Kokoro Kuge

When Chihaya Ayase was in the 6th grade of elementary school, she met Arata Wataya. Arata Wataya transferred from Fukui Prefecture. Taichi Mashima was Chihaya Ayase's friend since they were little. Arata got close to Chihaya and Taichi from the card game karuta. Four years later, Chihaya is a high school student. Chihaya learns that Arata, who went back to Fukui Prefecture, doesn't play karuta anymore. Believing they will meet Arata again, Chihaya and Taichi starts a karuta club at their high school.

After successfully won the Tokyo qualifying tournament, Chihaya and her friends are set to go on to the nationals. As they prepare, Chihaya is faced with new personal issues as her childhood friend and inspiration, Arata, has announced that he has quit competitive karuta. Not only that, but a new rival emerges in the reigning female champion karuta player, Shinobu Wakamiya, a karuta prodigy who became the nation's and the world's greatest female karuta player as a 9th grader. All of this forces Chihaya to reexamine her love of the game in the midst of preparing for one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

Ohno plays the role of Tarui Shotaro, an ordinary guy who dreamed of becoming a hero when he was a child, but now gets by as a part-time worker. The unexpected story unfolds when one day, the daughter of a yakuza boss asks him to plan a make-believe kidnapping. Sato Ryuta plays Shotaro's co-worker who helps him with the kidnapping. Kanjiya Shihori plays Satsuki, the eldest daughter of the Hanazono yakuza clan, while Narimiya Hiroki plays Satsuki's college senpai who joined the Hanazono clan after graduation. Takahashi Katsumi plays the head of a rival organization who has fallen in love with Satsuki. Kitaoji Kinya plays Satsuki's father and the head of the Hanazono clan.

Inu o Kau to Iu Koto is a Japanese television series which premiered on TV Asahi on April 15, 2011. Its full title is The Story of Keeping a Dog〜180 Days of a Dog Named "Sky" Stayed in our Home〜.