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罪な約束 [Tsumi na Yakusoku]


Original (Novel): Tsumi na Yakusoku - Mihatenu Yume 2 (ISBN: 4946569111)
Author: 愁堂れな Shuudou Rena
Cover Illustrator: 陸裕千景子 Rikuyu Chikako

Released: 8/15/2004 Leaf Sound Novels
Catalogue Number: LCD-31
Price: 2799 yen (with tax), 2666 yen (w/out tax)

Cast:
置鮎龍太郎 Okiayu Ryoutarou (高梨良平 Takanashi Ryouhei) x 野島健児 Nojima Kenji (田宮吾郎 Tamiya Gorou)
諏訪部順一 Suwabe Junichi (本宮秀紀 Motomiya Hideki)
千葉進歩 Chiba Susumu (南野浩一 Minamino Kouichi)
遊佐浩二 Yusa Kouji (富岡雅巳 Tomioka Masami)


Summary + Review:
Tsumi na Yakusoku hurts me. It's not the type of heart-ache that Ai no Kusabi or Hello!! Doctor gives that makes you feel that something shrill just stabbed your bleeding heart, but it's a feeling of extreme regret, sorrow, and loss. Let's get to the story:

The drama begins in the train station. The train departing for Itou slows to a halt. Suwabe-san, who plays the character Motomiya Hideki, recalls the incident ten years ago at the station. A young boy's voice appears in his head, crying, saying apologies, and calling after him "gambette-na!! Motomiya!!" [Do your best!! Motomiya!!]. Suwabe's voice is low, missing his usual seductiveness, but nevertheless still pleasant to listen to. As he teared a sheet from the notebook as if jotting something down, the train's noise gradually covered the ending of his monologue.

The train drives away, leaving the sound of ocean waves and the crow of flying seagulls.


*****

As the sound of shrill pantings and the friction of bedsheets eventually died down, a cute, sticky voice with a heavy Kansai-ben (Okiayu-sama XDD) carefully asked "Once again, is it okay?" He is of course, rejected ^^; the person who he has been calling "Gorou-chan" (Nojima Kenji) says he needs to rest XD;;;. Tomorrow, Gorou said, there's a hotspring trip to Itou from his company. Ryouhei gets jealous at the idea that everyone will be able to see his Gorou-chan's naked skin, and left kiss-marks on Gorou on purpose. Lol, of course, Ryouhei gets all of Gorou's anger after that.

Rant!! Okiayu-san's Kansai-ben sounds...SO KAWAIIIIII~~for some reason his voice gets a little muddled when he speaks in an accent, so it sounds a little sticky, like he's trying to eat a candy while he's talking. But being so biased that I am, I love him for that XDD Especially in the bed scene, Okiayu's voice also sounds a little lazy, and dragging his Kansai-ben with a heavy nasal sound while pouting with jealousy at the hotspring trip, and begging like a little puppy for a "itterasshai no chuu" [Goodbye-kiss] as Gorou is leaving for work....is SO CUUUUTE!!!! Kyaaaa~~~~

Gorou can't go to the hotspring with his other companions due to all those kiss-marks Ryouhei left on him!! >_< Poor Gorou ^^; But a chance arrived in early morning when everyone are still asleep. After enjoying himself thrououghly in the hotspring, he walked outside--only to find----a dead body!?!?!?


Time to introduce our last characters. Tomioka Masami (Yusa Kouji) is Gorou's coworker, but he seems to be always very mean to Gorou. Ken likes Yusa-san's voice a lot XDD especially when he mocks poor Gorou-chan ^^; Yusa-san you sound so sexy when you're being evil!! Just when Gorou is a little loss and frightened at the incident, fortunately, Ryouhei (a police) also arrived at the site with the rest of the police force. After comforting Gorou, Ryouhei took on the investigation of the case. The victim is no other than Motomiya (Suwabe-sama, I KNOW, he's DEAD, and let's be sorry for it >_<). He is last seen at a Love-hotel murder site that Ryouhei was in charge of. Naturally he is one of the suspects at *that* incident, but now everything just gets even more complicated since he is dead. As to why Motomiya came to Itou, there is no explation from bare evidence.

Our last character is closely linked to both cases. Minamino Kouichi (Chiba Susumu), who is not only the owner of the Love-hotel of the last murder case, but also the high-school classmate of Motomiya. Under research, Ryouhei found that Minamino and Motomiya are born at the same town and very possibly have grew up together. Minamino is brought to the site for further questioning and investigation.


Tomioka approached Gorou at work, and taunted Gorou about his relationship with Ryouhei and the kiss-marks. He harrasses Gorou and evilly walks away with "Gorou-chaan, mata ashita~" [Gorou-chan~~see you tomorrow--]. Back at home, Gorou finds out that Ryouhei also came back from work (and Okiayu says "mazu wa okae no chu~" [First of all, a welcome-back kiss!] NYAAANNnnn so cute XDDD). Ryouhei apologized about the kiss-marks from last time. Gorou is reminded of Tomioka's harsh words, but not wanting to blame his lover, he embraced and kissed Ryouhei. The rest of the dark night is saved for indulging in desire...


