History Series / Borderless

''Borderless'' is a 2021 Japanese mystery television series, airing on the streaming service Hikari TV. It was adapted from a novel of the same title by Tetsuya Honda. It is the first collaboration of selected members of Music/Nogizaka46, Music/Sakurazaka46, and Music/Hinatazaka46 in a drama, and the novel was actually written with that in mind (or at least for the latter two, which were formerly one group called [=Keyakizaka46=]). It tells the story of four unrelated groups of people, the borders between whose worlds would unexpectedly fade away: classmates Nao Mori (Hikaru Morita) and Kiri Katayama (Kyoko Saito); Haru and Kei Yatsuji (Risa Watanabe and Hiyori Hamagishi), daughters of a karate master; musically-inclined sisters Kotone and Kanon Ichihara (Yui Kobayashi and Seira Hayakawa); and sheltered rich kid Yuki Matsumiya (Sakura Endo).

''Borderless'' is a 2021 Japanese television series adapted from a novel of the same title by Tetsuya Honda. It is the first collaboration of selected members of Music/Nogizaka46, Music/Sakurazaka46, and Music/Hinatazaka46 in a drama, and the novel was actually written with that in mind (or at least for the latter two, which were formerly one group called [=Keyakizaka46=]). It tells the story of four unrelated groups of people, the borders between whose worlds would unexpectedly fade away: classmates Nao Mori (Hikaru Morita) and Kiri Katayama (Kyoko Saito); Haru and Kei Yatsuji (Risa Watanabe and Hiyori Hamagishi), daughters of a karate master; musically-inclined sisters Kotone and Kanon Ichihara (Yui Kobayashi and Seira Hayakawa); and sheltered rich kid Yuki Matsumiya (Sakura Endo).

A sequel to the novel, titled ''Actress'', was released in January 2022, and would also be adapted into a television drama in 2023.

** Kotone and Kanon [[spoiler:make up after Kanon confesses her jealousy of her sister, and both become free to continue their lives without emotional baggage. Kotone and Yuta get married in the finale with Kanon's blessing]].

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Kanon is in bad terms with her older sister Kotone, not least because she abandoned her musical aspirations and quit playing the piano. [[spoiler:Actually the bigger reason is because Kanon's interested in their Childhood Friend Yuta, but he's only interested in Kotone]].

** Yura is the Ichihara sisters' childhood friend [[spoiler:and the three of them form a LoveTriangle]].

** Kotone and Kanon [[spoiler:make up after Kanon confesses her jealousy of her sister, and both become free to continue their lives without emotional baggage]].

* ChildhoodFriend: Saeko is Nao's childhood friend and occasionally tags along in her and Kiri's investigations, especially when they need her boyfriend's car to travel.

* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Kanon dislikes her older sister Kotone since she quit playing the piano, or something. [[spoiler:Actually it's because she's interested in their ChildhoodFriend, but he's only interested in Kotone]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Kei gives one to [[spoiler:Maya after she reveals that her recent assault spree was ultimately caused by her willfully misidentifying Kei as Yuki, desperately wanting to believe that Yuki is waiting for her rescue]].

* SignificantBirthDate: Yuki's birthday is on February 29, and her birthday is only celebrated every four years [[spoiler:and is also the estimated day of the murder]].

* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: [[spoiler:Maya takes Matsumiya's corpse to the abandoned locker room where he had her assaulted by several men, and savagely disfigures his face beyond recognition there]].

* LonelyRichKid: Also an IllGirl, Yuki Matsumiya spends her days reading alone on her mansion's veranda.

* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:Mr. Yatsuji works as caretaker to the unused Matsumiyas' mansion. When Maya visited the mansion to reunite with Yuki, she mistook Kei as Yuki and believed Mr. Yatsuji was tasked by her parents to keep Yuki away from her, leading to her invading their home and attacking Mr. Yatsuji]]. [[spoiler:The Matsumiyas did return there for Yuki's twentieth birthday party and Yuki did wait for Maya outside the house as they had promised, but she got into an argument with her father and ended up killing him in a fit of rage. Maya arrived after her mother took her away and found his corpse near her book, deduced what happened, and took away and disfigured the corpse to buy time for a cover-up, and later to take the fall. Her mistake is thinking that Yuki's mother only made it look like they'd left and they were actually still staying there... or maybe that was just an excuse to go on a spree and get herself arrested in Yuki's place]].

* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:Mr. Yatsuji works as caretaker to the unused Matsumiyas' mansion. When Maya visited the mansion to reunite with Yuki, she mistook Kei as Yuki and believed Mr. Yatsuji was tasked by her parents to keep Yuki away from her, leading to her invading their home and attacking Mr. Yatsuji]]. [[spoiler:The Matsumiyas did return there for Yuki's twentieth birthday party and Yuki did wait for Maya outside the house as they had promised, but she got into an argument with her father and she ended up killing him in a fit of rage. Maya arrived after her mother took her away and found his corpse near her book, deduced what happened, and took away and disfigured the corpse to buy time for a cover-up, and later to take the fall. Her mistake is thinking that Yuki's mother only made it look like they'd left and were actually still staying there... or maybe that's just an excuse to go on a spree and get herself arrested in Yuki's place]].

* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:Mr. Yatsuji works as caretaker to the unused Matsumiyas' mansion. When Maya visited the mansion to reunite with Yuki, she mistook Kei as Yuki and believed Mr. Yatsuji was tasked by her parents to keep Yuki away from her, leading to her invading their home and attacking Mr. Yatsuji]]. [[spoiler:The Matsumiyas did return there for Yuki's twentieth birthday party and Yuki did wait for Maya outside the house as they had promised, but she got into an argument with her father and she ended up killing him in a fit of rage. Maya arrived after her mother took her away and found his corpse and the book, deduced what happened, and took away and disfigured the corpse to buy time for a cover-up, and later to take the fall. Her mistake is thinking that Yuki's mother only made it look like they'd left and were actually still staying there... or maybe that's just an excuse to go on a spree and get herself arrested in Yuki's place]].

* WhamEpisode: Episode 8 [[spoiler:is where Maya [[TheReveal reveals]] her love story with Yuki and why he attacked Haru and Kei's father]]. Episode 9 [[spoiler:is the real Wham episode, where it's revealed that despite her violent crimes, Maya did ''not'' kill Matsumiya, but she takes the heat for Yuki]].

* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:Mr. Yatsuji works as caretaker to the unused Matsumiyas' mansion. When Maya visited the mansion to reunite with Yuki, she mistook Kei as Yuki and believed Mr. Yatsuji was tasked by her parents to keep Yuki away from her, leading to her invading their home and attacking Mr. Yatsuji]]. [[spoiler:The Matsumiyas did return there for Yuki's twentieth birthday party and Yuki did wait for Maya outside the house as they had promised, but she got into an argument with her father and she ended up killing him in a fit of rage. Maya arrived after her mother took her away and found his corpse and the book, deduced what happened, and took away and disfigured the corpse to buy time for a cover-up. Her mistake is thinking that Yuki's mother only made it look like they'd left and were actually still staying there]].

* SignificantBirthDate:

* LonelyRichKid: Yuki Matsumiya spends her days reading alone on her mansion's veranda.

* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:The Matsumiyas employ Mr. Yatsuji to take care of their mansion after they moved away. When Maya visited the mansion to reunite with Yuki, she mistook Kei as Yuki and believed Mr. Yatsuji was trying to take Yuki away from her, leading to her invading their home and attacking Mr. Yatsuji]].

* TragicKeepsake: [[spoiler:Maya carries the novel she used to read with Yuki during her hunt and shows it to everyone during TheReveal. Nao later gives it to Yuki's mother and asks her to give it to Yuki, which she does]].

* MistakenIdentity: [[spoiler:Maya invades the Yatsujis' home because she saw Kei, whom she mistook as Yuki, taken there by Mr. Yatsuji, who had been employed by the Matsumiyas to take care of their abandoned mansion]].

* HandicappedBadass: Kei is legally blind but still knows karate, like her sister and father. [[spoiler:Her blindness becomes an advantage when she subdues Maya in the dark cafe]].

* WhamEpisode: Episode 8 [[spoiler:is where Maya [[TheReveal reveals]] her love story with Yuki and why he attacked Haru and Kei's father]]. Episode 9 [[spoiler:is the real Wham episode, where it's revealed that despite her violent crimes, Maya did ''not'' kill Matsumiya, but she takes the heat for Yuki]].

* BadassCreed: The Yatsujis live by their dojo's creed.

* LonelyRichKid: Yuki Matsumiya spends her days reading alone at her mansion's veranda.

** Kiri is a homophone for "cut" (斬り) and she [[spoiler:studies murder]].