"Itoshii Uso: Yasashii Yami" drama, episode one recap

 

 Air Dates: January 14th until March 18, 2022 on TV-Asahi, Friday nights at 11:15 pm

Episodes are 48 minutes in length, subs were done by Blitz Subs

Main Cast: Wrote much of this bio info up after viewing the first episode and will update as we go along. For instance it appears the fifth character has been killed at the end of this first show! The first six characters are all 29 in age and attended Yamanashi Junior High School. In the first episode they attended their 14th(?) reunion since graduating and all were friends back then.... or were they? A main underlying theme is the fact all of the six main characters are living their lives as a Lie and are hiding some deep secret from their school days....

Haru as Mio Imai.... The drama seems to revolve around Mio who is a very timid person but has been well liked save for two of the main characters. Her dream was to be a manga artist and she works at the Enami Manga Studio editing stories and books. Three years ago Mio did have her first manga but none since then as that book wasn't too successful. She has an enemy at her office named Rie who appears to have stolen some of Mio's stories. Back in school she also had a severe crush on the next person.

Kento Hayashi as Shuichi Amemiya.... Is the president of a small IT company in Tokyo and he seems to be doing very well. Back in school Amemiya was adored by many of his female classmates and that's continued to the present day, it seems secretly he's also had a crush on Mio which he hasn't revealed yet. 

Yuika Motokariya as Reiko Honda.... Mio's best friend back in school and like the above two characters has moved to Tokyo while the next three still reside in Yamanashi. Reiko has been very successful as she works as an attorney but is hiding a secret/lie from Mio that happened when they were in junior high but aren't all six hiding some deep secrets?

Junpei Mizobata as Ryo Fukazawa.... Seems to be the most level headed of the six 'friends' and think he's Mio's mystery fan. Ryo has remained in Yamanashi to work at his family's winery which he will eventually take over, like the others he has a mysterious secret from the past.

Yua Shinkawa as Nanae Iwasaki.... The class 'Princess' but what a cruel and eerie person she was in this first episode.... will it be her only appearance before her death?! Of all the main characters Nanae's life is the biggest of lies as she has given such a false image of herself on social media but those lies were beginning to crumble around her, especially when she began to stalk Mio! She's was still living in Yamanashi and worked as an OL, none of her dreams worked out.

Tomoka Kurokawa as Yumi Nose.... Final of the six who attended school in Yamanashi and the only person to have gotten married. Yumi is just a housewife with no children and her husband Tadashi is such a strict man, perhaps even a violent person too. However she's kept the misery of her marriage hidden and really none of these six 'friends' knew the others all that well, least for now....

This picture is from their junior high school reunion that took place early in episode one.

 Rest of the cast who will play a major part in the action.

 Sayuri Matsumura as Rie Okazaki.... She needs no introduction to Nogi fans! Rie works at the same Manga company as Mio and has made life so uncomfortable for her. Rie has stolen at least one of her stories and constantly blames her in front of others for her own mistakes.

Satoshi Tokushige as Tadashi Nose..... Yumi's overbearing and violent(?) husband, a director for the Yamanashi Police.

Mari Nishio as Hiroko Enami.... Owner of the manga company Mio and Rie work at. She's been noticing more and more on how badly Rie has been treating Mio but for now has kept quiet about it though is trying to diffuse this potential time bomb.

 Whew, as I've always said the main intro is the hardest part of writing a recap up and luckily just have to do it once. Here's is one interesting drama and what's not to like about it?! The main story is about one of the six above friends getting murdered at the end of this first episode and by the synopsis the killings continue on! Plus it stars three of my top actresses, this is the fourth series I've recapped for Haru and she deserves some solo posts. It also stars Yua who I like immensely but she got married a few years back so stopped posting about her but she was such a huge fave to you viewers also.... will this first show be the only one where her character is alive?!

 And then finally it stars Yuika who is one of my top ten all time women from Japan. She's a decent actress but has appeared in too many of those fluffy rom-com's but this is her second straight intense drama and hope she does many more in the future. As I'm writing this up having only viewed this first episode but halfway through will begin on the next show(finished this first). There was a death at the end of this episode and hope I don't have to reveal it until the next recap as it happened in the final thirty seconds. The story revolves around the first six characters who got closer after attending their junior high reunion, it doesn't appear they've kept in touch over the years but not entirely sure of that either.

 For you Nogi fans will get Sayuri out of the way(!) but she was in the first scene. Her role won't be too large but think it'll have somewhat of an impact on the life of Mio. Sayuri's character Rie works at the same manga publishing company, Enima Manga Studio, as Mio and is she making her co-worker's life miserable. Rie doesn't let Mio forget that she hasn't had a manga published in three years, one reason could be that Rie has stolen at least one of Mio's stories! Plus Rie is kind of a bully as she even made Mio apologize for the story stealing accusation even though it happened! Plus later on Rie made a huge mistake at work but was able to convince the other two artists that it was Mio's fault. But the woman owner Enima is realizing what's taking place between the two and have a hopeful feeling that Rie will get her payback before the series ends.

 The main scene which will set up the events for the series took place early on as it was class reunion time for the Yamanashi Junior High School, they're all 29 in age so it's been fourteen years since they graduated(?). In the bottom screenshot above is one of six who was part of a group back in school, they were 'friends' back then but was that really the truth? The woman's name is Yumi and of the six major characters we may see less of her than anyone else. She's the first to get married and that happened when she was 22 to a man a decade older. His name is Tadashi who works as a director for the Yamanashi Police Department and what a creep he is. He escorted Yumi to the reunion but left soon after, think he was mainly checking that her story was true. Tadashi is such a tyrant as he berated Yumi for coming home seven minutes late from the event and even threw away her cherished CD that had been in a time capsule.

 Right above Yumi's screenshot are the main three female characters though one appears to have met her death at the end of the show. From left it goes Mio, Reiko and Nanae, the first two have moved to Tokyo for their careers. As mentioned Mio is a manga artiest but she's been struggling, you'll hear more about her in all of these recaps. To Mio's left was her best friend in school who is Reiko, she was known as the class scholar and has proved every one right as she's now an attorney. Though the six were close in school doesn't appear they've kept in close contact over the years. On the far right in the screenshot is Nanae and she is such an eerie and disturbed person. The main theme for this drama is the Lies all six have kept a secret over the years and no one lies more about their life than Nanae. She still lives in Yamanashi and works as an OL but on her social media pages gives the impression she's leading such a glamorous life which is so far from the truth. Though her friends Mio and Reiko haven't seen much of Nanae over the years think they realize most of what she says are just lies.

 The first recap of a series is always the longest as the main characters need to be introduced but the next segments will only have two paragraphs, will wrap this up in nine(?). There were two males who were part of that group of six, one is Ryo in the top screenshot. He too stayed in Yamanashi but it wasn't because he was a failure but his family owns a winery and soon he'll be the president of it. He seems like the most decent person and though it hasn't been mentioned have a feeling he had such a crush on Mio back in their school days, seems Ryo's also the only fan of her manga. The other male is right below Ryo, that's Amemiya who the girls really loved back in school. He's still well liked and Amemiya has moved to Tokyo where he owns a small IT company and appears to be successful. A man being successful is what Nanae is always on the hunt for as she quickly whisked Amemiya away from the group and began putting her paws in him!

 But Amemiya is no fool, neither were the rest of the group who soon caught on to Nanae's intentions. The following day though he did meet up briefly with Nanae but it was no date, however she posted a photo on her media page giving the impression it was. Of course that was to make her friends envious and it did work a bit on Mio who was slightly jealous. The junior high school will be closing at the end of the year and Amemiya reminded everyone they buried a time capsule when they graduated fourteen years ago. The entire class went to the school to try to find the capsule, they eventually did but Amemiya needed to return to work before it was dug up. All of the students had buried a memento, such as Mio with a diary and Ryo with a wine cork, Reiko was mum on what she buried. But also found in the time capsule was a note stating 'I'll never forget you all' which was signed by a male student named Miyuki Nakano. He had moved in their final year and though we don't know the secret yet think this boy played an important part in the group's past. May not be true but have a feeling this boy has died and if so did they play a part in that death?

 Another thing which may or not be true is that I think Amemiya had a crush on Mio back in school, she had such a huge one on him. Now that they met again at the reunion Amemiya wants to get a bit closer to Mio and they did go out on a mini date. Mio did confess she's a bit of a liar as her career as a manga artist has not been going well, while everyone may think she's a success the opposite is true. That didn't faze the successful Amemiya one bit as he appreciated Mio's honesty and he wants to see her again. That'd be wonderful for Mio for though she's such a likable person she's so timid and so many have taken advantage of her. That mini date was one that didn't go unnoticeable as while Mio was on it her tiny apartment was ransacked. Most of her drawings were destroyed and her fan letters were swiped, at first to me the culprit seemed to be her mate at work Rie but that wasn't to be.

 Back in school Mio's best friend was Reiko who as mentioned is now a lawyer, the pair are starting to get a bit closer once again. Mio told her friend about her apartment being broken into, with Reiko's help she notified her ex-group of what took place and do they have any ideas on what happened? No success there but it was all a ruse by Reiko who let on about the date Mio had with Amemiya plus that the culprit missed something important on that first break in. Reiko was hoping that would draw the lowlife out again and it worked the following morning. Nanae had suggested that Mio change her locks, she did the next morning and after it was done Mio left for work. That was a trick as she hid in the wings with Reiko and soon after someone entered the apartment with a key to the new lock! And who should the shady culprit be but their once close 'friend' Nanae, think Reiko kind of suspected it would happen.

 Final segment and wrote this up so fast haven't started on the second episode yet. In dramas you always need to go to a park to discuss an incident(!) which is what the trio did and Nanae is a worse person than we all thought. At Reiko's law firm her mate was working on a different case, one that involved an IT exec being stalked by a woman, of all people who should it be but Nanae! What a life she's led with her lying, cheating and conniving, she's so irate at the world for her own problems. Nanae had to remain in Yamanashi and become an OL, her dream was to become a famous announcer, then marry a foreign actor and move to Hollywood! None of that worked out so she's become quite bitter, but the question remains why did she come to Tokyo to disrupt Mio's life as she too has been suffering? To make a very long scene shorter Amemiya arrived at the park and he was a minor cause of the situation as Nanae was so furious at Mio with going on a date with him.

 Mio does have too much of a soft heart and decided not to press any charges against Nanae, that really made Reiko so disappointed. Soon after Mio went out for coffee with Amemiya to discuss what took place and that's the above screenshot. Once again the name of Miyuki Nakano was mentioned and Amemiya couldn't recall the name but have a strong feeling he does and that Nakano should be playing a key part in the deep, dark secret/lie from their past. So that ends this recap and what an intense beginning to this series, now on to view the second show which is the next post. Hope I don't have to edit this ending for in the final thirty seconds back in Yamanashi a killing took place, that's the below screenshot. You should be able to deduce who it is and all of the details behind it should begin off the next recap.