Haruyama no Koi
pairings: Konishi Katsuyuki x Kishio Daisuke
Cast:
Kishio Daisuke as [Itsuki no] Shino
Konishi Katsuyuki as Tachibana no Takachika
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Brief Summary:
Set during a more ancient Japan, Haruyama no Koi is the story of a ugly and scarred boy, Shino, living alone in the mountains and a young master who lost everything, Takachika, who Shino found injured in the woods.
(spoilers ahead)
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Commentary:
(note: I left some small details out of this full summary so it wouldn’t become too long. Such as, the origins of Shino’s curse/scar.)
The Drama CD starts off with Shino finding Takachika in the woods. His uncle had just died last Spring and Shino found himself living alone with his dog, Shiro on the mountain. Shino ends up taking Takachika home and start nursing him back to health. Takachika, however, had just been betrayed. His parents were murdered and the land his Father owned was lost to the traitors. As a result, he suspects Shino and is weary of him. As first sight, Takachika calls Shino ‘a monster’, afraid of his Shino’ disgusting appaearance.
Slowly but surely though, Takachika starts trusting Shino. They live together happily and their relationship becomes that of lovers. Takachika even vows to live with Shino forever. However, Shino is always worried that Takachika will eventually leave the mountain …
On one Spring day, Shino leaves for the village to get some supplies (well whatever, necessities). He tells Takachika to not come with him, afraid that Takachika will become nostalgic and not come back to the mountain. In the village, he is bullied by the villagers who see his disgusting appearance. However, a man stops them and recognize something that Shino was wearing. Startled and afraid, Shino runs away.
A couple of days later, when Shino is back already, that man shows up at the mountain. It turns out it is a comrade of Takachika and due to the circumstances, Takachika says he must leave mountain. But he promises, “Give me a year. When falls starts next year, I will be back.”
END OF DISK ONE.
Two years pass and there is no sign of Takachika. Shiro dies and Shino finds himself all alone. He gets a new dog from the village but, Shino’s feelings and doubts start growing. A voice in his mind poisons him with evil thoughts. Takachika will never come. He has forgotten you. He only wanted you for your body. He never loved you. He didn’t bring you with him because you’re ugly. And Shino, for the first time in his life, experiences hate and resentment. He even goes to the village and finds out that Takachika has a wife and kids. His hate grows until there is just hate left and the scar/curse (waza) spreads to his entire body.
Eventually, Takachika does come back but Shino has nothing but resentment left. Shino almost attempts suicide but, Takachika stops him and saves him. His reason for being late was a cure. A cure to Shino’s condition. In the end, Shino is saved from his hate and the hate born from his curse. The curse is lifte and the scar leaves Shino’s body.
Takachika then tells Shino that he wants to bring him to his village and live with him. Shino, of course, accepts. However, when they arrive in the village, Shino is in for a shock. The lifestyle is so different. He feels useless. He only sees Takachika at night. Takachika won’t let him leave the mansion either. (And of course, Takachika’s reason for not letting Shino go out is because Shino has become “TOO BEAUTIFUL FOR EYES”–Takachika is obviously possessive enough to want to keep Shino was his personal trophy wife—not that he realizes what his jealousy and possessiveness is doing to Shino who isn’t aware of anything)
Unhappy, Shino tries to leave the mansion to wander for a while but he is almost kidnapped and raped. Takachika saves him in the nick of time but, Shino is almost at the end of his rope.
In the end, Shino says he’s returning to the mountain. “I can’t live here Takachika. So please. I’ll wait as long as I need to. I’ll wait for you forever. So when you are really finish with your business here, come back to me. I’ll wait.”
Shino goes back to the mountain, expecting to wait a very long time for his love to come back to him. He doesn’t though and Takachika shows up again after half a year. And they lived happily ever after on the mountain together.
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Review:
I am a big fan of blcds featuring Daisaku. You’ll notice that if you look through my archives. Anyways, after hearing about this from someone on twitter, I decided I needed to give it a listen. It might be the fact that I haven’t listened to a CD in a while, but I found the Japanese pretty difficult. Because the story is set in a more historical Japan, the speech is …well, particular. If anything, I won’t recommend this to newbies. Or maybe you’re like me and find a certain charm to this old speech. Am I the only one who thinks it’s reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally sexy when KoniTan says ‘sonata’?
Overall, Haruyama no Koi was a really sweet CD. It had a lot of really tragic scenes, most of which were Shino’s dialogue–but it wasn’t angsty all in all. In a sense, this drama sort of reminds me of the movie Brokeback Mountain. They have similiar themes…and a mountain—but hey, I might the only one who sees these weird links. Ignore this last sentence.
Daisaku did a really great job in this drama. His monologues were just …beautifully sad. One particular scene that stayed with me was when Shino was overtaken by hate and said something like “subeta ga nikui” . Of course KoniTan was as sexy as ever.
As for the h-scenes, there weren’t many. I think there were two in total. If your looking for smut, you won’t find it here. What made Haruyama no Koi a great listen was it’s compelling story. Face it, Takachika isn’t a very original seme—and despite me wanting to bring Shino home, I can’t say he isn’t a character I’ve never seen before.
In a nutshell, Haruyama no Koi has a GREAT story. Daisaku’s Shino was flawless. The H-scenes are scarse and don’t really matter. The Japanese is sort of difficult.
Death by Moe 
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