# Reverse (novel)

Reverse is a Japanese mystery novel by Kanae Minato, serialized in the magazine, Shosetsu Gendai," from November 2013 to December 2014, and published in book form by Kodansha on May 20, 2015.。Shortlisted for the 37th Eiji Yoshikawa Prize for New Writers; Kodansha paperback edition published on March 15, 2017.
This is Minato's first full-length novel with a male protagonist, and the first work in which he was given a theme by his editor and wrote the ending.
It was dramatized for television by TBS Television (Japan) in 2017.
In 2020, "Day to Day," a project set in Japan during the COVID-19, was relay-serialized on "tree", operated by Kodansha, and the palm version "April 30" (subtitled "Reverse Then") was published on May 30. On November 15, a reading by Yuki Kaji was distributed on "smash". This story was included in the book Day to Day, which was released on March 25, 2021.

## Synopsis

Kazuhisa Fukase, an ordinary office worker, meets Mihoko Ochi at his favorite coffee shop, Clover Coffee. The two eventually start dating, and their peaceful daily life begins to flourish. However, one day, about three months into their relationship, Mihoko receives a letter at her workplace saying that "Kazuhisa Fukase is a murderer". When questioned by Mihoko, Fukase begins to tell her about an incident he experienced in the past.
Three summers ago, Fukase, then a senior in college, decided to go on a trip to the Madarao Highlands, located on the border of Nagano and Niigata prefectures, with his college seminar friends Takaaki Murai, Kosei Tanihara, Kosuke Asami, and Yuki Hirosawa. However, on the day of the trip, one of the members, Murai, was to arrive late. Knowing that Hirozawa had been drinking, Fukase, Tanihara, and Asami sent him alone to pick up Murai by car on a mountain road at night in bad weather. However, Hirozawa had an accident along the way and did not return home. When the police interviewed the four men, including Fukase, they explained the situation at the time, but kept the fact of drunk driving hidden until now.
Mihoko becomes angry upon hearing the story and leaves Fukase, but Fukase goes about his daily life as usual after that. However, it turns out that Asami and his other seminar mates have received similar letters of accusation, "XXX is a murderer," and Tanihara is pushed onto the railroad tracks. In order to find out who sent the letter, Fukase decides to investigate the person who has a grudge against them because of Hirosawa's death, and also the person named Hirosawa.

## Characters
### Kazuhisa Fukase

    The protagonist of this work. He works as a salesman for an office equipment manufacturer, Nishida Office Equipment Co.His hobby is enjoying coffee, and his specialty is brewing delicious coffee. He goes to "Clover Coffee" near his home every day. He drinks coffee with honey.He cannot drink alcohol at all.
    Since childhood, she has always had a quiet personality and was not good at sports, so she was always inconspicuous at school and did not have many friends. As a result, he has low self-esteem and still harbors a sense of inferiority about his inability to socialize with others. Due to his family's circumstances in his studies, he was unable to attend a preparatory school, and he was unable to open up to the people around him, which left him with a complex. Hirozawa, whom she met in a seminar in her fourth year at university, is her first best friend.
    At the time of the incident, he did not have a driver's license. He was secretly opposed to having Hirozawa, who was in a drunken state, pick him up, but he could not bring himself to say so, so he sent him off with a cup of coffee with honey to sober him up.

### Mihoko Ochi

    Fukase's girlfriend. She works at a bakery called "Grim Bread". She met Fukase at "Clover Coffee" and they started dating. One day, however, she receives a letter at work stating that "Kazuhisa Fukase is a murderer", and asks Fukase if he has any idea what happened. Fukase confides in him about a past incident, but he is unable to accept the fact and keeps his distance from him.

### Yoshiki Hirosawa

    Fukase's seminar colleague and best friend. He is physically fit and athletic. He is kind and considerate to everyone. He is allergic to buckwheat. His favorite food is curry. He is not positive about finding a job after graduation and says he wants to travel abroad. On a trip three years ago, he was drunk when he went to pick up Murai by car and fell through a guardrail to the bottom of a valley, where he died. His body was found the next day as a burnt corpse at the bottom of a cliff.

### Kosuke Asami

    A fellow seminar student of Fukase's. A social studies teacher at Narazaki High School. He is a social studies teacher at Narazaki High School. He often meets Fukase for work-related reasons. At the time of the incident, he had obtained a driver's license but had been drinking, so out of concern for his future, he refused to drive himself and urged Hirozawa to pick him up instead. He has been sober since the incident. He had a letter of accusation taped to his car and beer poured on him, but the school thought it was the work of an athletic student who had been suspended from a tournament for drunkenness. According to Murai, Hirozawa once lost his tutoring job.

