It has been announced that "season 23" of TV Asahi's popular detective drama series "Aibou," which began airing in 2000, will begin in October. As usual, it will be broadcast over two seasons, every Wednesday at 9pm. This will be the third season since the "golden duo" of Sugishita Ukyo (Mizutani Yutaka) and Kameyama Kaoru (Terawaki Yasufumi) returned, and if the original Aibou era is included, it will be the 10th season overall.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Metropolitan Police Department, and Mizutani has posted a message of support on the department's commemorative website. The first special episode of this season will begin with Ukyo receiving orders from his superiors to begin compiling the "150-year history of the Metropolitan Police Department."
Former Satsuma samurai Kawaji Toshiyoshi, who founded the Metropolitan Police Department in 1874, built up the police organization together with Home Minister Okubo Toshimichi, but Okubo was later assassinated. As if to trace the incident that occurred in the early days of the police, a prominent politician is murdered. As the Special Missions Unit begins its investigation, they are faced with the widespread inequality problem in modern Japan and the ambitions and conspiracies of powerful people in the political world.
The cast members who have supported the series for many years, including Mizutani and Terawaki, will also be continuing their roles. Sugimoto Tetta plays Kinugasa Toji, the deputy superintendent general of the Metropolitan Police Department who is plotting to abolish the Special Missions Unit, and Nakama Yukie plays Yashiro Miyako, the head of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, nicknamed the "Iron Lady," and the familiar "unreliable characters" are working behind the scenes.
Furthermore, in the first special episode, a certain person who left a strong impression in previous seasons will make an unexpected appearance. The person who was saved by Ukyo and was supposed to have found meaning in life will now become deeply involved in the case.
Mizutani commented on the contents of the first special episode, "The story is linked to the real-life milestone of the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Police Department and depicts the origins of the department. It is a challenging story that carries the pride of police officers. Furthermore, characters from previous seasons will appear before Ukyo again, which is very emotional for me. I don't think such a reunion would have been possible if it wasn't for 'Aibō'..."
Looking ahead to the new season, he appealed, "There have been two big themes for 'Aibou' since the beginning. One is, 'I want to make a drama that adults who no longer watch TV can enjoy.' The other is, 'We are not afraid of criticism.' I feel like we are living in a society where everyone is afraid of incurring criticism and shrinking back, but 'Aibou' will continue to take on challenges without fear of incurring criticism. The 'Aibou world' will continue to evolve even more in the new season."
Regarding his third year since returning to "AIBOU," Terawaki said, "Yutaka and I were just talking about, 'Is it already the third year?' But for both of us, it still feels like we only just decided to return. The other day, when we stood next to each other for the poster shoot, we both said, 'It feels fresh, somehow.' Even though we've been together for so long, it feels fresh again; it's like the freshness has been vacuum-packed. It's up to the viewers to feel the length of the series, but we do our best for one scene, one shot, and one line... I think that's all there is to it."
To commemorate the broadcast of "AIBOU season 23," it has been decided that past series will be streamed for free on TVer. All episodes of season 14, season 16, and season 22 will be streamed in sequence from August 28.
