TSUKI NO KAGAYAKU YORU DAKARA (Bright half moon in the night)

A story about two sisters in love with a man who is a Yakuza member.  Also, shows what happens when the Yakuza member tries to quit.  Fuji TV network's "Tsuki no Kagayaku Yorudakara" (Tuesdays at 9 p.m.). Goro Kishitani and Makiko Esumi were, amazingly, quite watchable in the roles of a reformed yakuza and a ramen shop owner's daughter brought together by fate.

"Tsuki no Kagayaku Yoru Dakara" on Fuji TV, in which Goro Kishitani has been beaten by a bunch of yakuza types several times already. And as is the case with nine out of 10 televised beating scenes, he immediately crawls home and puts that cute little bandage on his cheek. (No matter how many body blows you take, Japanese scriptwriting Rule No. 32 specifies a bandage always goes on the face, preferably the right cheek.)  "Tsuki no Kagayaku Yoru Dakara" is a perfect example of how reality can be distorted in the eyes of the viewer because it also recently included that other requisite scene of any drama with a romantic interest in it--the fever. [Daily Yomiuri, September 18, 1997]

Featuring: Esumi Makiko, Kishitani Goro, Kimura Yoshino, Kamikawa Takaya, Inoue Harumi, Wanibuchi Haruko, Kaneda Akio, Hoshino Yuka, Shimizu Shogo and more.
NETWORK: FUJI TV
Duration: July 1, 1997 through September 16, 1997.  12 episodes.
Theme Song: "Koyoi tsuki no youni" by Elephant Kashimashi
REVIEWS: 

Actually during the summer of 1997, I really got into watching this drama.  I like how everyone tried to get along with Mr. Yakuza (Kishitani) and how he confronted the other yakuza guys.