### Mizuki Kida

    Mizuki Kida is Asami's colleague. She is a Japanese teacher.

### Takaaki Murai

    A seminar colleague of Fukase's. His father is a prefectural assemblyman. His father is a member of the prefectural assembly. He is the one who proposed the trip three years ago and invites the seminar mates to a vacation home owned by his uncle. However, due to a traffic accident the day before the trip, he is unable to accompany the group during the day and arrives late at night. He is angered by this, citing his own travel arrangements, and forcibly demands that they pick him up. He is suspicious of Asami and Tanihara and thinks they may have burned the car to cover up the drunken driving, as they were the first to discover Hirosawa's accident.

### Yasuo Tanihara

    A seminar colleague of Fukase. He works for a trading company. He was on the same baseball team as Hirosawa when they were in college. He is a cheerful and quick-witted leader of the group. On the other hand, he is also strong-willed and pushy. At the time of the incident, he did not have a driver's license. When Murai calls and asks him to pick him up, he initially refuses and offers to take a cab, but Murai's anger makes him unable to refuse, and he finally asks either Asami or Hirozawa to pick him up. In the middle of the film, he is pushed onto a station platform. Although he survives with only minor injuries, he is mentally damaged and is unable to leave his home.

### Father of Hirosawa

    A mandarin orange farmer in Ehime. He introduces his son's classmates to Fukase in order to have a memorial book written for his son. He regrets opposing his son's trip abroad.

### Hirosawa's mother

    Told her son how to drink honey in his coffee and sent him honey from oranges. Gave Furukawa the contact information of a fellow seminarian.

### Yoichi Matsunaga

    He was on the same youth baseball team as Hirosawa when he was in elementary school. He speaks of Hirozawa's athleticism and questions his driving errors. Mayu Ueda She and Hirozawa attended the same elementary, junior high, and high school. She lends Fukase her elementary, junior high and high school graduation albums.

### Aoi Yoshiume

    A friend of Mayu. She and Hirozawa were high school classmates. She has a strong sense of justice, cannot tolerate wrongdoing, and says what she thinks. She had a crush on Hirozawa, but backed off because she thought he was transparent and would go out with anyone if he confessed, and did not want him to be tainted by the color of a hater like herself.

### Shoma Okamoto

    A classmate of Hirozawa's in high school. Captain of the volleyball team. He wonders why Hirozawa was friendly with the darker Furukawa instead of the more active group like them in high school.

### Taishi Furukawa

    Hirozawa's best friend and high school classmate. He and Hirozawa moved to Tokyo when they entered college and lived in the same apartment while attending different universities. He says that he and Fukase are similar.

### Hiroyuki Iketani

    A member of the same baseball team as Tanihara. He tells Fukase about the situation Tanihara was in before he was pushed off the team.

## Bibliographic Information

* Book: May 20, 2015, Kodansha, ISBN 978-4-06-219486-0
* Paperback: March 15, 2017, Kodansha, ISBN 978-4-06-293586-9
* Day to Day (includes "Reverse Then")
** Book: March 25, 2021, Kodansha, ISBN 978-4-06-521842-6
*** Book: March 25, 2021, Kodansha, ISBN 978-4-06-521842-6
*** Book (Aizoban): March 25, 2021, Kodansha, ISBN 978-4-06-521843-3

## Television drama

It was broadcast in TBS Television (Japan) Friday Drama slot from April 14 to June 16, 2017. Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara.
The catch phrase is "Who killed my best friend?"

### Production

This is the third dramatization of Kanae Minato's works in the Friday drama slot.。The production team behind the last two works Midnight Ferris Wheel in 2013 and Testimony of N in 2014 is also working on this film. This television series also depicts the continuation and the ending of the original story is written by Minato, the author of the original story. Even though the ending is original to the television series, viewers were concerned about spoilers of the original story during the broadcast because it is a mystery work.
Under the title of the official website, it says "birth:Re:verse," which also means "reverse" and "rebirth". The story revolves around the "present (2017)" when the main character, Kazuhisa Fukase, meets his girlfriend, Mihoko Ochi, and interweaves episodes from their college days "10 years ago (2007)" when the disappearance of Fukase's best friend, Yuki Hirosawa, occurred. In addition to the mystery element of finding out who sent the letters of accusation, the work depicts an ensemble drama in which a group of seminar mates who were not so close during their college days build a friendship.
This series began shooting in Nagano Prefecture, Japan on February 7, 2017. The snowy mountain scenes in episodes 1 and 2 were done almost entirely on location, which is unusual for a drama.
The theme song "Destiny" was performed by Che'Nelle, who was celebrating the 10th anniversary of her debut as a singer, at the offer of the drama's producer, Junko Arai. Coincidentally, it was also the 10th anniversary of Minato's debut as a writer The melody is "impactful and catchy," and the lyrics, which are "in keeping with the story," have been described as having a great impact on the work. The song was ranked No. 1 in the music distribution ranking, as well as in the ranking of lyrics search sites and in the top ranks of Usen Hit Ranking in Japan.

### Main Cast
#### Kazuhisa Fukase (age 32) Tatsuya Fujiwara

    The main character. Although he graduated from a famous university, he has a complex that he is worthless. He has lived a dull life where the only thing he loves to do is to make good coffee. He is good-natured, tearful, and has a bad sense of timing. Asami, Takaaki, and Kosei say that he sees things he doesn't need to see. He has never been good at socializing, and until his college days, he had no friends and was always isolated. In his fourth year of college, he became best friends with Hirosawa, a fellow seminar student, but lost him on a graduation trip. Fukase worked at Nishida Office Equipment Co. He was looking for a new job, but lost it when the company suddenly went bankrupt in episode 5. On the day of the incident 10 years ago, Fukase did not know that Hirosawa was allergic to soba noodles or that the honey in the coffee he gave him was made with soba noodles.

#### Mihoko Ochi (age 30) Erika Toda

    Fukase's girlfriend. Her maiden name is Kawabe. She works at a bakery called "Grim Bread." She has a hard time with relationships because of her "narrow-minded" personality, according to her. She is considering returning to her hometown in Osaka to take care of her mother who is in the hospital. She is a former lover of Hirosawa. When she moved to Tokyo to enter a junior college, she met Hirosawa, who was in his third year of college, and they started dating. However, her parents have divorced due to her father's unemployment, and she distrusts and distances herself from Hirosawa, who has not made his post-graduation plans clear even though he is in his fourth year of college. Ten years after the accident, when Mihoko is preparing to move out of the house, she reads a letter from Hirosawa, a souvenir from his graduation trip, and begins to wish to meet his collage friends with whom he spent the last days of his life. He has a good impression of them, especially of Fukase, who was close to Hirosawa, but gradually feels that they do not reflect on Hirosawa's death.

#### Kosuke Asami (age 32) Yuta Tamamori

    Fukase's collage colleague. He is a serious and passionate teacher in charge of social studies at a high school. Asami pursues his high school's soccer team's drinking problem because he regrets Hirosawa's drunken driving at graduation trip ten years ago. One morning, he is suspected by his students after an accusation "Kosuke Asami is a murderer" is pasted on his car and spread around. The principal and others instruct him to take a "paid leave of absence" and keep his distance from the students. He sees a figure resembling Takaaki at the scene of an accident 10 years ago, and suspects that he may be involved in the Hirosawa case. On the other hand, he and Kosei themselves covered up the bloodstains at the accident scene. In the last episode, he returns to his teaching position.

#### Yuki Hirosawa (Died at age 22) Teppei Koike

    Fukase's best friend and fellow college colleague. He is good at baseball and can do whatever he is asked to do. He is a kind-hearted person who cannot stand to see others isolated and extends a helping hand, and is sometimes misunderstood by those around him because he has a hard time saying no. After graduation, he said he wanted to go abroad instead of working. She was missing during a trip 10 years ago, and her skeletal remains were found six months later. On the day of the trip, he had not yet obtained his driver's license and was driving under the influence of alcohol. Some police officials suspected a "murder disguised as an accident" because the location where the body was found was about 10 km away from the scene of the accident involving the car in which Hirosawa was said to have been driving, but the investigation was abruptly terminated and the cause of Hirosawa's death was concluded to be "accidental death." Only five people, including Fukase, a fellow college student, knew of his drunken driving.

#### Takaki Murai (age 32) Actor - Takahiro Miura

    A collage colleague of Fukase. He works as the second secretary to his father, a member of the prefectural assembly. He was forced into a political marriage with Kaori, the daughter of a powerful legislator, and their marriage is in ruins. He had been having an affair with councilor Numa Fuchi, but when the affair became public, he told her he was leaving her. He then handed the divorce papers to Kaori. He was the one who proposed the trip to Fukase and his friends 10 years ago, but he was late for the meeting due to an accident the day before the trip. He and his sister Asuka took the train to the station near where they were staying and called Fukase and the others to come pick them up by car. He then caught a cab, but got off on the way after receiving a phone call from Asami saying that Hirosawa was driving drunk, and saw the car he was driving explode in flames in the river. Later, he witnesses Asami and Yasuo covering up something at the scene of the accident with Hirosawa's car.