Alone in the police office, Minamino flashbacks to half a year ago. On the streets, he bumped into Motomiya by chance. The two shares a drink in the bar and casually chats about ten years ago, where originally they had planned to leave for Tokyo together, but Minamino stayed behind at the last minute. Disappointed but nevertheless smiling and comforting Minamino, Motomiya softly tells Minamino to go back home. As he boards the train, Minamino chased after him, sorrowfully sobbing and apologizing, and shouting "Gambatte-na!! Motomiya!!!" That sentence, Motomiya says, is something he'll never forget. He was really sad that day when he had to leave Minamino behind, he says. Minamino feels the same, but breaks laughing from his tears when Motomiya affectionately calls him "baka."

The happy days of their reunion only lasted half a year. Minamino is threatened and forced to participate in crime. Ken can't really understand this part X_x but somehow he became involved in the Love-hotel incident and witnessed the murder of the woman brought to that hotel. Frightened, he called Motomiya for help, but becomes even more horrified when Motomiya mentioned contacting the police. Before Motomiya arrive at the site, he ran away from the hotel.

Minamino continues to be questioned by Ryouhei. Despite claiming that he doesn't know anything about Motomiya's murder, he is still heavily suspected by the police.


Gorou continues to be harrassed by Tomioka at work. Tomioka finally confesses that me likes Gorou from a long time ago. Being mean on purpose is probably a grudge to Gorou that the person he likes is unaware of his feelings, and being jealous of Ryouhei. Tomioka says he won't give up, even if Gorou has a lover already.

The last piece of evidence arrived---Minamino's cellphone that was found with Motomiya. In shock, Minamino remembers when after Motomiya has learned of the Love-hotel incident and found Minamino's cellphone that he accidentally left at the site. Terrified that Motomiya might hand that to the police, he calls Motomiya to Itou's hotspring hotel and tell him to check in under a fake name. Motomiya mentioned the cellphone again at the hotsprings, and asks Minamino to destroy the letter along with the phone when he receives it. Minamoto is a little puzzled, but agreed to Motomiya's request. The next morning, he killed Motomiya in the hotsprings.

Ryouhei hands over the letter that was with the cellphone. He begins to read "I never thought I can meet you again after 10 years...in these ten years, although I weren't thinking of you day and night, but ever after meeting you again, seeing you has become my greatest happiness in life..."

Suwabe-san's voice flows in again with the soft background music. Motomiya confesses that if he had known he missed Minamino so, he should have brought him to Toyko. But seeing that Minamino is happily leading his own life, he realized that he was right to leave him behind. No matter how hard his life is, when he thought of Minamino, everything would get better. He is his most important person, no matter where, Minamino is his only happiness...

"USO-DAAAAA!!!" [THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!] Minamino cried out. In a dark voice, Ryouhei replied "I'm not lying, see the letter for yourself."

Taking the letter and flipping the thin sheet back and forth, Minamino's tears fell in shame and sorrow. The soft voice of Motomiya's voice flowed in his head....he KNEW about Minamino's motives!! That's why he asked Minamino to destroy the letter, so that he woudldn't regret what he saw. Painfully confessing, Minamino says that he really is also happy being together with Motomiya, but.....he was the one who had killed him. "Gomen!! GOMEENNNN!!! MOTOMIYAAA!!" Minamino cried punching the table.

*****


The sound of pen upon paper. Pausing, Motomiya painfully yet quietly sobbed to himself. Why? Why would Minamino want to do this? He asked himself. But whether Minamino kills him or not, it doesn't matter. If only his death would help Minamino, then it doesn't matter. He picks up the pen again. Finishing the letter and leaving it with the cellphone, remembering the young voice shouting "Gambatte-na!!" ten years ago, Motomiya stood up and walked towards his destination with a newfound deteminance and resolution.



{Ken takes a moment to recover]

In the beginning of the drama, I was a little disappointed that Suwabe-sama's voice sounds very...normal? But getting towards the middle I realized how much emotions Suwabe-sama put into his acting. The monologue on the train, the lonely-sounding voice that recalls the past with a bit of happiness, the voice reading the letter, earnestly telling Minamino how much he really cares about him, the soft laugh and the gentleness he shows towards Minamino, and the painful crying to himself when realizing that he is going to be killed by the one he loves. Suwabe-sama's performance touched me, yet confused me at the same time. Is it really worth it? I question. Motomiya's actions seem a little foolish, risking his life in vain. In another way though one can see it as "risking his life to protect," but in what way?? Is this really the best resolution!?!?

