Teppei Koike (Lovely Complex, Gokusen 2) and other castmembers from the live-action television adaptation of Yuma Ando and Masashi Asaki's Shibatora police manga appeared at a Thursday press conference to announce a second television special in the franchise. Shibatora Special 2 will air in Japan this May. Naohito Fujiki and Muga Tsukaji will reprise their supporting cast roles, and Junpei Mizobata will join the cast as the young suspect Igarashi.

In a separate development, Asaki launched a new mystery manga called Black Out in this year's 14th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine on Wednesday.

The story of Shibatora follows a boyish cop named Taketora Shibata who has the ability to see when anyone is near death. Within the manga's story, Shibata is popular among girls for looking "just like Teppei Koike" — and fortunately for the drama's producers, Koike himself signed up for the first television series in 2008.