Ichiro Yatsui

Hiroto Miyama is an unconventional young lawyer who dances to his own tune and gets a little obsessive. For one thing, he’s only interested in criminal cases, and he will never give up in his pursuit of the truth even if offers only a 0.1% chance of being discovered. Japan’s 99.9% criminal case conviction rate leads the world, attesting to a “highly reliable” judicial system. In other words, once a crime suspect is indicted, prosecutor arguments tend to be accepted hook, line and sinker. In the face of those 99.9% odds, there’s no money in being a defense lawyer specializing in criminal cases, but for Miyama, that’s where the interest and kernels of truth lie. From unexpected places, the mold-breaking Miyama stakes his reputation on a prayer of a chance as he clashes with hotshot lawyers who’ll go to any lengths to win in this gloriously fun, legal mystery.

The 17-year-old Yatabe Mineko grew up in a family of seven in a mountain village in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture. Her father Minoru has gone to Tokyo to work in order to earn extra money. However, her life completely changes when her father does not come back for the New Year. Mineko asks her family to let her go to Tokyo to find him and promises to send money home. In the autumn of 1964, she and two childhood friends Tokiko and Mitsuo are hired to start working at a small factory in Tokyo’s working class neighborhood. After work each day, Mineko searches for her father and gets disheartened at times. Mineko overcomes challenges and starts to lay down roots in Tokyo as she experiences many meetings and farewells amid the laughter and tears with regulars, people of the shopping street, friends, and colleagues. But will she be able to find her father?

27 year old Adachi Momoko lost both her parents in an accident when she was in third year high school. She then gave up going to college and has been working at a home centre for the past nine years while supporting her three younger brothers who are now 20, 17, and 14 year old respectively.

When Keisuke Nakamura was a high school student, his mother was accused of killing a girl and then his mother committed suicide. 12 years later, Keisuke Nakamura tries to find the girl's real killer and also take revenge upon those responsible for his mother's suicide. He targets people from the media who covered the case and he crosses paths with sisters who hold a key to what happened. Keisuke Nakamura falls in love with one of the sisters.

Okawa Yuka is living out the daily motions of life but doesn't understand her reason to keep living. After a confrontation with a co-worker, she decides to end it all but fails when she stops herself from squishing a cicada. That cicada returns the favor by transforming into a man, named semi, for seven days because he thinks it will make her happy. The downside is, he has no idea how to live as a human.

Four adults suddenly become third grade students and do their best to live a meaningful life.

Kazuki Suzumoto is divorced and he lives with his 15-year-old son Kouki. Kouki is in a susceptible time. The father feels guilty about his son. Kouki then fails his high school entrance exam. In the spring of the following year, Kouki barely passes his high school entrance exam. Kouki mentions to Kazuki that he likes his father's lunch box. The father and son make a promise to each other. Kazuki promises that he will make a lunch box everyday for Kouki. Kouki promises that he will never skip school.