The Cast of "Aishiteiru To Ittekure" (Say You Love Me) Then and Now

…One thing I have to mention about the drama Aishiteiru To Ittekure (Say You Love Me) that amazed me (as I re-watched it looking for a decent screencap of Kimiko Yo for the Aunty Michi post)  was just how YOUNG everyone in this cast was!!! I was simply stunned to see Takako Tokiwa, whom I generally regard nowadays as a fine WOMAN actor, back in her days as this ADORABLE young thing!!! Gads, I forgot how damn CUTE she was in this drama, no wonder so many of us fell head-over-heels in love with her back then!

 Really, to me it seems like not so long ago that I first watched this drama, but looking back, I realize that it’s been almost 20 years since that drama aired, and everyone had long since moved on up!!!  Suddenly intrigued, I decided to check out the latest dramas of ALL the primary cast members and see how they've changed since then! Fortunately, just about every actor and actress that appeared in Say You Love Me is still successfully working and it was easy locating most of their newest shows, and using my screencappin' skillz (LOL), I decided to take pics to show how our beloved characters have grown!

Etsushi Toyokawa

Above: Etsushi Toyokawa as Sakaki Kohji in Say You Love Me and as happy father Kinoshita Keisuke in 2012's Beautiful Rain (with Ashida Mana as Miu)

Takako Tokiwa

Takako Tokiwa as the adorable and innocent Hiroko in Say You Love Me, and as loving mother Misako in the 2013 Uchino Masaaki/Takeru Sato family drama Tonbi

Kohki Okada

As perennial “Nice Guy” and romance spoiler Kenichi “Ken-chan” Yabe in 1995, and as bankrupted merchant Itabashi in 2013's Hanzawa Naoki

Akiko Yada

Akiko as the devilish troublemaking Sayuri in Say You Love Me, and as Yurie Hamashima, one of the “Beautiful Women” in the fun 2013 comedy Nageki No Bijo (more on THIS drama later)

Yumi Aso

As fellow painter  Hikaru Shimada (and former love interest of Kohji) in Say You Love Me, and as Taeko, a Bar Mama in the same 2013 Takako Tokiwa drama Tonbi

Kimiko Yo 

As sexy and commanding Gallery owner Kanzaki Kaoru in Say You Love Me, and as the hilariously eccentric Rinko Kominato in the 2013 Rin Takanashi comedy Houkago Groove

 I just couldn’t end this essay without giving a mention to Dreams Come True, whose song “Love Love Love” not only totally MADE the drama into the heartbreaking masterpiece it is, but also provided the ANTHEM for our generation of J-drama watchers back in the 90’s!

In 2013, DCT are still going strong, and have just released their latest song "Saa Kane wo Narase" , the theme song for the fifth (!) series of the 1999 Medical Drama "Kyuumei Byoutou 24ji"! It seems the 90’s classics NEVER die and keep on coming!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Okada Kohki / Bukionna Love Song

The first time I came across Kohki Okada (credited as "Kenichi" Okada) was in the incredible five-star drama AISHITEIRU TO ITTEKURE (Say You Love Me) as Takako Tokiwa’s best friend Ken-Chan, the guy who’s always there to support her while secretly liking her, and ultimately coming between her and Etsushi Toyokawa’s characater Koji! (Upon re-watching it years later, I’ve come to see his character in a lot more sympathetic light, and realize he REALLY tried to “do the right thing” and advise Kyoko whenever she had troubles with Koji, but hey, when the opportunity to be with her came up, he couldn’t help himself!)

Anyway.

A year or so after Say You Love Me ended, a friend turned me onto a new single called BUKIONNA LOVE SONG, and what do you know, the singer turned out to be none other than Ken-Chan! Why, I didn’t know he sang...Silly Me! Little did I realize that I ALREADY knew quite a few songs from him; more precisely, I knew songs from j-pop trio TO BE CONTINUED, the vocal group that I was to learn Kohki was from! In fact, a couple of THOSE songs are probably gonna be featured at some point on this blog here, they were really good! 

I was able to get a live performance of Kohki performing Bukkionna Love Song on some music show, either Music Station or Music Fair, can’t really remember which one, but that perf really solidified him (in my eyes) as a cool guy, forever distancing himself from the shady "Say You Love Me" character once and for all…And that’s a good thing!

He seemed to play these kind of characters well, and I would see him next as a foil AGAIN, this time coming between Domoto Tsuyoshi and Sachie Hara in TO HEART~KOINI SHINITAI and later (much later) as one of the “Night Kings” in YAOH starring Masahiro Matsuoka! 

Awesome song, though, and listening to it now makes me want to break out my TO BE CONTINUED songs as well!

. 

The first 20 seconds or so of this Music Station performance of Kohki playing "Bukionna Love Song"

is a bit out-of--sync, but bear with it- it stabilizes!