings Fuji TV dramas Japanese drama television series Japanese television dramas based on manga Seinen manga Television shows written by Yûji Sakamoto