Chiba-san's character is not a very likeable one...not only is he the muderer, but he also appears selfish and ill-faithed. He did not trust the only person who would support him, but instead commited a crime that is unforgiveable. Yet, I sympathesize with Minamino, perhaps from the moment that he shouted "Uso-daaa!!" and broke down crying, saying I'm sorry again and again, and howling with true shame and self-condemnation. Chiba's crys makes me not want to blame him, and I realized that even if Minamino lives, he would carry on his guilt and blame himself forever as long as he lives. He wages a punichment on himself that is heavier than any other, casting himself as the real tragic character in this entire drama. Therefore, how can I blame him? I dislike Minamino for his weakness, yet I sympathesize with Minamino's pain. When Chiba-san cried and repeated gomen, GOMEN!!, I too, felt those words pounding into my heart, suffering the regret that Miyamoto can never be back again.


Listening report. First of all, strangely, this drama did not fully impact me when I first listened to it. But that has also something to do with my awful Japanese and listening skills and my lack of patience to last through an hour of drama. This drama also lacks a definite music theme, which bothered me a little in the beginning but seems to suit into the plot very well since it is more suspense than romance. The more I listened to this drama though, the more I catch the tragic relationship between Motomiya and Minamino, and the subtle feelings that Motomiya expresses knowing his own future. I like the format of the drama, which places Motomiya's monologue at the beginning and end of the drama, like a frame that both forecasts and flashbacks to the core of the incident. Especially at the very end when Motomiya's footsteps vanished in the distance, one can feel the arrival of the suspense of the beginning of the drama. In other words, the frame cleverly puts everything together and in a circle, so that after listening, one is able to trace back to the beginning and recall the finer details that one might not have notice before the truth was revealed.

Okay, back to our MAIN characters, which is Ryouhei and Gorou (seriously, THEY are the ones on the cover!!), one bad execution of this drama is that the intricacies of the development of the side characters overwhelmed the main couple, so that the drama seems a little lopsided...Ken admits that she has no interst in the main couple AT ALL, I just want to learn more about Suwabe-san and Chiba-san!! Which creates this feeling of "oh man, why can't the drama just be focused on Suwabe and Chiba" when actually, it is, but the main couple just comes in from time to time and have their own little developments that doesn't interest me. The outcome is that the main couple didn't get enough attention, yet their inserts seriously disturbes the flow of the story which is FOCUSED on the suspect and the victim. Ah well it just bothers me that I don't get enough of both, but it seems that this drama is leaning towards a series, so there would definitely be more from Gorou-chan and Ryouhei in the future despite their insignificance in this drama.

Last but not the least, the freetalk and OMAKE!!!! (sigh...I have typed a lot @_@) Suwabe-san is cute as always XDD saying his self-motto "Hi, Suwabe-deeesu!!" with a deep voice (and finally, Ken MELTS to his voice *___* ahhhh). Suwabe-san says that this drama is a real tear-jerker (and sniffs so adorably XDDD Ken totally agrees that it's tragic T_T) and he says he feels so sad when reading the part about Motomiya's true happiness--I'm touched that Suwabe feels so much for his character :). Notice I have convieniently skipped over Okiayu-san and Nojima-san, gomenasai~~(but they talk too much -_- and my Japanese is bad) Yusa-san playfully imitated the "Hi, Suwabe-deeesu!!" when he entered XD;;;;;; so kawaii~~I suppose that quote has become something like Koyasu's cute talk in Boko no Mono ni Narinasai XDD. even when the seiyuu ends and all says "otsukaresama-deshita!!" someone is still saying "Suwabe-deshita~~" from the back XDDDD (Ken sweatdrops).

The Omake is on a separate disk, some sort of extra, I think. Tomioka, Gorou, and Ryouhei hosts this omake together XDDD Ken LOVES Yusa-san XD, he is just SO FUNNY!!! When he entered and says in a weird tone introducing himself, and being so excited making all these weird noises introducing the "Tsumi na Yakusoku Energy Talk" XDDDDDD Tomioka suggested replaying certain scenes from the drama over, which is of course followed by twisting the scenes from the drama into weird conversations which includes advertising for the "Tsumi na Yakusoku" drama itself, discussing about different places in Kansai, and Yusa-san shouting "CUT, CUUUT!!!" getting angry at the two XD;;;; well....ehh. The two then turned to Tomioka asking "well then, which scene would YOU do?" Yusa-san evil chuckles (Ken melts XD)...of course he is thinking about perverted H scenes *sigh* Gorou sounds not very impressed, and says he doesn't want to do it, but he got forced into it anyways. In the hotspring H scene, Ryouhei softly speaks by Gorou's ears, but received some really unemotional response -_-;;; Gorou says it's because he DIDN'T want to do the H scene to begin with!! Yusa-san again comes in very excited, and says he'll take over Gorou's place!! So er, some very OMFG nosebleeding Yusa-san acting all aroused and panting and breathing heavily (with Okiayu-san just sweatdropping very much -___-;;;) and Ken faints nosebleeding.....ahh don't do that without warning, Yusa-san!!! X___x my nose...