"Itoshii Uso: Yasashii Yami" drama, episode eight(final) recap

 

 Air Dates: January 14th until March 4, 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 15th(?) reunion since graduating and all were friends back then.... or were they? A main underlying theme is the fact all of the six, now four, 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 revolves 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 didn't reveal until the fourth episode. 

 Kento Hayashi as Miyuki Nakano.... No, that's not a misprint as he is playing two characters. But him also being Nakano wasn't revealed until the seventh show and both characters are still alive, all of the details are in the final two recaps.

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? However Reiko did reveal two of those secrets at the end of the fifth show but Mio knew one of them.

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. He's been om the hunt for Amemiya(Nakano) and finally got his revenge in this final show.

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.

Ryo Kimura as Kazuya Kobori..... First introduced in the sixth episode and what a mysterious character he already is. The main question is if this man is the group's old classmate Nakano and if so he has his eyes set on them for revenge....

Hitomi Takahashi as Sayuri Amemiya.... We didn't see much of her for the first six shows but she did play a key part in the final two. Though she's Shuichi's real mother she thinks of him as the Devil and has kind of 'adopted' Nakano as her true son.

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

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

Episode five .... Episode six

 Thanks if you're been reading these recaps for this fine series, we've hit the final and this should be shorter than the above post which seemed like a tome. As mentioned I thought this drama was supposed to be ten episodes but it was just eight so everything for the last five shows had to be squeezed into three. The ending was good yet somehow could have been better, at first it appeared to be a unique finale but did kind of become cliche ridden but all in all this still ended up as a highly recommended series. Also need to give another thumbs up to Blitz Fansubs as they got this episode subbed less than 24 hours after it aired and you can get the entire series there, they also have few other dramas there that may have flown under the radar but are worth checking out.

 If you're reading this am fairly sure you've read some of the other recaps, the previous one definitely needs to be read. So as you know Nakano had plastic surgery to look like Amemiya and it was a perfect job except for the ears. The real Amemiya had been held hostage during this entire series and Nakano's partner Kobori was planning on finally killing this Devil of a man. But in the final scene in episode seven which only lasted ten seconds the real Amemiya somehow was able to turn the tables and it was him who stabbed Koboti to death, now he's on the hunt for revenge against Nakano and also his ex-group of friends. One thing I really noticed is the difference between murders in Japan and America. In Japan almost all killings we see are by stabbings, that happens too in America but seems for most murders guns are used. So will make this recap briefer even if a few minor details need to be left out and no matter how hard I try it's just so hard not to describe almost everything that takes place.

 Kobori didn't have much screen time as that's him in the top screenshot! With him out of the way the real Amemiya is on the hunt for revenge, he took Kobori's phone with his first call to Nakano to let him now he's on the prowl for him! Somehow Amemiya was able to get back into his apartment even though he no longer had the keys, you can see above how he trashed the place. But Amemiya was more interested in taking his bank books and ATM cards, while doing that he noticed a surprising photo. That was of a smiling Mio and Nakano, his alter ego is going out with such trash!? Amemiya may have acted as a 'nice guy' back in school but it appears he didn't like any of his group of friends, especially Mio and Amemiya was just using them to get ahead in life which never happened. At this point wasn't quite sure of why Nakano did a few things, did he expect Amemiya to somehow reappear? Think that may have been a slight reason but the entire true story will be coming up towards the end.

 What Nakano had done was to clean out Amemiya's bank accounts, he gave most of the money to the nursing home Amemiya's mother was staying at. To top it off Nakano, as Amemiya, resigned from the IT company he created so now both are penniless with no income nor a job! So that's why I was thinking did Nakano have an inkling that Amemiya would make a reappearance and made sure his life was destroyed before then? Amemiya was beyond furious, now it's not just Nakano on his hit list but as you can see above his first target will be Mio and at this point Nakano didn't know she was pregnant with his child. Mio is still in the nursing home's hospital and has struck up a nice relationship with the real Amemiya's mother. Though this woman knows Nakano isn't her real son but he's treated her so kindly and to the mother he's the good son she never had. So Mio will be spending the night at the hospital so Reiko and Ryo travelled to her apartment for some of her things. Ryo waited out in his truck while Reiko went for the overnight things, who should be waiting there but Amemiya who was actually hoping it was Mio. We didn't see it happen but Reiko was stabbed, it was a second floor apartment with only one door so it occurred to me now how did Amemiya escape?

