'Giri/Haji': Will Kenzo be able to take Yuto back? The relationship between the two brothers has got us hooked
The story may contain spoilers for season 1 of 'Giri/Haji'
When police officer Kenzo Mori (Takehiro Hira) gets to know that his brother Yuto (Yôsuke Kubozuka) might be involved in the murder of the nephew of a Yakuza head, he is shaken to the core. It hasn't even been a year since he buried his younger brother, but the evidence against him is just undeniable.
Kenzo Mori must act fast for if the Yakuza decides to take matters in their own hands, Tokyo will see a full-blown war and no one wants that. So he is put on the next flight to London but is warned that the Metropolitan police must not know about the operation. Kenzo is there on an exchange program with the London police and must keep it to just that.
The hunt for Yuto begins immediately. And before Kenzo manages to meet Yuto, we meet the latter, telling his part of the story. Yuto had never planned to come to London, he just chanced upon the place when he fled Tokyo. And what followed just happened to be an unfortunate turn of events. Unfortunate, obviously for Kenzo... Yuto is kind enough to point out.
Back home in Tokyo, Kenzo and Yuto used to share a close relationship, way before they were fighting. The series is interspersed with Kenzo's memories of the two back home - their conversations, their family together, their home and a simpler time. The flashbacks aren't saccharine or overly emotional, but are raw and honest in nature. There are bad memories too.
Even as Kenzo continues looking for his younger brother, Yuto makes it clear on multiple occasions that he doesn't wish to be discovered or meet his brother. He doesn't intend to go back to Tokyo with Kenzo.
But Kenzo is adamant; the Mori blood is stubborn - as is pointed out later in the series when Kenzo's daughter Taki (Aoi Okuyama) follows her father to London. And when he does succeed in meeting his brother, it doesn't go as he had imagined it going. Just as sibling relationships go, the brothers soon warm up to each other, moving beyond the cold first meeting. Yet they're staunch on their motives. Kenzo wants to take his brother back home because he doesn't deserve to be punished in London, while Yuto has no intention of doing so.
The screenplay by Joe Barton depicts the relationship beautifully, with an equal dose of love, longing, friction, differences and the melancholy of life.
The first season of 'Giri/Haji' is currently streaming on Netflix.
