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verification. (September 2010) |
Ryūsei no Kizuna | |
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Also known as | Ties of Shooting Stars |
流星の絆 | |
Genre |
Mystery Suspense |
Created by | Keigo Higashino |
Written by | Kankurō Kudō |
Directed by | Kaneko Fuminori Yasuharu Ishii |
Starring |
Kazunari Ninomiya Ryo Nishikido Erika Toda Akira Emoto Tomokazu Miura |
Theme music composer | Takuya Harada |
Opening theme | Beautiful Days by Arashi |
Composer | Shin Kōno |
Country of origin | Japan |
Original language | Japanese |
No. of episodes | 10 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Aki Isoyama Jun Nasuda |
Running time | approx. 49 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | TBS |
Release | 17 October 19 December 2008 | –
Ryūsei no Kizuna (流星の絆, lit. Meteor Bonds) is a detective novel by Keigo Higashino. It was serialized in Weekly Gendai from 16 September 2006 to 15 September 2007 and was published into one tankōbon volume by Kodansha on 5 March 2008. The novel was published in paperback format by Kodansha on 15 April 2011.
The novel was adapted into a Japanese television drama in 2008 starring Kazunari Ninomiya, Ryo Nishikido, and Erika Toda. With the opening theme " Beautiful days" by Arashi and the insert song " Orion" by Mika Nakashima, the drama series began on 17 October 2008.
During their childhood days, the Ariake siblings — Kōichi, Taisuke, and Shizuna lived peacefully with their parents who owned a western restaurant named after their family name that specializes in hayashi rice. One day in the night, the siblings ran away from home to watch a meteor, just to later find out that their parents were killed while they were gone. The case remained unsolved due to lack of evidence and witnesses; only Taisuke has barely seen a suspect, and a plastic umbrella with no print was apparently left by the killer. Leaving a great impact to the lives of the sibling, they made a promise to find the killer and kill him themselves.
14 years later, having grown up in an orphanage, the siblings are now scammers. When Shizuna approaches their target, restaurant manager Yukinari Togami, she discovers that Yukinari's restaurant serves hayashi rice with exactly the same taste as the one their family restaurant used to serve. After seeing Masayuki Togami, Yukinari's father and owner of the Togami restaurant chain, Taisuke determines that he is the suspect he saw on the night of their parents' murder. The siblings conclude that Masayuki killed their parents and stole their family recipe of hayashi rice, but they can only find circumstantial evidence. Eager for Masayuki to face justice before the case expires, the siblings plant evidence to frame Masayuki, leading the police to notice Masayuki as a suspect. During the process, Yukinari and Shizuna develop romantice feelings for each other, and Yukinari caught Shizuna planting a recipe book in the Togami residence. Yukinari decides to assist the Ariake siblings to find out if Masayuki is the real killer.
With Yukinari's help, Kōichi and Taisuke visit the Togami residence disguised as police officers investigating the Ariake murder, and inform Masayuki that his DNA is found on an item at the crime scene, making him an official suspect. Masayuki accidentally reveals that he is aware that the item at the crime scene refers to a plastic umbrella, causing Yukinari, Kōichi and Taisuke to believe that he is indeed the killer. However, Masayuki reveals that he was at the crime scene that evening to purchase the hayashi rice recipe from the Ariake couple, only to find they were already dead. In shock, he left the scene with the recipe and was seen by Taisuke. However, Masayuki mistakenly took the killer's umbrella home, so the umbrella at the scene indeed belongs to him. He calls the police to his home and offers the killer's umbrella for finger printing.
From the scratches on the handle of the killer's umbrella, Kōichi deduces that the real killer is actually Yasutaka Kashiwabara, the police officer in charge of the Ariake's murder. The scratches are the result of the killer swinging the umbrella like a golf club, which is a habit of Yasutaka. Yasutaka left his umbrella at the scene on the night of the murder, and when he came back as a police officer, he wiped prints on the umbrella at the scene, which actually belongs to Masayuki. Kōichi confronts Yasutaka, who admits to the crime and kills himself. Yasutaka left a suicide note, admitting to killing the Ariake couple and framing Masayuki (he had found the Ariake siblings were behind the framing and wanted to protect them from legal consequences). Kōichi and Taisuke decide to return their scam money and surrender to the police for their scams. Yukinari proposes to Shizuna.
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Viewers
[1] (%) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Higashino Keigo x Kudo Kankuro! The No.1 Tearful, Moving, Epic Mystery" | Kaneko Fuminori | Kankurō Kudō | 17 October 2008 | 21.2 |
2 | "The Umbrella, the Portrait, and the Mysterious Woman" | Kaneko Fuminori | Kankurō Kudō | 24 October 2008 | 17.3 |
3 | "Parents' Secret and the Hashed Meat Prince" | Yasuharu Ishii | Kankurō Kudō | 31 October 2008 | 15.0 |
4 | "A Memory That is Connected to the Real Perpetrator" | Yasuharu Ishii | Kankurō Kudō | 7 November 2008 | 15.6 |
5 | "Enemy's Son and the Stolen Flavour" | Kaneko Fuminori | Kankurō Kudō | 14 November 2008 | 15.1 |
6 | "We Are Not Real Brothers and Sister" | Kaneko Fuminori | Kankurō Kudō | 21 November 2008 | 14.8 |
7 | "Our Sister is in Love with the Enemy's Son" | Yasuharu Ishii | Kankurō Kudō | 28 November 2008 | 14.5 |
8 | "Our Sister's True Self and the Cornered Perpetrator" | Yasuharu Ishii | Kankurō Kudō | 5 December 2008 | 11.5 |
9 | "Final Confession On the Day the Statute of Limitation Ends" | Kaneko Fuminori | Kankurō Kudō | 11 December 2008 | 15.4 |
10 | "You Are the Perpetrator! The Fate of the 3 Siblings... A Tearful and Moving Final Episode!" | Kaneko Fuminori | Kankurō Kudō | 18 December 2008 | 22.6 |
It was broadcast in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico through TV Japan, US affiliate of NHK, every Saturday from 10 October 2009. [2]