"Itoshii Uso: Yasashii Yami" drama, episode five 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, their motto is getting subs done quickly and thus far they've lived up to it!

Main Cast: Wrote much of this bio info up after viewing the first episode and will update as we go along. 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 told Mio in the fourth show. 

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? Two of those secrets get revealed in this episode.

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 the first episode.... it was 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 kept the misery of her marriage hidden until the third show where she met her death....

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. Obsessive would be another apt description for this psycho whose role actually became bigger after Yumi's death in the third episode.

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.

Previous recaps, would definitely help to skim through them as so much has happened.

Episode one .... Episode two .... Episode three .... Episode four

 Been viewing four dramas that are currently airing but have only been posting about two of them. Both are intense/thriller shows which are the kinds I prefer to watch, the other two are kind of slow moving though entertaining watches in their own way. Did have a few recaps for those but unsure whether I'll continue to have them. Bit ahead of myself here as the sixth episode doesn't air for two more nights, Blitz Subs has a motto of doing shows fast and they've been living up to that. 

 Of course during these two recaps will be referring back to some previous incidents but not all that often so it may help to skim through at least episode four to see what's taken place. Where we briefly stand is two of the six 'close friends' who attended junior high together have been killed, one was a definite murder while the other probably was though suicide hasn't been ruled out. 'Close friends' is something I'm not sure this group of six were and will discuss it more in the next recap. The fourth episode ended off with Amemiya being stabbed in an elevator, was another main character going to bite the dust?

 Didn't think Amemiya would be killed off quite yet and for a change was correct with a prediction. That stabbing took place in an elevator at his IT office, he's the president of a small company. That hooded man in the top screenshot is Tadashi who was married to Yumi, she died at the end of the third episode. Her death was by drinking a glass of poisoned wine, did one of three men switch glasses and give her the poison or was it an act of suicide? That still hasn't been fully determined and will the truth ever come out? That husband Tadashi is one wacko of a man, though he did abuse Yumi he also adored her to the Nth degree though in a very odd way. Yumi was having an affair and that's another lingering question as the identity of that man hasn't been revealed yet. Tadashi felt sure the man was Amemiya and he could be right about that, his mind has become so crazed it's hurt first, ask questions later. He was a director at the Yamanashi police department but he's been fired from that position, why is in the previous recap.

 Amemiya was hurt badly but the wound wasn't too severe, he'll be up and around in a few days. At the hospital his soon to be girlfriend(!) Mio was having a chat with Reiko before Amemiya was allowed to have visitors. Like Tadashi Reiko also thought the possibility was high that Amemiya was having an affair with Yumi. Reiko did pose a question to Mio that has remained in her mind through this show, 'After not seeing each other for fifteen years what do we know about each other?'. Reiko is a lawyer and she's been a hard character to figure out to this point. She's hiding a pair of deep secrets though Mio does know one of them, Reiko doesn't seem to trust or believe Amemiya at all though he's been able to talk himself out of her accusations...., but for how much longer? She didn't even want to visit Amemiya and left the hospital without seeing him. But of course Mio paid him a visit and also arriving on the scene was Ryo from Yamanashi. That small city and Tokyo are about sixty miles apart yet the characters travel between them as if they're going to the corner store!?

 Rumor has it that Amemiya is a bit of a womanizer and I tend to believe that's true. He's admitted to Mio that he's had a crush on her since junior high and by the end of the show it looks like these old friends are now a couple. Have no clue about Mio's 'love life' and wouldn't be surprised if she's had no steady boyfriend up until now. There's been a very mysterious man who I've mentioned a few times in prior recaps and think he'll be talked about more and more as time goes on. That's Miyuki Nakano who had gone to school with the group but moved away when he was fourteen due to his parents dying in a house fire. One secret that Reiko has been hiding is that she and three others were responsible for the fire, unknown to her Ryo who was also responsible told Mio about what took place when they were fourteen. In that top screenshot Reiko was heading to her apartment and was passed by that hooded man, was he the man who pushed Mio in front of a truck in the second episode? When Reiko arrived at her building next to her mailbox was a note that was probably left by the hooded man.