#### Asuka Murai → Asuka Tanihara (age 27) Mugi Kadowaki

    Younger sister of Takaaki. Wife of Yasuo. She had a crush on her brother's classmate, Hirosawa, when they were in high school, and accompanied him on a trip 10 years ago. She was also the reason for Yasuo's disapproval of Hirosawa. Asuka doubts that Takaaki is hiding something about the incident 10 years ago, and is skeptical of her father, who is also facing a scandal.

#### Yasuo Tanihara (age 33) Hayato Ichihara

    He is a collage colleague of Fukase. He joined a major trading company and married Asuka, whom he had been in love with since his college days, and had a child together. He was unable to tell people around him that he was removed from his post at the head office due to power harassment by his boss. On his way home from a baseball game, he was pushed off a station platform and fell unconscious. After recovering, he works positively to return to the head office for the sake of his family. In the final episode, the power harassment and unjust personnel transfer by his boss was exposed, and he accepted his boss's apology with a big heart.

#### Clover Coffee
##### Kyoko Inui (age 48) YOU

    Wife of the master of Clover Coffee. She is a good-natured person. She encourages Fukase and Mihoko's relationship. She has been addicted to putting honey in her coffee since Fukase taught her.

##### Keisuke Inui (age 48) Buffalo Goro A

    Master of Clover Coffee. Kyoko's husband.

### Staff

* Original story - Kanae Minato "Rebirth" (Kodansha)
* Screenplay: Satoko Okudera, Yukako Shimizu
* Music - Katsu Yokoyama
* Theme Song - "Destiny" by Che'Nelle (lyrics by Kiyoshi Matsuo, music by Daisuke Kawaguchi)
* Orchestrations: Takashi Hashimoto, Yuichi Tsuji
* Direction: Ayuko Tsukahara, Takeyoshi Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Murao
* Producer - Junko Arai
* Production - Dorimax Television, TBS Television (Japan)

### Broadcast Schedule

| stories | broadcast date | subtitle | script | direction | TV ratings |
| #1 | 14 April | The secret behind the death of his best friend... Revenge began ten years later. | Satoko Okudera | Ayuko Tsukahara | 10.3% |
| #2 | 21 April | Confession of a crime...a tragedy in the snowy mountains that happened ten years ago. | Satoko Okudera | Ayuko Tsukahara | 06.3% |
| #3 | 28 April | Finally, a victim...! The looming shadow of the accuser | Satoko Okudera | Ayuko Tsukahara | 10.5% |
| #4 | 5 May | Was it a woman? Who will be the next victim? | Satoko Okudera | Takeyoshi Yamamoto | 08.6% |
| #5 | 12 May | The evil hands attack her... and another one disappears! | Yukako Shimizu | Yoshiaki Murao | 09.0% |
| #6 | 19 May | Chapter 2 begins...new suspect! Mystery of the best friend hidden in Ehime | Satoko Okudera | Takeyoshi Yamamoto | 07.4% |
| #7 | 26 May | The last 7 minutes are a shocker! The identity of the accused is revealed...! | Yukako Shimizu | Yoshiaki Murao | 07.3% |
| #8 | 2 June0 | The worst revenge drama...what is the real purpose of the accused? | Satoko Okudera | Ayuko Tsukahara | 07.5% |
| #9 | 9 June | The real murderer is finally revealed! He is the one who killed my best friend! | Yukako Shimizu | Takeyoshi Yamamoto | 10.4% |
| #10 | 16 June | The real ending that no one knows... tonight all will be revealed. | Satoko Okudera | Ayuko Tsukahara | 10.2% |
| Average rating 8.8% (Television ratings are from Video Research, Kanto region, households, real time) ||||||

### related product

* Original Soundtrack (June 7, 2017, Sony Music Entertainment Japan) ASIN B06XX8WTTY JAN 4571217143003

### Award

* 8th Annual Confidence Awards Drama Awards (April 2017) - Best Picture, Best Screenplay (Satoko Okudera, Yukako Shimizu)
** The judges praised the storyline, which alternates between the present and the past, while viewers praised the casting and theme song.
* The 93rd The Television Drama Academy Awards (April - June 2017) - Best Picture, Best Actor (Tatsuya Fujiwara), Best Screenplay (Satoko Okudera, Yukako Shimizu)
* TV Station Drama Awards 2017 - Best Supporting Actor (Yuta Tamamori)