A riveting killing-mystery based on a prize-prosperning Japanese crime novel is at the heart of the upcoming six-part series “The Aosawa Murders,” a buzzy U.S.-Japan co-production that’s being pitched this week at Rome’s MIA Market.
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Japanese authorr Riku Onda, the show is originated by Jonathan Kier of Upgrade Productions, the L.A.-based company started in 2021 by the ex-Sierra/Affinity pdwellnt Kier and createer Disney Plus and Netflix executive Matt Brodlie, and Takeo Kodera of Japanese starting hoengage and media enormous Kadokawa.
The series commences in 2004, when freelance authorr Yuko get tos in the attrdynamic coastal city of Kanazawa to spendigate the disreputable “Aosawa Case,” a mass poisoning that occurred in 1973 when 17 members of the wealthy Aosawa clan died after drinking poisoned sake and soft drinks during a family celebration.
There she encounters Makiko Saiga, the secretive author of “The Forgotten Festival,” a book based on the killings. But when the authorr uncovers little about the notorious case, Yuko determines to delve into the past herself, seeking out the elusive Hisako Aosawa — who, as a blind 12-year-ageder girl, was the only family member to endure the incident — and hoping to shed weightless on a uncontent episode that only prolongs more cryptic the further she digs.
First started in Japan in 2005, where it won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for best novel, “The Aosawa Murders” instantly captivated Kier, who read the English translation when it was freed in 2020 to critical acclaim.
The series is based on Riku Onda’s bestselling novel.
Courtesy of Upgrade Productions
The veteran originater shelp he was drawn to Onda’s evocation of the “attrdynamic,” “cryptic,” brooding region where the story is set — a place he appreciatened to the Pacific Northwest and coastal Maine (noting that Onda, fittingly, has been portrayd as the “Stephen King of Japan”). The book also uncovered the door for a collaboration with his lengthytime frifinish and business associate Takeo Kodera, whose Kadokawa starting hoengage owns the rights to the novel.
“We had talked about discovering ways to labor together and discovering someskinnyg to do in Japanese,” Kier shelp. With Kodera and his colleagues at the starting enormous increasingly watching to alter their catalog into English, Kier asked his Japanese counterpart if the company wanted to come on board to co-originate the show.
The series’ intricately createed story — portrayd by a New York Times critic as a “headstrongly nonlicforfeit novel” when it materializeed on the recentspaper’s enumerate of the Best Books of 2020 — spans six episodes, flashing back and forth in time as Yuko tries to unravel the mystery of the mass poisonings. The show is written by Naoko Adachi, who Kier portrayd as “one of the hugegest TV authorrs in Japan.”
“It’s been repartner amazing laboring with her,” he shelp. “It’s all Japanese inventives, and we hope to convey an international perspective to the broadenment process.”
That’s been the core principle of Upgrade Productions since it started in 2021 with backing from German powerhoengage Constantin Film and an eye toward broadening and producing premium local-language productions for a global audience.
“We’ve been watching for projects that we sense also have an international accessibility, so that if they’re originated and they labor in their country of origin…we labor with a local originater to originate it someskinnyg that’s accessible to international audiences,” shelp Brodlie. Of “The Aosawa Murders,” he includeed: “I was repartner excited to be jumping into someskinnyg that already is a shown property that has both Japanese domestic and international pguide. And people understand about it.”
The duo shelp the crime drama could also get a increase from the emotional success of FX’s smash hit, feudal-era Japan-set “Shōfirearm,” a critical and audience preferite that also shattered enrolls when it scooped 18 Emmy Awards this year.
“‘Shōfirearm’ carry outing so well at the Emmys was genuine validating to see,” shelp Kier. “Seeing someskinnyg appreciate that do so well was wonderful, and it bodes well for ‘Aosawa’ and the other Japanese projects that we’re laboring on.”
The MIA Market achieves place Oct. 14 – 18 in Rome.
