Jdrama: Sunao ni Narenakute

Posted on 14 April 2010 by NeeNee Leave a comment

素直になれなくて

Romanized title: Sunao ni Narenakute
English title: Hard to Say I Love You / Hard to be Honest
Broadcast station: Fuji TV
Broadcast dates: 15 April – 24 June 2010
Episodes: 11
For those who like Last Friends, Honey & Clover

Synopsis :: Main Cast :: Supporting Cast :: Episode Summaries :: OST :: Releases

Synopsis:

Five strangers who live/work in the Shibuya area of Japan meet and become friends on Twitter. They decide to meet up in person at a cafe called Emotion. Upon first meeting each other, the situation is awkward and these five people find it hard to be open and honest about who and what they really are. This drama follows their journeys through love, friendship, work, and loss and shows their coming of age. All in their mid-twenties, they still have a lot of growing up and learning to do and through this new friendship, they learn to love, be honest, and to gain an inner strength and the ability to rely on themselves as well as the support of their new friends.

Main Cast:

Eita as Nakajima “Nakaji” Keisuke
Nakaji is a soft porn photographer who dreams of being a war photographer like his estranged father. He is involved in an unhealthy relationship with a married woman who was his first love at the beginning of this series, but soon begins harboring feelings for fellow Tweet buddy Haru. Nakaji is kind and hates hurting others. He is also more likely to give up and lie to himself than to express how he really feels. Haru is his best friend in the group, followed by Linda whom he goes to for advice and help.

Ueno Juri as Mizuno “Haru” Tsukiko
Haru is a provisional teacher who appears to always be happy and optimistic, but is very insecure inside. She dreams of being a full-time teacher, but has yet to manage to pass the teaching exam. Since first meeting Nakaji on Twitter, she has felt an affinity with him and was appalled to realize that he was the man who had excused her of being a pervert. Friendship quickly turns to love, but Haru doesn’t have the courage to confess and try to win Nakaji and initially chooses Doctor who is very good to her.

Kim JaeJoong as Park “Doctor” SeonSu
Doctor hails from Korea and works as a medical equipment salesman, not a doctor. He has had a crush on Haru since meeting her on Twitter. He is a very nervous person and not very outgoing, but has a habit of being very honest (one of the only people who are). Knowing that Haru likes Nakaji, Doctor gets jealous and lies about his relationship to Haru, but he honestly does care about Haru and like Nakaji. He moved to Japan to escape his tyrant of a father with his baby sister Minha whom he is very protective of. Doctor constantly goes to Linda for advice as well.

Tamayama Tetsuji as Ichihara “Linda” Kaoru
Linda works for a magazine and is the big brother of the group that everyone turns to for help and advice. He is also the one who keeps to himself the most. He never reveals what troubles he is going through and just lets all of his burdens build until he breaks down. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time at first, but definitely is integral to the group. You have to wonder how bad his friends would feel if they knew just how much he sacrificed for them. Despite his sagacity and outward appearance of strength, in reality Linda is the most fragile and the weakest of the new friends. He originally joined Twitter to do an article about the people who meet there.

Seki Megumi as Nishimura “Peach” Hikari
Peach is Haru’s best friend from high school and a shop worker. Haru brings her along to the initial first meeting of the Twitter friends and needing friends and a connection, Peach joins them on Twitter. Peach is very insecure and emotionally needy. She is probably the only one who knows Linda’s darkest secret. She harbors secret feelings for Nakaji, but wants to support her best friend’s love. Peach, like Linda, also tries to give advice and run interference in the group as well.

Supporting Cast:

Kinami Haruka as Park Minha
Minha is Doctor’s little sister. She is a high school student at Haru’s school. Minha constantly worries about her big brother and supports his relationship with Haru. She also tries to get her big brother to mend fences with their estranged parents.

Nakamura Yuichi as Mizuno Shu
Shu is Haru’s little brother. He is close to being a shut in. He has drug problems and gets involved with one of Haru’s students who dealt drugs. Haru does her best to support him and help him through his addiction problem.

Fubuki Jun as Mizuno Sachiko
Sachiko is Shu and Haru’s mother. She takes care of her adult children by herself as their father is currently living elsewhere for work. Sachiko has a secret relationship with Nakaji’s father Ryosuke.

Kikkawa Koji as Nakajima Ryosuke
Ryosuke is Nakaji’s father and former war photographer. He really loves his son, but always tries to play off how much he cares. 25 years ago he had an affair with Haru’s mother.

Igawa Haruka as Yamamoto Kiriko
Kiriko is Nakaji’s older, married girlfriend. When her family’s business went south, she was forced to marry a wealthy, older man. However, Kiriko refuses to let go of Nakaji and even causes trouble for Haru out of jealousy.

Watanabe Eri as Okuda Mariko
Mariko is Linda’s boss and the chief editor of the magazine. She uses her position to lure Linda to go to bed with her. Though it seems that her feelings for Linda are actually genuine.

Episode Summaries:

Episode 1 :: Episode 2 :: Episode 3 :: Episode 4 :: Episode 5 :: Episode 6 :: Episode 7 :: Episode 8 ::
Episode 9 :: Episode 10 :: Episode 11 (Finale)

Soundtrack:

Theme song: “Hard to Say I love you ~Ii Dasenakute~” by Weaver from the single album Hard to Say I love you ~Ii Dasenakute~ released 2 June 2010

01 Hard to say I love you ～言い出せなくて～
02 つよがりバンビ
03 旅立ちの唄
04 Hard to say I love you ～言い出せなくて～（Instrumental)

Buy on CDJapan

Buy on YesAsia

Insert song: “Sunao ni Narenakute” by Sugawara Sayuri from the single album Sunao ni Narenakute released 19 May 2010

01 素直になれなくて (4’42)
02 Ｓｔａｙ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｙｏｕ (4’23)
03 ＧＬＯＷ (4’23)
04 素直になれなくて（ｉｎｓｔｒｕｍｅｎｔａｌ） (4’41)
05 Ｓｔａｙ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｙｏｕ（ｉｎｓｔｒｕｍｅｎｔａｌ） (4’23)
06 ＧＬＯＷ（ｉｎｓｔｒｕｍｅｎｔａｌ） (4’25)

Buy on CDJapan

Buy on YesAsia