 The note said 'I'll never forget you all!' and was signed by Nakano! That note naturally put the fear into Reiko, not that she knew of the note but Mio said she would travel back to Yamanashi to find out what happened to their old classmate. However Reiko wouldn't accompany her and Ryo, her behavior is beginning to frustrate Mio and what secrets is Reiko hiding and why? Plus Reiko never told her friend about the note that was signed by Nakano. She become a slightly suspicious person but by the end of this show we'll learn why Reiko has been keeping mum about certain things. So while in Yamanashi it's appearing that this man Nakano is still alive and kicking, at a restaurant there was a hooded man who responded to the name Miyuki. That's not a common name for a male so this hunt is looking promising in the beginning. Mio and Ryo paid a visit to their old junior high teacher Tamura, he's right above, and the pair were hoping he knew more about Nakano. This meeting didn't pay off as Tamura lost touch with Nakano over a decade ago and has no clue whether he could be alive or not. But this was the first meeting with Tamura who seems like a decent man, that second visit will reveal much more.

 But the pair did get the address of the relatives Nakano moved in with when his parents died fifteen years before, that'll be their next day's adventure. In the first screenshot above is Mio's editor reading a new manga story she's started on, when did she find the time? It's been easy to forget that Mio works at a manga studio as she's been on leave and hasn't been at the office for a few weeks. After that meeting Mio met up again with Reiko who said she would accompany her and Ryo on their next visit to Yamanashi, that'll be happening the next day. But later that night Mio paid Amemiya a visit, he's now out of the hospital and feeling close to his usual self. During that visit Mio had just a bit too much wine to drink and have noticed she enjoys the spirits. So she was in no condition to leave so for the first time she spent the evening with Amemiya!!!! However nothing happened as he was a gentleman, he slept on the couch while Mio took his bed and zero happened between them.... that will soon be changing!

 It's back to Yamanashi for Mio and Ryo who lives there anyways, he seems to make the sixty mile trip 3-4 times a show. In tow with them this time was Reiko and the first stop was the house Nakano lived in after his parents died. Not too much was to be found there as the house appears it hasn't been lived in for some years, it was a small residence and even when it was inhabited it was probably run down. The trio did find a box with some tidbits from when Nakano was a teenager, there was even a blurred photo but none of the three recognized him. That quietness soon came to a crashing halt as someone was intensely beating om the front door, when they ran out a hooded man fled from the house who was chased by Ryo to no avail. This hooded man appeared to be Tadashi as that's how he was dressed when he stabbed Amemiya but am wondering if there was a second man wearing a hood, that would be Nakano. One other thing about the house is that Reiko discovered a photo in that box of Nakano's momentos which her friends didn't noticed, it spooked Reiko quite a bit as the photo was of her!

 Final segment, after that scare at Nakano's old residence Reiko finally admitted one of her secrets to Mio which was that she had been a part of the group that played a part in burning down Nakano's house because of an errant firework. However Ryo had told the entire tale to Mio in the last show but least it's nice to see her begin to open up. There was one other person who Reiko revealed that secret to which was their old teacher Tamura as the trio paid him another visit. He had no more news to tell them of what happened to Nakano after leaving school but did tell then he thought the boy was being abused badly at home. Of course two people dying in a fire was a tragedy but to Tamura it may have been a blessing then for Nakano as the abuse finally ended. Not sure if she has any more secrets but after leaving their teacher's house Reiko revealed another whopper..... she's had such a crush on Tamura since she was fourteen! A 'love letter' to him was written by Reiko and put in that time capsule, that's why she was so intent on finding it as of course she didn't want that embarrassing secret known to the world. After those two confessions Reiko seems so much more at ease and her smarts will be needed to solve these mysteries. It's back to Tokyo and once again Mio will be spending the night at Amemiya's, this time she won't be passing out!

 She arrived at Amemiya's apartment building and buzzed him she was about to get on the elevator. But two seconds after that she was shoved aside, jumping into the elevator with a dastardly grin was Tadashi! Amemiya let him right in as he presumed it was Mio, what a shock it was to see Tadashi who still feels he was having an affair with his wife and came to finish the job of ending Amemiya's life! And it would have ended but in the nick of time Mio appeared and bashed Tadashi on the head, not hard enough as now she was nextin line to be stabbed. But she had called the police and sirens were heard, Tadashi told the pair he'll be back and left the apartment. The police have an APB out on the man but he's an elusive person to catch. Won't go into it but Mio and Amemiya did spend their first night together as you can see above. But when Mio arose the next morning something just didn't feel right, she felt so uncomfortable and couldn't put her finger on it. There's no doubt it has something to do with Amemiya and in the final few seconds Reiko was back on her hunt to prove Amemiya isn't all he says he is. She met up with a detective who told her Amemiya had been arrested a few years ago for assaulting his girlfriend, Reiko is so concerned for her friend and to me Amemiya has been such a shady character all along. Next post is the recap for the sixth episode and haven't viewed that yet but am looking forward to see some things start to become a bit clearer.