Ai Ota

Novelist, Scriptwriter

 

■Born in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan.

■First got involved in theater at university. Scriptwriting debut came in 1997 with the TV series Ultraman Tiga Has worked on scenarios in a variety of genres, earning great acclaim for work on police and suspense dramas like Trick and Aibo : Tokyo Detective Duo.

■Debuted as a novelist in 2012 with Hanzaisha : Criminal. Published Genka : Phantom Summer in 2013, and nominated for the 67th Mystery Writers of Japan Award.

■Published Tenjo no Ashi : Reed in Heaven in 2017. In addition to its high entertainment value, this book became a major topic of discussion due to its prescient nature. This novel describes the danger of the news media pandering to those in the halls of state power and not reporting on government mistakes and policy flaws, thus creating a situation in which state power controls the media. And in fact, three months after the book's publication, a bureaucrat was involved in an incident exactly like the one described in the story, which made headlines and caused quite a stir. 

■ Prize winner at the 4th Yamanaka Award for Karera wa Sekai ni Hanarebanareni Tatteiru : They Stand Sundered in the World, which published in 2020.

■Prize winner at the 26th Oyabu Haruhiko Award for Mimei no Toride : The Fortress at Dawn which published in 2024. (all five works above are published by KADOKAWA)

■Nominated for the 77th Mystery Writers of Japan Award for "Natsu o Karu : Reaping the summer."

 

WORKS

As novelist

 

●2025 Saisho no Hoshi wa Saigo no Ie noyouda : der erste Stern ist wie letzte Haus

           : the first star is like the last house 

            *the first collection of short stories　

●2024 "Jugatsu no Kodomotachi：The Children in October"

●2023 "Natsu wo Karu : Reaping the Summer"  

            *Nominated for the 77th Mystery Writers of Japan Award.

●2023 Mimei no Toride : The Fortress at Dawn  

           *Awarded the 26th Oyabu Haruhiko Award.

●2022 "Koi : The Carp"

●2020 Karera wa Sekai ni Hanarebanareni Tatteiru:They Stand Sundered in the World  

           *Awarded the 4th Yamanaka Prize. 

●2017 Tenjo no Ashi : Reed in Heaven

●2015 "The Siren"

●2013 Genka : Phantom Summer  

           *Nominated for the 67th Mystery Writers of Japan Award.

●2012 Hanzaisha : Criminal 

 

※ Korean translations of Hanzaisha : Criminal and Genka : Phantom Summer have been published and　　　　　are available.

 

As scriptwriter

 

【Film】 

●2017 Aibo The Movie Ⅳ

●2011 The Stories on Dogs and You   segment : "His Name"

 

【Television】

● 2009-2022 Aibo:Tokyo Detective Duo

・season20 #11  "The Two" (New Year's Day Special)

・season18 #19 "The Breakthrough"

・season17 #10 "The Diva"

                 #18&19 "Hyoryu Shonen : The Juvenile Drifters"   

・season16 #3 "The Silver Wedding"

                 #10 "The SAKURA" (New Year's Day Special)

                 #15 "An Accidental Property"

・season15  #13&14 "Voiceless"

・season13  #11 "Where Is The Fortune? "

                 #13 "The Thistle"

・season12 #11 "The Bomber" (New Year's Day Special)

・season11  #3 "The Golden Boy "

                 #11"Alice" (New Year's Day Special)

・season10 #3 "Late Summer"

                 #10 Pierrot, The Clown " (New Year's Day Special)

・season9  #3 "The End of his Atelier"

                 #9 "Femme fatale"

　　　　　　#13 "The Caller"

・season8  #2 "Goodbye Birdland"

                 #3 "Miss Green's Secret"

                 #11 "Wish"

                 #14 "The Fallen Hero"

 

●2012 Metropolitan Police Department Investigation Section 9

・season7 #7 "A Gentle Corpse"

 

●2002 Trick 2

 #6&7 "The Psychic Tracker "

 

●2001 Take me to the Inn

 #5 "The Memory of The Trip"

 #8 "The Woman on The Run"

 

●2001 The Inside Stories

 "The Answering Machine"

 "I Can't Remember"

 "Lively Night"

 "My Family's Style"

 

●2000 The Scary Stories That Really Happened 2

#4 "That Distant Summer"

 

●1998 Girls' Stories

"The COLOR GIRL"

"Lilies of Summer"

"Please Mr. Tomorrow"

 

【SF & Animated Drama】

●2010 DRRR!!

