The Truth Is Out There: AARO: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office

Tatsuya Fujiwara and Alice Hirose in AARO

YATTAAAAA! After MUCH fervent wishing and finger-crossing, my prayers have been ANSWERED as AARO: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (Zen Ryouiki Ijou Kaiketsu Shitsu) has been PICKED UP and is being subtitled, and by NETFLIX, no less!!! Hallelujah!!!

On the streets of Shinjuku, Crime Investigators Aranami (Yusuke Santa-Maria), Ninomiya (Riko Narumi) and Kitano (Rio Komiya) are called to the scene of a bizarre and horrific sight: a body seemingly completely dissolved away, leaving only their worldly clothing, accessories…and blood behind!

This is the latest in a string of similar murders, and with all avenues being investigated coming to dead ends and without any other leads, the authorities consider the possibility of supernatural explanations, and thus a formal request is made to a govermnent department few know about except in hushed tones: Zenryoiki Ijou Kaiketsu Shitsu, the “All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office”, Zenketsu or AARO for short.  It is THEY who are used to investigate things of the paranormal and unexplainable!

Led by the mysterious Tamio Ukino (Fumiyo Kohinata), he calmly hears the details of the case from above, accepts the investigation request, and begins putting the team in motion…

Koyume Amano (Alice Hirose) is a former PR agent in the Metropolitan Force who has been suddenly and inexplicably transferred to the strange and unknown department in the bureau called AARO. Amano has no IDEA what this department does, and doesn't even know where to FIND it! Situated in a little known undisclosed area, she is led by a trusted courier (Takaya Sakoda) to its’ location, a small building just beyond the old temple grounds.

Not knowing WHAT to expect, Amano makes her way into the base, where she is introduced to the lead agent of the department: Miyabi Okitama (Tatsuya Fujiwara) a man with a taste for the macabre and unexplained. As Amano takes a seat, she is told the legacy of AARO, and finds it bursting with MUCH history!

The department has supposedly existed since olden times as a dedicated group of people set out to investigate, understand and create defenses against everything occult and supernatural. Spirits, Haints, Mononoke, Yokai, the list is endless, and they document it all!

Whenever the government has something that they just cannot explain with rational reasons, AARO is sent in to assess and identify the problem, and this time they are tackling the aforementioned Shinjuku “Spirited Away” case, named thusly since the bodies have all seems to have been swept up and taken away!

Looking over the recent and past cases, amateur online enthusiasts have cited the God “Hiruko” as the being responsible for the deaths, but Okitama has his own suspicions that it is another entity called Shadow Man, as several witnesses have been quoted as seeing a dark shape running past just before and after the incidents. 

THIS is the case that Amano has been placed into, and she can only wonder just WHY she of all people has been chosen for such a task! But we will learn that she may have a gift for the unexplained as well!

From that point on, the AARO team of Okitama and Amano are formally brought into the official task force with Aranami and Ninomiya,  set to investigate the so-called Spirited Away murders/disappearances, and right off the bat the two teams are clashing, with Aranami’s side stuck on the cold hard “facts", whereas Okitama and the AARO team consider things of a more fantastic nature!

Yet, together this bunch of eccentric and hardheaded people must learn to work together to find out just what has been happening to the disappearing bodies, and with that in mind, the AARO team dives in headfirst, determined to solve the case no matter what!

While all this carnage and mayhem is going on, a mysterious girl (Riko Fukumoto) looks on from behind the crowds….just who IS this girl, and what does she have to do with the cases?

 We’ll have to wait and see!
Aw MANNNN, I’m SO STOKED that AARO is being subbed at last, I was REALLY ready to give up on this season, as this was the SOLE drama of the Fall that I was even REMOTELY interested in, and when I woke up today and found that it had been picked up, that MADE MY DAY and I didn't WAIT to jump RIGHT in!!!
So far, it’s been as interesting and intriguing as I’d hoped- From the beginning I figured it as a kind of “X-Files” type of show with Fujiwara and Hirose in the Mulder and Scully roles, and while not exactly like that, it has largely been just what I expected!

Of course, one of the the MAIN reasons for my huge interest in this show is the ever-lovely Alice Hirose, as she is one of my FAVORITE actresses right now, and OH WOW, does she shine here! So pretty, svelte and dedicated, her character of Koyume Amano would do Gillian Anderson PROUD!

