(TV SERIES) AARO - All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office Season 1 - Interesting Series Focusing on Investigation of Mysterious and Supernatural Cases

I noticed in the past few months there were several new interesting Japanese shows released on Netflix. This was one of them that I was eagerly anticipating till the finale. Finally after waiting for a while, the last episode was made available last week. So I started watching on Friday and finished it on Sunday night. OK, why don't I just get to it then?

Brief Story Line

In Japan, there was an old secret organization called Zenketsu (translated to English as All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office/AARO) where it focused on investigating mysterious cases. Its Deputy Chief Miyabi Okitama (Tatsuya Fujiwara - School Police TV series, Memoirs of a Murderer etc) was their lead investigator with amazing deduction ability and vast knowledge on historic supernatural stuff. To assist them, Koyume Ameno (Alice Hirose - Bubble, 366 Days TV series etc) from PR Dept of Metropolitan PD was assigned to AARO even though she had no prior experience in investigations.

When a series of mysterious deaths rocked the country, someone who went by the name of ancient God Hiruko claimed responsible. The lead police detective of the case Aranami (Yusuke Santamaria - Doppelganger, Bayside Shakedown TV series etc) was told by the newly appointed Deputy Commissioner Naobi (Hayato Kakizawa - Light of My Lion TV series, Love, Life and Goldfish etc) to cooperate with AARO. Despite his apparent dislike and skepticism, Aranami had to share their investigations findings with AARO which seemed to always had fantasy/supernatural elements.

As the cases became weirder and more dangerous, AARO had to find Hiruko and expose the real reason and culprits behind them. So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

Well this series started off interestingly with a mysterious case that gave me a little bit of X-Files vibe as it gave eerie feeling though obviously not as dark. And then we were introduced with the lead cast of the series Okitama and Ameno who were both likable. Their dynamics was pretty fun to watch especially in the early part where Ameno's inexperience always become the object of Okitama's mockery. The investigation was done pretty nicely with proper logical conclusion to the cases even if some seemed a bit stretched and felt quite light.

As the story progressed, the series felt darker and heavier, especially half way through the season with some surprising scenes. The cases also became more serious and with more facts revealed, made me view the series a bit differently. When I reached the final three episodes, I thought it actually got better, especially the finale where there was a shocking scene that got me by surprised (not about the real culprit cause I had a bit of feeling after watching few episodes, although the distraction were done pretty well). It also had a nice enough ending but still had a potential for new story in case they want to make a second season.

Now looking at the existence of fantasy element, I thought the series was adapted from manga or anime. But after trying to find more information, I could not find any reference to it. Hence this was an original pretty awesome work which should not be surprising considering the screenwriter Tsutomu Kuroiwa was experienced as writer of Tokyo MER: The Movie and its series, Kingdom movies and many others. One thing that was odd as I tried to search for AARO on the internet, I came across the name of real organization formed in the US within the Office of Secretary of Defense whose main objective was to investigate on UFO. The original Japanese title of the series was Zen Ryoiki Ijo Kaiketsu Shitsu aka Zenketsu with literal translation quite close to AARO. So perhaps the series was indeed inspired by them.

The cast in general were fine in their roles. I like the chemistry of Fujiwara and Hirose and other members of AARO. Aside from those names above, there were few recurring important characters i.e Okitama's supervisor Tamio Ukino (Fumiyo Kohinata - Beyond Outrage, Masquerade Hotel etc), the delivery guy Serita (Takaya Sakoda - Noise, My Family TV series etc), the mysterious young woman who appeared in the crime scenes (Riko Fukumoto - Trillion Game TV series, Love Me, Love Me Not etc), police detective Nonoko (Riko Narumi - Kashimashi Meshi TV series etc) and plenty of guest stars. Several of them appeared more than once like Toru Nomaguchi whom I was familiar with since I saw him in the Your Turn to Kill TV series. 

Aside from the interesting investigation on the mysterious supernatural cases in each episode, the series also had a large story arc of the God Hiruko and the AARO themselves. There were a bit of action (not overly spectacular though) in few episodes and enhanced in the final two. The duration of first episode was 55 minutes but the rest were only 44 minutes plus which are common for TV series. It was broadcasted on Fuji TV during the last 2.5 months of 2024, so it's a very recent series to be made available on Netflix. Overall to me this was quite enjoyable as the series focused on the not customary police cases with some interesting way of investigations and good enough resolution. It was pretty light with some brief humor in the first half but became a little bit heavier and more serious as the series progressed. So if you are interested in a unique Japanese series focusing on investigation of such cases, then you could give this a try as it would be a breath of fresh air compared to the standard police procedural series.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars