Production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2017 drama "Kizoku Tantei"

The production press conference of FujiTV Spring 2017 drama "Kizoku Tantei" was held at the square outside the TV station's Odaiba HQ on 2 April which was attended by cast members Aiba Masaki, Takei Emi, Namase Katsuhisa, Igawa Haruka, Takito Kenichi, Matsushige Yutaka and Nakayama Miho. The drama which begins its run from 17 April in the Mondays 9pm timeslot, is based on the suspense novels "Kizoku Tantei" and "Kizoku Tantei tai Onna Tantei" by Maya Yutaka and features Aiba as a mysterious man who calls himself a noble but his name, age and background are all unknown. He has an interest in solving cases but does not actually do the reasoning himself because he is more keen to talk to the women he meets at the crime scenes. Due to his status as a nobleman, he behaves very gentlemanly towards women and is unafraid of standing up against those in power. With the help of his servants i.e. driver Sato (Takito), maid Tanaka (Nakayama) and butler Yamamoto (Matsushige) who helps him to inspect the crime scenes and look for clues, he is able to assist the police in solving their cases with his strong observation power. Co-stars also include Takei Emi who plays Takanori, a newbie police detective at loggerheads with the nobleman while solving the cases, police detective Hanagata (Namase) who works with the nobleman at the orders of his superiors, Igawa Haruka who plays a female detective Kitami who teaches Takanori about detective work and is regarded as her idol and Nakama Yukie whose character details are not known at the moment.

When asked to comment on how he feels about taking the leading role in the 30th anniversary commemorative work of FujiTV's famous Getsuku timeslot (Mondays 9pm), Aiba said that he feels the pressure if he keeps thinking about this so he tries to think more about putting in his best while acting in this drama. Especially since he had taken on the huge task of being the Kouhaku host at the end of last year, Aiba couldn't help but marvel at being given another chance to do a Getsuku drama again since his first in 2015. As his group Arashi is singing the theme song "I'll be there" for this drama, his fellow members had actually asked him what he was doing in the drama since his character is supposed to be doing nothing after all.

Before the event, Aiba appeared in a horse carriage but the white horse did not want to walk anymore halfway due to the loud cheers around so Aiba had to alight and walk in at the end. He was then asked to undergo a test to distinguish between a cake which used a 30-year-old wine and one which used ordinary grape juice. In front of 1,000 fans who had gathered for the event, Aiba passed the buck to Matsushige instead as he said that his character does not do any guessing nor reasoning in the drama. Luckily, Matsushige managed to pass the test which led to the audience cheering for him.

As the filming has been going on till late at night recently, Namase said that there was once when they were all still up at 3am and a staff accidentally made a sound during the filming. Even though he thought that Aiba might get mad at the staff member when he walked up to the latter, he actually just said "ssh" softly to the person and continued to focus on the filming which led to Namase feeling that Aiba is a good leader who they can follow. Namase also commented that he had finally achieved a "grand slam" as he had worked with all the Arashi members to date except for Aiba until this drama came along. Nakayama, Matsushige and Igawa also praised Aiba for looking very good and convincing in his nobleman costumes and with his gentlemanly gestures.

As for working with Takei, Aiba said that she is the only one younger than him on the set and he had hoped that she would chat freely with him but unfortunately, she didn't. As such, Aiba wondered if Takei did not like him which led to Takei denying it and saying that she found it too funny to be looking at Aiba who was always dressed in the nobleman costumes on the set. Hearing that, Aiba "complained" that he couldn't help it anyway since this was how his character was supposed to be in the drama.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sponichi / Oricon / Eiga.com