Official Website
www4.nhk.or.jp/P5835
Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Sundays, 8 September 2019
Network
NHK BS Premium
Story
In 1994, the maverick Kamijo Keisuke, who has become a professional shogi player without going through the apprentice association after switching from the business world, challenges six-time title holder Mibu Yoshiki. He wins in the early stages of the game. At the same moment, a skeleton is discovered in the mountains of Saitama Prefecture. Detective Ishiba Tsuyoshi of Saitama Prefectural Police’s First Investigation Division and Sano Naoko, who has become a police officer after withdrawing from the apprentice association under the Japan Shogi Association, search for the owner of a famous shogi piece that was buried together with the dead body. As Keisuke is being interviewed by a shogi magazine, he recalls his childhood when he picked up a shogi magazine that was thrown out as rubbish in his hometown of Suwa in Nagano Prefecture. Back in 1972, Keisuke was a poor elementary school student. With the wholehearted support of a retired teacher called Karasawa Koichiro, he quickly grew fascinated with shogi. He soon met the legendary Tomei Shigeyoshi, who went by the nickname “demon slayer” and plays shogi for big money. This started turning the gears of their destinies.
Characters
Chiba Yudai as Kamijo Keisuke
An up-and-coming shogi player who became a professional without going through the apprentice association. He holds the rank of sixth-dan. He challenges six-time title holder Mibu Yoshiki. Born and raised in Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, he had to do work such as newspaper delivery since he was an elementary school student because he lived in poverty. When he was 10, he met Karasawa Koichiro, and was introduced to shogi.
Emoto Akira as Karasawa Koichiro
Kamijo Keisuke’s benefactor. A former teacher who served as principal until his retirement. He taught a young Keisuke shogi, took care of the boy together with his wife as if he were their own child, and provided him both material and emotional support.
Renbutsu Misako as Sano Naoko
A police officer who works for the Community Affairs Division of the Saitama Prefectural Police’s Tokorozawa Kita Police Precinct. A former member of the Japan Shogi Association, she finds out that the shogi piece discovered with the skeleton is a valuable piece. She is partnered with Ishiba Tsuyoshi in the investigation.
Otomo Kohei as Ishiba Tsuyoshi
A veteran detective of Saitama Prefectural Police’s First Investigation Division. He travels across the country together with Sano Naoko to find out where the shogi piece came from. At first, he treats Naoko harshly but he gradually changes his mind.
Shibukawa Kiyohiko as Kamijo Yoichi
Kamijo Keisuke’s father. He work as a miso maker in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture. However, after his wife passed away when Keisuke was in second grade in elementary school, he drank and blew all his money on gambling. He could not even give his son a decent meal and eventually abandoned him.
Takenaka Naoto as Karasawa Koichiro
An extraordinary shogi player. Nicknamed “demon slayer”, he used to be a well-known amateur. But he is no longer in the mainstream and plays shogi for big money.
Scriptwriter
Kuroiwa Tsutomu (Maison de Police, Monte Cristo Haku, Kizoku Tantei)
Original Work
Banjo no Himawari by Yuzuki Yuko
Click here for photos from the press conference.
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