Ties Of Shooting Stars

tags: japanese dorama, murder mystery, Keigo Higashino, Netflix

🌟🌟🌟🌟

From  Asianwiki

At the age of 11, Koichi Ariake discovers his parents brutally murdered in their home. Furthermore, Koichi must tell his two younger siblings the awful truth about their parents disappearance.

14 years later the three siblings still feel as much rage against their parents murderer as the day it happened. Then one day they locate the murderer...

From IMDB 

"When we grow up - We'll kill him together". Koichi, Taisuke, and Shizuna are three siblings whose parents had been brutally murdered when they were just in elementary school, and they vowed to avenge their death. Fourteen years later, their vengeful plan unravels countless new facts. A shocking revelation leads to an overwhelmingly emotional ending. What will become of the siblings who have lived their lives solely in reliance of their bond alone?

The Japanese dorama 10 episode series is based on a serialized book written by Keigo Higashino and was filmed in 2008. I had to watch because the main lead, Koichi, is played by Kazunari Ninomiya of the Japanese boy band Arashi. He was just 25 years old and looked like a little boy. [His bandmate Jun Matsumoto has currently 2 doramas streaming on Netflix which will be my next Japanese watch.]

The series is murder mystery and drama but loaded with the silliest comedy, some are so random and strange I just had to laugh. The sister was one day scammed out of her money. Koichi got the idea and started scamming people. He wrote the "script" and the sister and younger brother perform the scam. It was doing well and earned them some cash until they discovered the new victim is the son of the man they suspected had killed their parents. 

I enjoyed it and binge-watched for 2 days.

Karma Is A ...

While attempting to chase and corner a patrol boat with the Philippine Coast Guard near Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea on Monday, a ship with the China Coast Guard (CCG-3104) collided with a Type 052D Destroyer of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (DDG-164).… pic.twitter.com/D1Ph8zkO7W

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 11, 2025

Additional footage of today’s collision in the West Philippine Sea, between a ship with the China Coast Guard (CCG-3104) and a Type 052D Destroyer of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (DDG-164), has been released by the Philippine Coast Guard. The footage shows… pic.twitter.com/Eh0UB0NFQl

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 11, 2025

John Lennon's Instant Karma

Instant Karma's gonna get you 

Gonna knock you right on the head 

You better get yourself together 

Pretty soon you're gonna be dead 

What in the world you thinking of 

Laughing in the face of love 

What on earth you tryin' to do 

It's up to you, yeah you

Going Home In The Dark

tags: fable, horror, humor, mystery

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From Goodreads

When hometown horrors come back to haunt, friendship is salvation in a novel about childhood fears and buried secrets by #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz.

As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams―and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. Don’t they remember people lapsing into comas back then? And those people always awoke…didn’t they? After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him.

For Rebecca, Bobby, and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems. For Maple Grove, it’s a chance to have the “four amigos,” as they once called themselves, back in its grasp.

It took me a few weeks to rate this book by Dean Koontz. I couldn't decide if it is worth 4 or 5 star or if it is really bad as some of the reviewers on Goodreads think. It is another good versus evil themed mystery but it is very different from previous books by Koontz. I felt it was written for young adults because on the first few chapters he breaks the fourth wall to talk to the reader to explain and define some words or terms which are not that uncommon. Example: in a fugue. People know what it means for sure. Some readers got distracted by the constant explaining. I didn't mind it because sometimes it is funny.

Dean Koontz once again ridiculed everything and everyone which is hilarious in my opinion. There are many many humorous LOL things going on with the three friends specially when they rescued Ernie from the hospital to prevent the mortician from getting to him. It was like Weekend At Bernie's

The book reads like a fable or parable and I think those who rated it a 1 star got offended at the very end of the story, when Koontz compared the evil blob to communists trying to destroy the idyllic town. The blob was defeated by the good blob which was older and bigger than it is. The moral of the fable is, keep the good growing to prevent the evil from becoming powerful.

Recommended only for Dean Koontz fans.