Asian Drama

Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo; formerly married to Natsuki, father to their young daughter, Kana. Their lives suddenly change with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi’s estranged gay twin, Ryoji.

Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji’s past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented andheartbreaking look at the state of a largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture: how it’s been affected by the West, and how the next generation can change the preconceptions about it and prejudices against it.

Ryosuke’s father has been diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Ryosuke finds a diary in his father’s study. There is a note written by a murderer.

Sakagami Takumi, a high school student, is assigned to his class’s Community Outreach Committee. One day, his homeroom teacher also assigns his classmates Naruse Jun, a girl who is unable to speak because of a past trauma, Tasaki Daiki, a former ace player on the baseball team, and Nitoh Natsuki, a cheerleader and straight-A student, to the Committee. Each one of them harbors feelings that they "long to shout" in their hearts. Because of their homeroom teacher's foresight, their class ends up having to perform a musical at the exchange party, but nobody in the class seems willing. But as they see Jun courageously making an effort to communicate her feelings by singing, Takumi and the other classmates who were reluctant begin to participate in a positive way.

The day of the performance arrives. Will they be able to convey their true feelings they have locked away in their hearts?

It is Tokyo in 1935. 10-year-old Yanagi Etsuko is a young girl who loves songs. Her father Kantaro, a struggling lyricist, still cannot forget her late mother and wastes his life away. Seeing her father like this, Etsuko begins a search for Kantaro’s second bride and the new partner who will be her mother. Her first target is her teacher Muraoka Masako whom she eggs on to land a date with her father. However, it does not go very well. The next person who catches her attention is a salesgirl Ikebe Kyoko whom she met at a department store. Etsuko is drawn to Kyoko’s simplicity and gradually begins to love her as if she were her own mother. However, at that moment, Kantaro’s elder sister Tsuruyo pursues the subject of an arranged introduction with Kusakabe Kaoru, the incredibly beautiful daughter of a bank owner who is a shareholder in her husband’s company.

Based on the novel "Ecchan" by Shishi Bunroku.

Detective Mochizuki Akira (Kitano Kii), who was kidnapped as a child, still goes for regular counselling sessions at the recommendation of Tachibana Kyoka (Yoshida Yo), a physician of the police hospital. One day, a creepy doll addressed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is delivered. The same scar from a burn that Mochizuki’s kidnapper inflicted on her is on the doll’s arm. It is accompanied by a message (in kanji) “I wish for a reunion/resumption”. Does this mean the kidnapper from 20 years ago wants to meet her? Or is this a proclamation that kidnappings will resume? Mochizuki visits her former boss, Yamaji Tetsuo (Terajima Susumu), who also rescued her, in order to ask about the details of the kidnapping case 20 years ago which she has been repressing. The only thing she remembers is the wrist watch that the criminal wore. But at that moment, Mochizuki is notified of the kidnapping of a 9-year-old girl on her mobile phone. Furthermore the same case keeps happening. On the other hand, Yamaji is investigating the dead body of the secretary of a Diet lawmaker, which was discovered within his jurisdiction. Although it is clearly considered a murder, the investigation is called off because of the orders of the head of the First Investigative Division, Kokubo Yuji (Abe Sadao), and treated as a suicide. Feeling suspicious about this, Yamaji secretly asks medical examiner, Mikami Kaoru (Kato Masaya), to run a check. Mikami reluctantly accepts. He contacts a mysterious man (Yoshida Kotaro) and makes some disturbing move. Mochizuki tells her boss, the director Asano Yoshinori (Nakamura Shunsuke), about the doll as well as the connection between the rash of simultaneous kidnappings this time and the case 20 years ago, but he does not pay attention. However, Kariya Masaru (Aoyagi Sho), who belongs to the Second Special Investigation Fourth Section, offers to assist her. The two of them start to investigate similar cases in the past without Asano’s permission, but are astonished that all the investigation records at that time have been deleted from the police database. Moreover, the next morning the investigation task force is notified of the signals from the mobile phone of the missing girl, and Mochizuki and Kariya race to the scene but… As the case enters a new phase, Mochizuki starts to worry about what she should do when she confronts the criminal who kidnapped her 20 years ago. Yukihara Natsumi (Shinohara Ryoko) appears in before Mochizuki. Meanwhile, Umekawa Naoko (Kinami Haruka), whom the police has identified as a person related to the case, comes.