VIVANT

Vivant (ヴィヴァン, stylized as VIVANT) is a TBS drama that started airing on 16 July 2023, starring Masato Sakai. The screenplay was written by Katsuo Fukuzawa, who is also the director. Fukuzawa was also director of Hanzawa Naoki and Black Pean. The storyline was not revealed until the first episode aired. By air time, the cast also was still being revealed. The drama has as co-stars Hiroshi Abe, Fumi Nikaido, Tori Matsuzaka, and Koji Yakusho. Additional cast include Kento Hayashi, Ryo Ryusei, Rin Takanashi and Rei Dan. At the end of the first episode, the appearance of Arashi's Kazunari Ninomiya was revealed. Plot Yusuke Nogi, Chief of Energy Development Division 2 at Marubishi Corp., finds out that an erroneous transfer of US$100 million (=13 billion yen) has been made, as he is suspected of being the one who did it. With the information given by his friend in the CIA, Nogi sets out to search for the culprit. That takes him to the Republic of Balka, in central Asia. When he is confronting Al-Zaer, he asked Nogi if he was "Vivant", leaving Nogi looking confused. Nogi is suspected by the local police of causing an explosion when with Al-Zaer, of which he barely escapes and is rescued by Inspector Nozaki. They end up at the hospital where Dr. Yuzuki works. In the hospital, the police are looking for Nogi and Nozaki, and, together with Yuzuki, end up arrested and driven away. But, in reality, they are being rescued by Nozaki's friend Drum. Still persecuted by the police, they all manage to arrive at the Japanese Embassy. Inside the Embassy, Nozaki continues trying to reveal the mystery of the word "Vivant", and comes up with a different reading: "Beppan", meaning "another group". However, this "another group" could mean a government agency not officially recognized, a secret identity (as in a spy), or a different personality, this last one something that could be of importance, given the "other" Nogi that has appeared in front of only him. Back in Japan, Nogi and Nozaki enlist the help of Shōta Tōjō, a Detective in the Cybercrime Division of the Metropolitan Police. They discover the origin of the transference, but Nozaki assumes that the one who supposedly made it could not have done it, because of his lack of expertise in the area of computers.