Yuriko Yoshitaka

Provincial lord of the Arioka Castle, Murashige Araki, rebels against tyrannical despot Oda Nobunaga, and makes a stand at his stronghold castle. He decides to take siege but is subsequently surrounded by Oda's forces, leaving its denizens isolated and in need of allies. With the sensitive support of his wife Chiyoho, Murashige struggles to keep his hot-blooded retainers in check, while also protecting the castle and its people. One day, a young samurai is murdered within the fortress with the mysterious killer unknown. A succession of bizarre incidents follows. The suspects are Murashige's close retainers and the people inside the Arioka Castle's land. Outside, enemy troops lie in wait. Inside, traitors lie to conceal themselves. As suspicion runs rampant, Murashige seeks the help of a prisoner in his dungeon—dangerous master tactician Kanbei Kuroda—to solve the mysteries.

The year is 1987 and Japan is just reaching the peak of its economic success. Eighteen-year old Yonosuke Yokomichi arrives in Tokyo from Nagasaki. Ordinary in every way possible, he lives in a suburb far from the excitement of the big city and commutes to a university in the center of Tokyo.

After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth.

A thug offers to pay a law student's gambling debt if the student will accompany him on a trip across Tokyo.

A teenager named Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Toyokawa, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's family circle, which grows darker after the mass suicide of 54 high school girls.