Based on a comic by Yuuma Ando, and Masashi Asaki, Shibatora is a story about an undercover detective Taketora Shibata, who's unusually youthful looks allows him to go undercover in a teenager related crimes.
Taketora Shibata ( Teppei Koike ) who used to work in a police box in Tokyo gets transferred to the youth division of police department. He is a police officer, but has the youthful appearance of a teenager. Due to this special attribute, his boss Sakura Chiba ( Miki Maya ) frequently sends him on a an under cover assignment that's related to youth crime. She sends him on these assignment knowing that it's illegal to perform this type of investigation. He has an unusual ability to see the grim reaper's hands on people who's going to die within 24 hours. Crime usually involves disenfranchised youth, and about adults that takes advantage of their situation. Delinquent youth gang called Helter Skelter often appears as part of the crime, along with criminal named Onigami, and Takeo Ochiai ( Ryo Hashizume ) who've killed Taketora's father, and also shot and killed ( accidentally ) Chiba's younger sister.
The story might be difficult to follow for those who are not familiar with the comic's characters, and the plot of the original comic. There's unusually many characters that appears in this short TV series ( 11 episodes, and two 2 hour TV movies ) that makes following the story somewhat difficult. The story goes into the social issues that surrounds youth living in the modern day Tokyo. Teppei Koike who played a doctor in "The Team Medical Dragon" takes the lead role as Taketora Shibata. He's a member of a music duo WaT, and is a singer / song writer when he's away from acting. He puts in a convincing performance as the detective who has sincere interest in protecting under aged youth that gets involved in crimes. But many of the supporting casts seems to lack experience, and delivers somewhat weak performance that makes inflections to the story hard to follow.
One of a kind TV series that can only be made possible with the youthful appearance, and talent of Teppei Koike. If your a fan of his, or familiar with the original comic, this series is for you.
