(Follow Up) Oda Kazumasa - 「ラブ・ストーリーは突然に」/"Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni" theme to 『東京ラブストーリー』/"Tokyo Love Story" (1991)

 

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『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.

"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.

Saimon Fumi's manga "Tokyo Love Story" - Image courtesy of http://www.hjenglish.com/down/12179/

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 rest is history.

Rika (Suzuki Honami) and "Kanchi" (Oda Yuji) - Image courtesy of http://www.bsfuji.tv/top/pub/love_story.html

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). 

Rika (Suzuki Honami) and Mikami (Eguchi Yosuke) - Image courtesy of http://www.bsfuji.tv/top/pub/love_story.html

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. 

The genteel Sekiguchi (Arimori Narimi) - Image courtesy of http://blog.bb-side.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/tokyo_love_story_satomi.jpg

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 assignment. I'm not sure if this is from the DVD Box Set but it does prove to be an interesting footnote to the drama.

Remember my name - Image courtesy of http://pub.ne.jp/nobumasa/image/user/1262065708.jpg

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.  

The adorable Suzuki Honami (1991) - Image courtesy of http://ent.qianlong.com/4543/2009/08/12/3982@5121703.htm

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.

Suzuki Honami (2011) - Image courtesy of http://big5.cri.cn/gate/big5/gb.cri.cn/30944/2013/07/03/3765s4168539_4.htm

As "Tokyo Love Story" began to air in other countries across Asia as well as in select cities in Europe and the United States, Honami would become more and more recognizable and she would later appear in adverts/commercials in Hong Kong and South Korea.

Image courtesy of http://blog.163.com/erlangdongren@yeah/blog/static/1173048832013058117456/

Image courtesy of http://music.sina.com.cn/yueku/i/1257333.html

小田和正/Oda Kazumasa's dynamic and powerful love ballad 「ラブ・ストーリーは突然に」/"Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni" was the theme song for the TV series and it has become so synonymous and identified with the series that it is hard to not think of the drama while listening to the song.

J-Canuck has already covered the song in his March 18, 2012 post as well as his general review of the album "Oh Yeah" (March 12, 2013) post but I wanted to go ahead and add some additional trivia regarding the song especially how it relates to the "Tokyo Love Story" drama.

The origins of the song began oddly enough with Fuji TV producer 大多亮/Ota Toru who was a huge fan of Oda's work with the band オフコース and wanted to find a song similar to their classic 1980 hit 「Yes-No」 to be the theme song to their new series "Tokyo Love Story". Ota contacted Oda and asked if he could write a song for the series. At the time Oda was somewhat hesitant about writing yet another love song (something that he was ironically very much identified with) but agreed to do it. Oda's first attempt was in complete contrast to what Ota was expecting and was rejected by Fuji TV.  Undaunted Oda vowed that he would come back in one week with another song and "Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni" was the end result (I'm kind of curious to hear what the rejected song sounded like).

As J-Canuck mentioned 「ラブ・ストーリーは突然に」 has the unique distinction of sharing the status of the A-Side song designation with Oda's 6th single release 「Oh! Yeah!」 which was shrewdly released to coincide with the airing of the "Tokyo Love Story" TV series to maximize sales. The song not only reached No. 1 on the Oricon charts for the week of its release but also became the No. 1  most popular song for the year 1991.

Japan Wiki notes that on the single version "Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni" there are 「」 (quotations) in its title for some odd reason whereas in Oda's best album 『Oh! Yeah!』, the track does not include the quotations.  In another bizarre coincidence, the song also shares the same title as Fuji TV's obscure omnibus series 「ラブ・ストーリーは突然に」 (1991) in which Oda's song 「FAR EAST CLUB BAND SONG」 was used as its theme song. 

The version that's played in the TV series has a slightly different intro than Oda's single version in that the guitar intro is a bit shorter and that it beginning with a drum lead that is timed to puncuate the beginning of the title sequence that started each episode.  A full instrumental version of the song was also featured a lot in the series.

There have been a number of covers of the song, including a surprising number of English language cover versions (known under the title "Suddenly") including versions by JPop R&B artist BENI, former UK Europop Band Jigsaw member Des Dyer (which J-Canuck mentioned), American singer Rachel Bissey, Gospel singer Lori Perry, Jazz/Pop singer Arvin Homa Aya  and American singer Bobby Kimball.  My favorite cover version oddly enough is by former 80s teen idol Debbie Gibson which was one of the tracks in her excellent "Ms. Vocalist" Cover album (2010).   Actor/R&B singer 松下優也 did a Japanese cover version of the song as well. JPop R&B artists 加藤ミリヤ×清水翔太 sampled the parts of the song in their song 「ラブ・ストーリー」 which seemed like not only a tribute to the song but the drama series as well.

"Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni" is frequently voted as one of the best Japanese drama themes songs and its success sparked a trend in having JPop artists contribute their hit songs to drama series which continues today.  In the years to follow a string of songs would be used for various popular drama series including CHAGE and ASKA's 「SAY YES」 (used for the 1991 drama series 『101回目のプロポーズ』), 米米CLUB's 「君がいるだけで」 (used for the 1992 drama series 『素顔のままで』) and DREAMS COME TRUE's 「晴れたらいいね」 (used for the 1992 drama sereis 『ひらり』) to mention but a few.

"Tokyo Love Story" is available in a Japanese DVD box set but generally demands premium pricing ($200-$300 U.S.).

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"Tokyo Love Story" was the ultimate love letter for the city of Tokyo and as such highlighted a number of iconic locations in the city including Tokyo Tower, the Shinjuku skyline, Ometesando etc. The drama series is very nostalgic for me as it aired around the same time that I was still living in Tokyo so I definitely fondly remember all the fun I had while I was there.  While some of the trends featured in the series seem a bit dated (pagers, the "preppy" look, permed hair, payphones, telephone cards and bulky word processors), it is a nice look back. 

With Tokyo having won its bid to host the 2020 Olympics, here's hoping that a new generation of young people will have a chance to experiece and discover the magic that is Tokyo.  As with Oda Yuji's Kanji character I hope many others around the world can come find their "love story" in Tokyo. 

 

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