Aibou:New Year's Day Special to be broadcast for 19th consecutive year, with Masanobu Takashima making his first appearance in the series and "The Third Man of the Special Missions Unit" also appearing

It has been announced that the annual New Year's Day special of the popular detective drama "Aibou" (TV Asahi, Wednesdays at 9pm), starring actors Mizutani Yutaka and Terawaki Yasufumi, will be broadcast in 2025. It has been broadcast every year on New Year's Day since 2006, and this time it will be broadcast from 9pm to 11:15pm. The suspense story is set in a TV station on New Year's Eve, and will feature a number of impressive guests, including Takashima Masanobu, who will be making his first appearance in the series, Fujimoto Takahiro, Takahashi Mitsuomi, Sakurai Atsuko, and Ishimaru Kenjiro. Jinkawa Kohei, a detective from the Second Investigation Division played by Harada Ryuji, who is well-known to fans as the "third man of the special investigation unit," will also be appearing for the first time in about a year since "season 22."

The story begins on New Year's Eve when Ukyo Sugishita (Mizutani), a member of the Special Task Force, accompanies Jinkawa on a shopping trip to a department store and meets a woman searching for a lost child. The woman is the wife of popular news anchor Koichi Hiyama (Takashima). Ukyo learns that his 4-year-old daughter has disappeared while he was away, so he helps with the search, but soon finds out that she has been kidnapped.

At that time, Hiyama had just joined the TV station to be the main anchor of a New Year's Eve program. Hiyama had been harassed in the past for criticizing the anti-social organization "Joker" on the program, and the kidnapper was thought to be the work of the Joker, but he received instructions from the kidnapper to "conduct the live broadcast as scheduled." However, as the live broadcast progressed, the kidnapper demanded that Hiyama confess a secret he had been hiding in front of the camera. With his beloved daughter held hostage, Hiyama was cornered.

Meanwhile, Kameyama Kaoru (Terawaki) is visiting the new home of his police academy classmates with Itami Kenichi (Kawahara Kazuhisa) and Mashiko Souei (Tanaka Ryuzo), but the reunion coincidentally becomes embroiled in a kidnapping case.

Takashima commented happily about his appearance in this film, "Aibō is a classic series with a long history, and a work that I have always admired. I was really happy to be involved. Mizutani Dai-senpai is my eternal hero. Terawaki-senpai is like a wonderful older brother to me, always cheerful and helping me ease my tension."

"I thought the New Year's Day Special was a very detailed and dynamic masterpiece. Hiyama is a very interesting role that is swayed by a wide range of emotions, which is challenging and a great joy for an actor," he said, introducing the role, adding, "Filled with suspense, surprising mystery-solving and great emotion, it is a masterpiece worthy of New Year's Day 2025. Please look forward to it!"

Familiar characters also appear in the New Year's Day special. The "last day of the year" of Kotemari (Moriguchi Yoko), Miwako (Suzuki Sawa), Kai Mineaki (Ishizaka Koji), Yashiro Miyako (Nakama Yukie) and others intertwines in a complex way.