Asian Drama

Adapted from the manga series "Meguru Mirai" (めぐる未来) by Tsuji Yamori (辻やもり).

Episodes: 10

Duration: 55 min.

Airs On: Friday

Shirakawa Keita works as a building inspector. He is a single father, who has raised his 14 year-old-daughter Hitomi alone since his divorce with ex-wife Sendai Yukiko. Yukiko works as a corporate lawyer for a large construction company. After his ex-wife left, Keita placed his daughter as a priority, making him the ideal father. One day, Keita receives a phone call. The caller informs him that "I have your daughter. If you want to save her life, go to your ex-wife." While looking for his daughter, Keita uncovers secrets about his daughter and ex-wife.

Kimijima Hayato works for a big manufacturing company. He wants to be successful at his job and he is mentioned for a promotion, but he opposes the company undertaking a project led by his boss. This leads to Kimijima Hayato being demoted to a chief of general affairs position at a factory in the province. He is also ordered to work as the general manager of the company's rugby team named Astros. The Astros were once a formidable team, but they have been losers in their recent past. Kimijima Hayato hopes to regain his standing at the company by rebuilding the Astros into a powerhouse, but he doesn't have any knowledge about rugby.

Kasumi Takeshi has just retired and is quietly getting into his second life. He never had the luxury of a beer during the day on a weekday during his 35 years as a salaryman. But in that instant Kasumi gets acquainted with the taste of that one glass and eating alone. This is the start of his battle with eating by himself. It is an unexpectedly high hurdle for Kasumi to cross and one that he keeps fretting over.

Hakamada Yukio is a competent, mysterious lawyer who only handles settlement cases because of past experiences. Although his scathing words get on clients’ nerves, his primary consideration is their welfare. His philosophy that “love is something that can never be bought with money. But if a client is able to have genuine resolve, I’ll certainly get the compensation and give the push for a fresh start” is the basis for the problems that he solves one after another.

“A completely undetectable poison that kills 24 hours after consumed.” It is the rumour that has spread on the internet of a lethal drug that makes the perfect crime possible. It has even become a topic at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Crimes Unit which Sasamoto Naomi has been transferred to. The background of Professor Matsui Toichi who invented this poison at an East European university is obscure. What is known of him is a fuzzy picture on the internet and the digits inscribed on the back of his hand. Matsui has disappeared but starts to appear before people who are trapped by their problems and hands them the poison. “You are free to use it as you will,” he would tell them. Meanwhile, magazine journalist Akimoto Shunji who is engaged to Koide Reika, the daughter of the president of his company, learns of this poison too. He has a problem. It is the existence of Otsu Mayumi, a former high school classmate with whom he has been carrying on a relationship for half a year. She poses an obstacle to his marriage to Reika. And so, he attempts to broach a breakup with her, but is told that she is two months pregnant. On the way home, a troubled Akimoto is hailed by Matsui who passes him a small bottle with the poison. Later, Akimoto is invited to a meal at a posh restaurant by Reika’s father and forced to vow marriage to Reika. He puts a drop of the poison in Mayumi’s cup in order to protect his bright future even as he struggles with himself. Mayumi unsuspectingly brings that cup to her lips... On the morning two days after the incident, her dead body is found at an unexpected place.

Adapted from 1981 novel "Doku" by Akagawa Jirō.

Episodes: 13

Duration: 40 min.

Aired On: Thursday

Ratings: 7.0