Winter 2023

Miri Unasaka, 4, travels to Tokyo all by herself on Christmas Eve in search of her father. Miri is led to a large hotel and a man carrying what appears to be a delectable cake by the brilliant lights and festive ambiance. The youngster, however, has just unwittingly become the focal point of a complex, failsafe scheme for killing a violent mafia boss.

Kazuki Kurusu and Rei Suwa are professional killers who live together in order to escape their dark childhood experiences and be emotionally detached. There is only one logical course of action when their plan goes awry and they find themselves taking Miri home: give Miri back to her mother. But Kazuki, who secretly adores playing a parent, is swiftly won over by the child’s beautiful laugh and pure worldview, and soon Miri finds a place in Rei’s impenetrable heart.

The unexpected nature of Miri’s every action makes rearing a young child more difficult for Kazuki and Rei than any of their assignments. Despite the significant risk to their careers, Kazuki and Rei—both adopting the endearing moniker “papa”—decide to give Miri a typical upbringing despite the overwhelming odds against them.

Yukichi Fukuzawa, who is no longer interested in military matters, plans to work as a lone bodyguard for rent, using his lethal swordsmanship. However, things in his freelancing business are not going as he had hoped, and at that point he meets Ranpo Edogawa, a brash young man. The Armed Detective Agency is founded as a result of their interactions, which are first entwined with an odd murder investigation.

Ranpo is now on the hunt for a talented person with the deadly capacity to carry out the ideal crime. But as the brilliant detective works to solve the case, he soon unearths a complex plan to completely destroy the Agency.

Despite being aware of the trap, the Agency continues to hunt down the culprits, only to find themselves falsely accused of the crime. The remaining members must find a way to establish their innocence, even if that means turning to their sworn foes for help. They are now listed as wanted terrorists.

An old high school classmate of Masayuki Muroi throws him down a mountain into imminent death during a snowstorm. Masayuki, however, avoids the fall and makes it to safety thanks to Yuki-Onna, a beautiful young woman who is reputed to guide men to their deaths but only asks for money in exchange.

Masayuki has had a prosperous life, gotten married, and accumulated a large fortune eleven years later. However, when his business fails and his wife betrays him, Masayuki flees to the city where Yuki-Onna previously saved him. There, he rekindles his relationship with her by giving her money and scrumptious meals. While Masayuki is getting over one setback, another one comes knocking: his ex-wife is discovered dead after being beaten, and the only person who can support his alibi is Yuki-Onna, who cannot be identified.

With nowhere else to turn, Yuki-Onna seeks the assistance of Kotoko Iwanaga, the God of Wisdom of the spirits. Kotoko, who is revered by the many spirits who roam the earth, uses her remarkable intelligence and cunning to settle any disputes that may arise. Kotoko drags her eternal boyfriend Kurou Sakuragawa along as part of her responsibility to prevent a collision between spirits and people, and she swears to establish Masayuki’s innocence while keeping Yuki-Onna’s presence a secret.

Takemichi Hanagaki repeatedly fails to stop Hinata Tachibana, his teenage love, from dying in the present despite his best time-jumping efforts. Takemichi, now an adult, struggles with loss and the consequences of the Tokyo Manji gang’s criminal empire, which is an unintentional result of his interference with time. The gang, which was originally led by the idealistic Manjirou “Mikey” Sano, has since been taken over by the evil Tetta Kisaki, and as a result, has given up on its earlier goal of optimism.

Despite his despair, Takemichi returns to the past to look into Black Dragon, a rival motorcycle gang whose deeds ultimately resulted in Hinata’s death. He meets a fellow gang member there named the teenage Hakkai Shiba, whose older brother Taiju brutally reigns over Black Dragon. Hakkai tries to leave Tokyo Manji as an act of remorse after Taiju viciously assaults Takemichi in a street brawl, but Takemichi must stop him in order to keep Hakkai from facing a bleak future.

Takemichi and Chifuyu Matsuno develop a deep friendship they both need as a result of a shared tragedy. Takemichi fights to secure a bright future for his loved ones by investigating the Black Dragon’s members’ destinies with Chifuyu by his side.