#6 "東奔西走 : Being on the move "

#10 "空前絶後 : Unprecedented"

#14 "物情騒然 :Turmoil Reigning "

#19 "蒼天已死 : The Blue Sky Has Already Died" 

 

●2009 VIPER'S CREED

#4 "Witch -Sorcerer-"

#7 "Riot"

#10 "Counterattack"

 

●2008  BLASSREITER

#13 "Distant Memories"

#14 "The Saint's Choice"

#18 "The Fourth Revelation"

 #19 "Thoughts from the Past"

 

●2007 Ultraseven X

*The English subtitled version is available for viewing on→ Amazon's US site.

 

#2 "CODE NAME R"

#4 "DIAMOND S"

#9 "The RED MOON"

 

●2006 Ultraman Moebius

#14 "The Way to Go"

#19 "The Lone Standout Player"

#23 "Tides of Time"

#38 "ISANA of The Team OCEAN"

#45 "The Plot of DEATHLEM"

 

●2005 Ultraman Max

#20 "The Drifting Monster"

#25 "A Friend from afar"

#26 "Elly at Christmas"

 

●2005 Ultraman Nexus

#26 "REN-The Third"

#27 "The Prayer"

#28 "Reunion"

#30 "The Watcher"

#31 "Bird"

#35 "Revolt"

#36 "Farewell"

 

●2004 Ultra Q The Dark Fantasy

#10 " Fire to Send The Dead Off"

#12 "Dreaming Stone"

#13 "Shadow Invaders"

#15 "The Glowing Boat"

 

●2003 ASTRO BOY (the Japanese-American co-production TV series)

S1 E4  "Into Thin Air"

S1 E5  "Rainbow Canyon"

S1 E11 "Robot Circus"

S1 E13 "Little Sister, Big Trouble"

S1 E16 "Robot Hunters"

S1 E22 "The Legend of Tohron"

S2 E1  "The Blue Knight"

S2 E3  "Hydra-Jacked"

S2 E6  "Gideon"

S2 E16 "Avalanche"

S2 E18 "Undercover"

S2 E19 "Into the Dragon's Lair"

S2 E20 "The Night Before the Revolution"

 

●2001 Ultraman Cosmos

#13&14 "The Daughter of Time"

#57 "The Door to Snow" 

 

●2000 Inuyasha 

#18 "Temporary Arm"　

#19 "Farewell"　　

#32 "Evil Hole"

#33 "Trapped KIKYO"

 

●1999 ∀Gundam

#25 "Wilgem Takeoff"

#32 "The King of Myth"

#33 "The Manupiti Attack"

 

●1999 Booska! Booska!!

#3 "The Boy Who Gave Me the UFO"

#4 "The Appearance of Matsudo Saien, the Nemesis!

#12 "A Tale from the Land of Winter"

#13 "The Adventurous Papa Returns

#21 "The Secret of the OHINASAMA"

#36 "PACK of The Shimmer Valley

  

●1999 Ultraseven 1999 The Final

#4 "The End of The Contract"

 

●1998 Ultraman Gaia　

#9 The SEAGULL Takes Off"

#22 "A Wing of Stone"

#29 "Faraway Town, Uqbal" 

#35 "Ransom for The Monster"

#43 "ISAK of the Silver Eye"

 

●1997 Ultraman Dyna

#8 "Baon"

#11 "Himala, the Phantom Thief"

#20 "The Alien Boy"

#22 "Monnlit Soldiers"

#41  "To See Our Home, The Earth"

 

●1997 Ultraman Tiga

#21 "It's time to go, DEBAN!"

#27 "I Saw OBIKO!"

#32 "The Battle at The Zelda Point"

#41 "My Friend Back From Space"