The latest season of the popular drama "AIBOU", "AIBOU season 23" (TV Asahi, Wednesdays 9pm) will begin on October 16th. The first episode, "Police Officer A", will be broadcast as an extended special from 9pm to 10:09pm. Kato Seishirō, Shiba Toshio and Denden will make guest appearances.
In "AIBOU", Ukyo Sugishita (Yutaka Mizutani), a member of the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Task Force, a department that operates from the sidelines of the police, uses his genius mind to solve difficult cases with his partner. Since the series began airing in 2000, four partners have been created: Kameyama Kaoru (Yasufumi Terawaki), Kobe Takeru (Mitsuhiro Oikawa), Kai Toru (Hiroki Narimiya) and Kanjo Wataru (Takashi Sorimachi). In season 21, he reunited with his original partner Kaoru for the first time since season 7, and this will be the 10th season of his golden pairing with Kaoru.
In the first episode... While Ukyo is working on compiling the "150-year history of the Metropolitan Police Department" under orders from his superiors, a case occurs in which former National Public Safety Commission Chairman and House of Representatives member Ashiya (Namiki Shiro) is murdered. Ukyo and Kaoru immediately arrive on the scene and, while keeping an eye on the First Investigation Division's investigation, begin to move.
The case sends shock waves through the political core. For Tonegawa (Denden), the ruling party's secretary-general nicknamed "Kingmaker," it comes as a bolt from the blue just as he is about to give up on Prime Minister Fujiwara (Shiba), whose approval ratings are sagging. Fujiwara, too, cannot hide his shock that his desperate plan to dissolve the Diet and call a general election has been thwarted.
As Ukyo and Kaoru follow clues left at the scene, they come across an unexpected person. It is Takada Hajime (Kato), whom Ukyo had met through a case and who had helped him take a step towards a new life. Takada, a police officer in the local community division, has seen a suspicious person in the area and is giving chase. Takada is enthusiastic about the investigation and has a good relationship with his senior, Nishina (Uchino Kenta), who works at the same police box, and has become a fully-fledged police officer. The two obtain new clues from Takada's information and decide to split up to investigate the case.
However, the case then takes a strange turn. A series of major incidents occur that shook Japan, as if to mirror the emergency of the time, such as the assassination of Home Minister Okubo Toshimichi, which occurred in the early days of the police about 150 years ago. Politicians, police, people involved in the incident... their intertwined motives bring about tragedy.
