Tokyo Friends

Tokyo Friends (東京フレンズ) is a Japanese television drama released on June 3, 2005. Unlike many other dramas, it was never aired on television but released as a set of 3 DVDs. Volumes one and two contain the first 4 episodes while volume three contains the last episode. Each episode is approximately 70 minutes.

The Tokyo Friends Premium Box was also released which includes all 5 episodes, a bonus DVD, and 12 postcards. Although this is a very typical Tokyo-story and was never aired, it was quite successful probably because it was Ai Otsuka's debut as an actress.

Plot
Rei Iwatsuki moved from her hometown Kōchi to Tokyo to pursue her dreams. On arrival, she found a job as a waitress in a restaurant and met guitarist Ryuuji Shintani. Ryuuji liked her voice and invited her to join his band as the vocalist, The Survival Company (also known as Sabakan). The two started a relationship but then broke off when Rei wanted to write her own songs.

Rei met other girls also working in the restaurant, Hirono, Ryoko and Maki, all in pursuit of their own dreams, and became good friends with all of them.

Cast

 * Ai Otsuka - Rei Iwatsuki
 * Eita - Ryuuji Shintani
 * Rio Matsumoto - Hirono Hayama
 * Masanobu Katsumura - Kazuo Sasakawa
 * Yōko Maki - Ryoko Fujiki
 * Mao Kobayashi - Maki Abiko
 * Ryuta Sato - Kenichi Satomi
 * Yuuta Hiraoka - Hidetoshi Tanaka
 * Kuranosuke Sasaki - Kohashi
 * Mari Hoshino - Akemi
 * Kei Tanaka - Wataru Iwatsuki
 * Kazuki Kitamura - Keitaro Sasakawa
 * Hajime Okayama
 * Kazuyuki Asano
 * Yutaka Matsushige - Shirakawa
 * Shunta Nakamura - Mitsuo Nagase
 * Takashi Ito - Oku-chan
 * Yuu Misaki - Yoshie Sasakawa
 * Arata Furuta - Wada

Movie
Tokyo Friends: The Movie was released in theaters by Shochiku on August 12, 2006 and on DVD by Avex on December 13, 2006.