Fly me to the Saitama

In present-day Saitama, Aimi Sugawara’s parents drive her to the engagement ceremony, quietly bracing for the moment when she will move to Tokyo after the marriage. The long‑standing prejudice that Tokyo residents look down on Saitama weighs on the trip, and to keep things calm they pass the time listening to FM NACK5, Saitama’s local radio channel, which airs a dramatized history of Saitama’s fight for liberation from Tokyo’s dominance.

Within the radio drama, Momomi Dannoura, the son of the Tokyo governor, finds his social standing at Hakuhodo High School threatened by the arrival of Rei Asami, a handsome student who has spent time in America. Rei, unusual for a Tokyo elite, reaches out to the so‑called Z Class students from Saitama who live in a hut off the main campus grounds, offering help and recognition that the others rarely receive.

Momomi falls for Rei, but Rei’s true role emerges: he is a secret agent for the Saitama Liberation Front, sent to aid a liberation effort by infiltrating Tokyo’s ruling circles. Rei’s identity is uncovered by Momomi’s family butler, Akutsu, forcing Rei to flee back to Saitama to join the movement. Momomi decides to follow after discovering a plot by Tokyo elites to crush the Saitama resistance.

It’s revealed that Akutsu was also connected to the Chiba Liberation Front, and while he peddled influence in Tokyo, he harbored hostility toward the Saitama Liberation Front. The two fronts confront each other across the Edogawa River near Nagareyama Bridge, at the border between Saitama and Chiba, a tense standoff that underscores the regional divide. Yet a breakthrough arrives when Momomi uncovers a trove of gold bars on Mount Akagi in Gunma, illegally amassed by past Tokyo governors, which shifts the power balance and paves the way for a broader coalition.

With renewed momentum, the factions join forces and launch an assault on Tokyo to push for liberation. In a pivotal turn, Rei and Momomi reveal Momomi’s father’s own ploy to retain power and, once exposed, remove him from authority, marking a decisive step toward Saitama’s emancipation.

In the climactic finale, Rei and Momomi initiate Duke Saitama’s bold initiative, the “Japan Saitamaization Plan,” a strategy to quietly spread Saitama’s unassuming culture across Japan and reshape the national cultural landscape.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 13:06