The Habitation
Aired on Saturdays from 11:40 p.m.
Story
There was a time when Japan’s housing projects, or “danchi,” were the dream homes of the masses. They produced a culture of residency unique to Japan, but today, these towers and their residents have aged. Now, the obsessive love of one elderly man for his granddaughter and fear of impending death have made him fixated on their danchi. His neighbors are at the mercy of his old-fashioned and pure ideas...
Don’t miss his mad antics on Saturday nights!
Our protagonist is an old man who's begun to see the end of his days. Feeling purpose in serving others and having lost his beloved wife, he invests all his emotional energy in his granddaughter. It’s enough to draw the ire of those around him, who think him dependent on his grandchild.
The life of a danchi and the life of a person are strangely similar.
Both are needed and praised when young, with plenty of opportunity for action, but as the years pass, both buildings and bodies weaken, until they find themselves at a crossroads.
Some danchi that are rebuilt, and some people begin a second life, but there are others who simply wait until the end, unable to do anything.
Fervently believing that his granddaughter needs to live in the same kind of danchi he spent his happy childhood in, he fights to restore the housing project to its former glory. The people of the disorderly and rusted danchi find themselves entranced by him as he becomes more and more of an essential figure in the neighborhood. Just out of view, however, inexplicable incidents are occurring one after another. Residents are dying of loneliness, rule-breakers are being struck by sudden misfortune, and more. Eventually, the man demands that the danchi residents become one family...
It is human nature to wish to deny the present and idealize the past the more one grows older. The man dedicates what life he has left to restoring the past, and chases after his ideal family and danchi. However, like a river, time can never go backwards. Aiming to bring back the danchi of the past for the sake of his granddaughter's future, the man's passion for his contradictory ideal gradually descends into madness.
Cast
Shiro Sano
Rika Adachi
Takaya Sakoda
Shigenori Yamazaki
Uta Watanabe
Mayumi Asaka
Hatsuo Yamaya
Kyoko Enami
episode1
The obsessive love of one elderly man for his granddaughter and fear of impending death have made him fixated on their danchi. His neighbors are at the mercy of his old-fashioned and pure ideas. Our protagonist is an old man who's begun to see the end of his days. Feeling purpose in serving others and having lost his beloved wife, he invests all his emotional energy in his granddaughter. It’s enough to draw the ire of those around him, who think him dependent on his grandchild. Fervently believing that his granddaughter needs to live in the same kind of danchi he spent his happy childhood in, he fights to restore the housing project to its former glory.
episode2
In order to make “Ayame chou danchi” housing estate like it used to be, Terauchi (Shiro Sano) does all he can, to think up of various ideas on how he could improve the housing environment, from plans for the efficiency of garbage disposal through to community notices. Meanwhile, having gained support from some of his neighbors, some not so optimistic individuals begin to foresee his dark side.
episode3
One of the reasons that Seiji Terauchi (Shiro Sano) moved into the “Ayame chou danchi” housing estate, is because he began to see his next door neighbor, Eriko (Rika Adachi) as the mother of Honoka, after attaining information from one of the old residents. Meanwhile, having made an effort to get closer to the Sakurai family, Eriko is feeling despondent, after finding out that her husband is having an affair.
