#011 ドンウォリー! (Don’t Worry!)

Playboy Yoshioka Shintaro is heavily in debt, but a woman named Hatada Mayuko appears before him and offers to pay it off in full. As a condition for paying off his debt, he agrees to help out at the bicycle shop she runs, renting a vacant room above the shop, which used to be a detective agency. He decides to try his hand at being a detective himself, and as he juggles his two jobs as a detective and a bicycle shop owner, he gets those around him involved in various incidents in this comedy drama. Each episode is self-contained, and a different guest star appears in each.

Episode 11: "I Want to Be a Detective"
When Shintaro suffers a back injury, Hideto (Aiba Masaki), a high school student aspiring to become a detective, appears and takes over his duties. In fact, Hideto ran away from home out of disgust with his father, who wanted him to become a doctor.

Title: ドンウォリー! (Don't Worry!)
Genre: Slice of life, Detective
Broadcast network: Fuji TV
Episodes: 12
Broadcast period: 1998.04.14 - 01998.06.
Air time: Tuesday 22:00-22:54

Yoshioka Shintaro
Played by: Kondo Masahiko
The protagonist. He is unwilling to take on low-paying or troublesome tasks (he will refuse to investigate a client who has been scammed out of their money and valuables), but he always puts the other person's feelings first and ultimately resolves the issue. He has a weakness for women, to the point that the mere sight of a beautiful young woman makes him dizzy. Nicknamed "Yoshioka-san," "Shin-chan," or "Shintaro."

Hishinuma Ruri
Played by: Kikuchi Maiko
The heroine of this work. She has had feelings for Shintaro since childhood, but Shintaro himself has no interest in her. She used to be overweight, but was shocked by Shintaro's disappearance and broke down in tears, losing weight "for when Shintaro comes back someday." Nicknamed "Ruri-san" or "Ruri."
She calls Shintaro "Shin-chan, Boss."

Itsuki Kaji
played by Shunsuke Nakamura
Living across the street from Shintaro's apartment, he's a university student attending the same university as Ayako. Since his parents stopped sending him money, he's been working part-time jobs and hasn't been able to attend school much. He's Shintaro's biggest victim. Nicknamed "Kaji-kun" or "Itsuki."

Ayako Naito
played by Kumiko Endo
Itsuki's girlfriend, a university student. She attends the same university as Itsuki, and they met at a group blind date. Itsuki warned her not to get close to Shintaro, but shortly after he warned her, they became good friends and even cooked for Shintaro. Nicknamed "Aya-chan" or "Aya."

Isamu Igarashi
played by Yu Yokoyama
Mayuko Hatada's nephew. At first, he was a quiet and somewhat dangerous boy, but he gradually opened up as he got caught up in all the trouble Shintaro caused. Nicknamed "Isamu" or "Isamu-cchi."

Planning: Kazuhiko Yamazaki, Hoshihiko Hama
Script: Satoko Okudera, Masahiro Yoshimoto, Akira Tomozawa, Takako Suzuki
Theme Song: "KING and QUEEN" by Masahiko Kondo
Insert Song: "[ékou]" by MASCHERA
Produced by: Yuji Ohira, Toyohiko Wada
Directed by: Yasuyuki Kusuda, Satoru Nakajima, Masakazu Eguchi
Produced by: Kansai TV, AVEC

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I didn’t watch the rest of this show because I wasn’t too interested, even though I do like Yokoyama Yu quite a bit. It seemed like a fun and silly one. Aiba was ok in this, but the acting was a cheesy and exaggerated. We’ll give him some more time to grow into his roles–you can’t beat that lil grin though. :>