Main characters •
Japanese Live action actor: Masami Nagasawa Michiru Aida is a beauty parlour assistant who gets constantly bullied at her workplace "Niche" by her
seniors. Her mother doesn't care about her much, even forgetting her 22nd birthday. She moves in with her boyfriend Sousuke; who is the only one who she can confide her emotional problems to but becomes the victim of domestic violence. She was Ruka's best friend in middle school and has not seen her for four years after her mother moved them to a relative's place in Choushi. Michiru graduated from high school in 2003. After returning to Tokyo, she is spotted by Ruka while shopping for new furniture in accordance with moving in with Sousuke. The two then spend time catching up at a park which holds precious memories to each of them. In the past, Michiru would tell Ruka all of her family problems at the very same park, eat ice cream and take shelter from the rain there. When she returns to Sousuke's apartment, she is slapped because Sousuke thought that the messages that Michiru was receiving from Ruka was from a guy. Failing to find the graduation album in her house, Michiru returns and gets slapped again and promises to find it. When she returns to her house again, she sees her mother with another guy, so she decides to go to the park. Ruka finds Michiru by instinct after receiving a miss call from her, and brings Michiru back to the
Share House. They spend the night there and after Ruka sees Michiru crying in her sleep, Ruka kisses Michiru. She gives Ruka a good luck charm for the race, which Ruka considers to be the thing which saved her during the accident which occurred during the race when her bike flipped over. After the accident, Michiru nearly gets attacked by Sousuke until Ruka turns up and yells at Sousuke not to touch "my Michiru". After being raped by Sousuke, Michiru moves out of the ShareHouse and isolates herself from everyone else. She goes back to Choushi, where nine months later, she is about to give birth. However, complications arises when it is discovered she has abnormal high blood pressure that can endanger both her child and herself. She manages to pull through and names the child "Rumi",
Ru from
Ruka and
Mi from
Michiru.
Ru is also present in Take
ru. Taeko Asano has stated that Michiru and Ruka were not based on
Naoko Takeuchi's
Sailor Moon characters
Michiru and
Haruka despite rumors. •
Japanese Live action actor: Juri Ueno A brilliant motocross racer, Ruka Kishimoto was Michiru's best friend since middle school. When she meets Michiru after four years, she is delighted yet worried about it. She dislikes people discriminating against gender, like her motocross senior does. She comments that when she is racing and in the air, "everything disappears" and "you become a thing floating in air" regardless of gender. Ruka lives in the
Share House with Eri. Her main problem throughout the series is confessing her love for Michiru. There are moments where it is obvious that Ruka loves Michiru, yet Michiru doesn't see it. Sousuke describes Ruka looking at Michiru with "male like eyes". Her relationship with Takeru is different. While Takeru loves Ruka, Ruka treats him like a friend. Her father even states that Takeru looks "weak", much to Ruka's amusement. Taeko Asano commented that Ueno Juri "changed" her image from the
Nodame Cantabile hairstyle to Ruka's clothing and hair style right before rehearsal. Asano also commented that "she's a natural genius" and that she became "the character itself" because Ueno changed her habits of walking, talking and sitting to emulate Ruka's style, even when the camera's were not in action. When Ruka denies this, saying that she treats everyone fairly, Eri also denies her statement because she felt that she was treated differently although Eri is Ruka's housemate. •
Japanese Live action actor: Ryo Nishikido Sousuke Oikawa is Michiru's boyfriend who works in the Children's Welfare department. He abuses Michiru and seems to suffer from multiple personalities, once slapping her then apologizing and hugging the next moment. He beats up Takeru as he mistakenly assumes that Takeru was the guy Ruka said that Michiru liked. Sousuke also nearly rapes Ruka, but Ruka manages to get away at the last minute by smashing a lamp into him. The only relationship he has besides being Michiru's boyfriend is with a young boy who he rescues from an abusive parent. He saves the child's life from an oncoming train, breaking several of his bones in the process. When he was 10, Sousuke was raised by various relatives after his mother ran away with a customer at the supermarket where she had worked. It is because of this that Sousuke wanted to marry Michiru and raise a happy family. Sousuke commits suicide at the end of the series because he felt he could not give Michiru the happiness she found with the ShareHouse members. He writes her a letter, explaining his actions and how he understood that the only way to set Michiru free was to kill himself. Masami Nagasawa, who played opposite Nishikido as Michiru, stated that "his type of acting is more difficult than mine. He also worries about me being hit accidentally."
Supporting characters Tomohiko Ogura •
Japanese Live action actor: Shigenori Yamazaki Tomohiko Ogura is Eri's senior at their workplace. He has an estranged relationship with his wife Eiko and decides to move into the ShareHouse while he finds a way to solve his problem. He is often called
Ogurin. Ogurin is very cowardly sometimes, unable to stand up for himself or worry a lot about his wellbeing. He realizes that he has been in love with Eri all along, and marries her. They both move out of the ShareHouse due to Ogurin's transfer to Italy, but return eventually after a year. • Aki Nishihara as Reina Hiratsuka • Rea Ranka as Sayuri Mita •
Sayaka Hirano as Mayumi Okabe •
Mitsuko Baisho as Chinatsu Aida Michiru's mother, she is often drunk and very careless. She gambles and borrows money often, leading to financial burdens on Michiru. At the start of the drama, she finds a new lover which makes Michiru irritated. When Chinatsu needed money to pay of some debts, Sousuke offers her some and in return she tells him of Michiru's location. • Takeru Shibuya as Naoya Higuchi • Toshiyuki Kitami as Kenichiro Endo •
Yuko Ito as Yuko Shirahata Takeru's sister. Their past is vaguely shown, but it is clear that she did something to Takeru which made him fear a woman's body. •
Tetsushi Tanaka as Kazumi Hayashida Hayashida is Ruka's motocross senior. Often looking down on women, Hayashida believes that it is almost impossible for a woman to reach the speed and level of a male racer. He once tried to hit on her, but Ruka manages to ward him off. •
Mayumi Asaka as Yoko Kishimoto •
Mitsuru Hirata as Shuji Kishimoto • Mitsuki Nagashima as Shogo Kishimoto Shogo is Ruka's younger brother. The Kishimoto family is very supportive of Ruka. ==Setting==