Asian Drama

Japan is in trouble. Serious trouble, to the tune of 800 trillion yen. At the current rate of national debt accumulation, the country will effectively collapse in a few years' time. The Ministry of Finance traces the beginning of the end to 1990 when a real estate cap set in motion a series of events that caused the bubble economy to burst, plunging the nation into hard economic times. But the Ministry has a crack plan to reverse all this. Into the picture comes flighty indebted bar hostess Mayumi (Hirosue Ryoko) whose mother has just passed away - or so she thinks until grave-faced civil servant Shimokawaji (Abe Hiroshi) shows up on her doorstep. It turns out her mother Mariko (Yakushimaru Hiroko) invented a time machine and traveled back in time to prevent the Finance Minister from making his disastrous policy move. Mariko has since gone missing, however, and now it's up to Mayumi to go back to 1990 to find her mom and, oh yes, save Japan. Directed by Baba Yasuo, Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust is a delightfully over-the-top comedy that colorfully and good-naturedly pokes fun at Japan's contemporary concerns and past bubble economy. Heads would burst if one tried to analyze the time travel logic or economic reasoning presented in the film, but the goal here is laughter, and Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust delivers it in large, sidesplitting portions. Director Baba contrasts the somber present with a hilariously excessive neon-lit 1990, a time when dresses were tight, eyebrows were thick, and money was everywhere for the taking. Abe Hiroshi (Trick) transforms seamlessly from a humorless, gray-haired salaryman to a goofy and irresponsible womanizer, while petite pop idol Hirosue Ryoko (Collage of Our Life) and former 80s idol Yakushimaru Hiroko (Always - Sunset on Third Street) make a formidable time-travelling mother-daughter duo. Packed with broad humor, pop culture references, and bubbly nostalgic fun, Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust is easily one of the most enjoyable and entertaining films of 2007.

6 horror stories, each 2 episodes long. I was only able to find a synopsis for the first two stories. The Midnight Cheerleader - Aya had become trapped within the mediocrity of her own life, she was the worst member of the cheer squad, and the boy she had a crush on wasn't even glancing at her. However her fortunes would soon change when she found the mirror; and it would be within the mirror that she would find the realization of her greatest dreams, and darkest fears. Always Together- It haunts her, talks to her, hurts her, and it will soon take the both of them. Miki's life was full of laughter until she found a new roommate, one with a strange companion; an antique doll. Soon enough, the laughter that once filled Miki's life will be dulled out by something more sinister. Will Miki's fate be forever intertwined with that of the doll? Or can her friends save her before it's too late? (Taken from Amazon).

Yukiko Makabe works at the #3 Special Investigation Team of the Metropolitan Police Department. She has excellent negotiation skills. Yukiko then attempts to negotiate with a hijacker on a bus, but something unexpected happens and her mission fails. Yukiko takes full responsibility and takes a transfer to a special interrogation team "Kintori". Her boss is Katsutoshi Kajiyama and Yukiko has had a difficult working relationship with him in the past. Her other coworkers include Susumu Hishimoto, Zenjiro Nakata and Haruo Koishikawa.

A man with leather gloves asks a girl to place a can of cookies in the police substation. Because of this, a police officer dies. Tetsuji Watanabe and Daijiro Kenmotsu, detectives from the #1 investigation team, finds out the identity of the man in leather gloves. They believe the culprit is famous attorney Fujishiro who only takes on miscarriage of justice cases. Fujishiro vehemently denies his involvement in the cookie incident during his interrogation by the Kintori team. Around this time, a man turns himself in and takes responsibility for an explosion at a police substation.

“A completely undetectable poison that kills 24 hours after consumed.” It is the rumour that has spread on the internet of a lethal drug that makes the perfect crime possible. It has even become a topic at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Crimes Unit which Sasamoto Naomi has been transferred to. The background of Professor Matsui Toichi who invented this poison at an East European university is obscure. What is known of him is a fuzzy picture on the internet and the digits inscribed on the back of his hand. Matsui has disappeared but starts to appear before people who are trapped by their problems and hands them the poison. “You are free to use it as you will,” he would tell them. Meanwhile, magazine journalist Akimoto Shunji who is engaged to Koide Reika, the daughter of the president of his company, learns of this poison too. He has a problem. It is the existence of Otsu Mayumi, a former high school classmate with whom he has been carrying on a relationship for half a year. She poses an obstacle to his marriage to Reika. And so, he attempts to broach a breakup with her, but is told that she is two months pregnant. On the way home, a troubled Akimoto is hailed by Matsui who passes him a small bottle with the poison. Later, Akimoto is invited to a meal at a posh restaurant by Reika’s father and forced to vow marriage to Reika. He puts a drop of the poison in Mayumi’s cup in order to protect his bright future even as he struggles with himself. Mayumi unsuspectingly brings that cup to her lips... On the morning two days after the incident, her dead body is found at an unexpected place.

Adapted from 1981 novel "Doku" by Akagawa Jirō.

Episodes: 13

Duration: 40 min.

Aired On: Thursday

Ratings: 7.0

The story will focus on a love triangle between the three leads. Eikura plays the role of Morimoto Naoko, a girl from the countryside whose first love is her uncle, Ikezawa Masato (ARATA). She follows after him to Tokyo by getting admitted into an elite medical university, but there she runs into Masato's girlfriend and colleague Aya (Kanno), a beautiful and intelligent researcher who is the daughter of the university hospital's director. However, things get complicated after Naoko and Masato meet again.

Last Friends tackles issues that afflict the current generation. Michiru's mother has brought a man back to their home and she is bullied at her workplace where she works as a beauty parlour assistant. She starts cohabiting with her boyfriend, a good young man who works at the Child Welfare Division and the only person who can give her emotional support, but ends up the victim of domestic violence and becomes fearful of love. The boyishly charming Ruka was a classmate of Michiru's in junior high school. She has performed brilliantly as a motocross racer and aims to win the national championship, but as the story progresses, a deep worry that she can neither confide in her parents or close friends grows evident. Takeru is a hair and makeup artist acquainted with Ruka. He is a good confidant to females due to his kindness and perceptiveness, and finds himself attracted to Ruka but has a phobia of sex as a result of a past trauma. The three of them become house mates and through their associations with others, gain the capacity to be positive about life.

Naomi Shimizu is a young career woman working for Enrico Dandolo, an Italian fashion house. That is until one day the company declares bankruptcy. Accustomed to living in luxury she tries to make a run for it with the last remaining company asset, a red Alpha Romeo sports car. Unfortunately she recklessly collides with a bicycle messenger. Lacking any funds to pay for a settlement, she ends up having to work as a bicycle messenger.