 After that threatening call from Amemiya Nakano knew Mio would be in danger and dashed to her apartment, he didn't realize that at the time she was at the nursing home's hospital. With Ryo the pair burst into the pad but no Nakano was there, as I asked where'd he go? Who knows but Reiko was sprawled on the floor after the stabbing, the wound wasn't too serious and she was back to normal in about two days. One other observation was why do these assailants only stab someone once? On occasion it may work but it would only take a few more seconds to stab once or twice more to make sure the job was done. Reiko muttered before she passed out to protect Mio and zooming off to the nursing home went Nakano but isn't he already there? That's what Mio and Amemiya's mother thought as he came to warn them the real Amemiya has escaped, killed Kobori and now has his eyes set on Mio to be his next victim!

 So the trio went to the basement lot to leave in Amemiya's car, where did he get one? But during this time Mio noticed some differences with this man claiming to be Nakano. The real Nakano would have never put the mother's life in danger like he was doing now, who are you? she screamed at him! Like all sadistic villains this Nakano snickered and confessed he was the real Amemiya, if Mio will let him know where Nakano is now he'll let the pair go and maybe even go on a date with Mio! To that she said a firm NO and luckily arriving on the scene at the time was the real Nakano who of course looked like the real Amemiya after that plastic surgery. Amemiya had a knife and said he would spare everyone if Nakano gave all of his money back and 'confessed' to the killing of Kobori. Nakano pondered that threat for a few seconds and never did give an answer as to our amazement sneaking up behind Amemiya was his mother who thrust a pair of scissors into her son and he slithered to the ground unconscious.

 Nakano quickly took the knife away from Amemiya's mother and wiped her prints off it. Soon arriving were a pair of hospital attendants who called the police, during that time Nakano fled and it appeared to Mio she may never see him again, he may have had a hand in four deaths but Mio still loves him. The following day the real Amemiya died from the stabbing, his mother was okay but in a coma for a few weeks but pulled out of it. That was a nice act by Nakano and actions like that are what's made Mio love him. There was no way he could see the mother take the blame for killing her son, to Nakano she's the loving mother he never had. So he made sure the attendants saw him with the scissors before he fled. One thing never mentioned in this drama since the first minute is how much time has passed, for instance did the final scenes take place two weeks or two months later? One positive note is that Mio's manga writing career is going well and her editor asked if she wanted to have her first serial?

 To that Mio of course said yes and one requirement was that all of the manga artists had to pen a note to their readers letting them know about new serials. Which is what Mio did but it was also a disguised message to Nakano asking him to meet her at their old junior high. For three years Mio has had a huge fan named Kuro who sent her uplifting notes even when she wasn't penning any mangas. She had a feeling that alias was actually Nakano and she was right on that assumption. So Mio's message was to meet her that Sunday at the school and as you can see above Nakano did make it there. All of the scenes after Reiko's stabbing have been taking place in Yamanashi. At this mini reunion Nakano mainly talked about the past and how his fondest memory was of Mio drawing his portrait when they were fourteen and to Mio it almost seemed Nakano was giving her a final farewell. He was in a way as Nakano admitted he had nothing else to live for and he's hurt too many people, why go on with life? Mio had the answer to that as she finally told Nakano she's pregnant with his child and did that shock him to no end, a potential loving family has now given him all the reasons in the world to keep living!

 Final segment and Nakano's dream of having a family was about to be destroyed. Outside the school Reiko and Ryo and brought the Yamanashi police with them, of course Mio was in on the plan. As much as she loved Nakano and wanted his child there's no way Mio could live with herself if Nakano didn't pay for his sins. Nakano went away quietly, Mio did say she would be waiting for him and considering the circumstances don't think Nakano would have a long prison stretch. A person we haven't seen for two shows is Yumi's deranged husband Tadashi, he's tried to kill Nakano twice before for having an affair with his wife. As the saying goes the third time's a charm, when Nakano was being led into the court house Tadashi jumped out of a line of policemen with a knife, you can see what happened to Nakano above! I didn't have a problem with Nakano dying and Tadashi getting his revenge but the scene left you rolling your eyes. Tadashi was wanted for the attempts on Nakano's life plus he used to be a director at the Yamanashi police department, no one there recognized him???? Nakano saw him so why didn't he scream out or defend himself, that scene could have been done so much better.

 In the final two minutes it was six(?) years in the future, Reiko is preparing to open her own law office and Ryo now runs his family's wine company. Mio is now a very successful manga writer and she ended up having Nakono's child who was a girl and is about five in age. That wraps up this series and save for the final ten minutes I really enjoyed this drama. Will give it a final rating of 8.9/10 and to me that's a solid number, better ending it may have been a nine. If you're a drama fan coming up this week will be two recaps each for the "Patissier-san to Ojousan" and "Mystery to Iunakare" shows. Also coming up in the weeks after will be recaps for the "Hiru" series which begins tonight and also the third season of 'Kimi to Sekai'. One other show that I'll be starting soon is the second season of "Yuru Camp", the first season was kind of fluffy and lame but I enjoyed it immensely. Plenty of screenshots to end off with and as I often say they do help you follow the story a bit better.