In a previous post, I had mentioned my worries that Alice would be relegated to “the sputtering and clueless sidekick” who’d be only there to gawk at the lead’s eccentric and unorthodox ways, and while there is a tiny amount of that (when she voices her deductions only for Fujiwara’s character to invalidate her in front of everyone, Gads I hate this trope)... 

...when it comes time to do some butt-kicking, Amano is as bad-ass and cool a character as ANYONE on the team, a gal who can hold her own, and one to be respected! 

with Mirai Shida

Takin' down the thugs and taking names!

Now THIS is the kind of character I LOVE to see her playing and I can't get enough!

AARO is currently up to Episode 4 in Japan and Netflix is up to episode 2, so the "catch-up" wait for subtitled episodes will be about 2 weeks apart. That's time I have no problem with and know will be well worth the wait!

Can't WAIT to see MORE!

PS: Ooohh, and if that wasn't enough, we've got another visit to that famous "Love Distance" Apartment Complex! You just NEVER KNOW when it will appear next!!!

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Still On My Wish List: Zen Ryouiki Ijou Kaiketsu Shitsu

Still the Number One drama on my Fall Season wishlist (as I mentioned here), the X-Files inspired Zen Ryouiki Ijou Kaiketsu Shitsu  A.K.A. AARO: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office began airing this week, sadly at this time there still doesn't seem to be any subbing team that has announced picking it up, MUCH to my chagrin!

Add into the fact that FUJI TV has been enthusiastically promoting the show, giving us these wonderful promotional pictures of Tatsuya Fujiwara and Alice Hirose intended to get more people interested in the show, making my desire to check it out even stronger, and I am champing at the bit!

 

At this point I've already downloaded the RAWS for episode 1 (thank you Magicstar) but I really want to hold out and see if  a team will adopt this drama before trying to figure out such a complicated story without translations... However, if it turns out no one ends up subtitling AARO, looks like I'll be watching this series free-falling and without a net!

A Masterful Juggling of Story Arcs in "One Day~Seiya no kara Sawagi "

A veritable ALL-STAR cast, headlined by Kazunari Ninomiya, Miki Nakatani and Takao Osawa, the new mystery/Suspense drama ONE DAY: SEIYA NO KARA SAWAGI follows three different people as their paths diverge and intersect after one fateful Christmas Eve where a man is brutally murdered at a popular gathering place in town.

There is local newscaster Kikyu Kurauchi (Nakatani), an intrepid reporter who is determined to investigate and expose the murder case- even as her news program is being threatened with replacement by a cooking show!

There is eccentric Tokio Tachiaoi (Osawa), a restaurant Chef whose Christmas plans are thwarted by a chance encounter with the murder suspect when a huge pot of demiglace gets knocked over during the altercation, throwing the restaurant’s plans and honor up in the air…

…and then there is the mysterious murder suspect himself, Seiji Suguroji (Ninomiya), a seemingly calm and collected man who wakes up in the plaza on the ground next to a dead man and no recollection of what has happened or how he got there!

Along with these three are people like Mansaku Mitsutani (Eguchi Yosuke), a hard-as-nails investigator who knows far more than he reveals- Upon arrival at the scene, he wrests the case away from main investigator Karen Karumiya (Wakana Matsumoto) though he is from an entirely different division…and may have ulterior motives for being there!

Mizuki Fuehana (Taishi Nagakawa) and Yuan Yahata (Anne Nakamura) are two components to the puzzle of whom we cannot be sure of where their alliances are. Both of them contact Suguroji in his attempts to evade the authorities, but are they there to help or hinder?

And finally, there is adorable Sako Tachiaoi (Riko Fukumoto), little sister of chef Tachiaoi and junior reporter for the same station which employs Kurauchi…and is in fact rumoured to replace her!

(Already fell in love with Riko as the irresistible RinRin in Trillion game, and here's yet another great role for her!)

 Other familiar faces we see are those of the likes of Shinya Kote, Yuki Sakurai, Kai Inowaki, Tomomi Maruyama, and even Koichi Sato! All of them are intertwined throughout the story...

From just the first episode, ONE DAY is VERY intriguing and I would LOVE to see how it all ties up! My only worry is: Will this all just come down to Corrupt Police/Politicians like ALL the other crime/suspense dramas end up?

Guess We'll have to watch and see......

PS: I was just marvelling to my friend about how many stars from my "Golden Age" of Jdrama watching are here: Osawa, Nakatani, Eguchi, Sato...all of whom were among my FIRST wave of actors and actresses I knew back in Mid 90's. Who knew they'd still be here headlining shows some 25+ years on!!!