Details
Title: 愛なんていらねえよ、夏
Title (romaji): Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu
Also known as: I don't need love / I cannot say I love you
Format: Renzoku
Episodes: 10
Genre: Human drama
Viewership ratings: 07.8
Broadcast network: TBS
Broadcast period: 2002-Jul-12 to 2002-Sep-13
Air time: Friday 22:00
Theme song: Life by Ikeda Ayako
Synopsis
Hirosue Ryoko plays a pouty, blind girl with a chip on her shoulder (chips and grudges are in this quarter), whose very wealthy father has just died and left her his estate. Her mother left him years ago, taking her older brother, but leaving her behind. The sweet, but none-too-sharp brother, Reiji, writes her for years but the housekeeper throws the letters away. Now it turns out that this sweet Reiji (let's call him Reiji I), has gone to work as a cook for another guy named Reiji (Reiji II played by Watabe Atsuro), the cold-hearted head of a very successful Kabukicho host club. The girls all love him, but all he loves is his bankbook. Reiji II's life goes well until one day a rich executive's wife, who has been providing him with millions, turns out to be a poor bank clerk who has embezzled all the cash from her employer. Reiji II did not know this, but the police do not believe him and he heads off to serve six months as an accessory to the crime. The distraught, sweet Reiji I steps into the street to protest as Reiji II is driven off to jail, gets hit by a motorcycle and dies.
Six months later, Reiji II returns to find that the world of Kabukicho has turned against him and, during his incarceration, he has somehow run up a huge debt to the district's worst loan shark. As he prepares to be eaten alive by the nasty loan sharks, a private detective shows up looking for Reiji I, so he can reunite him with his long-lost sister. Somebody gets Reiji I and II confused, but Reiji II does a quick take on the situation. Seeing this as his only hope of swimming out of shark-infested waters, he takes it. He steals the identity of the other Reiji and heads off for a reunion with his newfound "sister." Bitter and angry about something as yet undisclosed, she is in no mood to be won over and slashes him on the cheek with her white cane. End of episode one. And yes, that was the best offering of the week.
Wm Penn, Excerpt from Daily Yomiuri 2002-Jul-18
Cast
Hirosue Ryoko as Takazono Ako
Watabe Atsuro as Shiratori Reiji
Fujiwara Tatsuya as Akutagawa Naru
Suzuki Kazuma as Igarashi Akira
Golgo Matsumoto as Ichijo Haruo
Matsuo Reo as Ito Kaede
Nishiyama Mayuko as Nanami Kiriko
Hanmi Kazuaki as Makabe Kyoichi
Kurokawa Tomoka as Nagaoka Mie
Nozawa "Kegani" Hideyuki as Nagaoka Akira
Morimoto Leo as Ueda Takuro
Sakaguchi Ryoko as Nakata Sakiko
Production Credits
Producer: Ueda Hiroki
Directors: Tsutsumi Yukihiko, Imai Natsuki, Matsubara Hiroshi
Screenwriter: Tatsui Yukari
Music: Mitake Akira (見岳章), Takeuchi Toru (武内享)
Episode Titles
THE LAST 01「光の差す方へ -Autumn has come-」
LAST 02「想い出の一夜 -I want to die in your arms-」
LAST 03「最後の晩餐 -Farewell to illusions of happiness-」
LAST 04「おまえを絶対守る！！ -Weddingdress for death-」
LAST 05「最後の夏休み -memory of a firefly-」
LAST 06「優しすぎる嘘 -only truth! I want-」
LAST 07「最高のプレゼント -Happy Birthday-」
LAST 08「愛を拾いし夜 -I believe you-」
LAST 09「7億3000万の殺意 -kill me, with love-」
LAST 10「盲目の令嬢 -money, money, money-」
