Asian Drama

Asami Sae is a housewife, married to a doctor, and has two daughters. Her family lives within the exclusive SKY CASTLE neighborhood. She works hard to get her eldest daughter into the most prestigious high school, and she will do anything to accomplish that goal. Her neighbors in SKY CASTLE include Minamisawa Izumi, Nikaido Kyoko, and Natsume Misaki. All of these women try to send their children to the same elite high school. They hear that the son of their neighbor, Saejima Kaori, has passed the entrance exam to the high school that they desperately want their children to attend. They are eager to hear from Saejima Kaori on what was used to help her son pass the exam. Saejima Kaori reveals the existence of exam coordinator Kujo Ayaka. Kujo Ayaka only tutors two students a year and charges an extraordinary fee, but she gets her students into any school that they want. She boasts a 100% success rate.

Episodes: 9

Aired On: Thursday

Duration: 54 min.

Content Rating: Not Yet Rated

Hayasaka Akito is a talented artist. He is working hard to be accepted for the Nika Exhibition, but a tumor is discovered in his heart, and he is told that he has one year left to live. Hayasaka Akito doesn't express his emotions on his diagnosis. One day, on the hospital rooftop, Hayasaka Akito meets Sakurai Haruna, who is painting. Sakurai Haruna tells him that she has only half a year to live. Hayasaka Akito gets attracted to her more and more, but he doesn't tell her about his condition.

Saeba Ryo is a "sweeper" in the city of Tokyo. He works as a trouble shooter, cleaning the streets of vermin, and helping out desperate people. Sometimes he's a bodyguard, sometimes he's an assassin, whatever Ryo does he does it well. In fact, his only flaw is his hormones - he loves the ladies and sometimes turns into an idiot when he's near them. Thankfully he's got people like his partner Kaori Makimura to keep him in check.

(Source: Mangaupdates)

Adapted from the manga series "City Hunter" (シティーハンター) by Hojo Tsukasa (北条司).

Duration: 1 hr. 42 min.

Ratings: 8.1

Taeko should have lived a happy life with her beloved husband and her son. However, one day a sad event that suddenly fell breaks the peace of her family and destroys her daily life.

Hiroto Miyama works with rookie lawyer Honoka Kono on a team that specializes with criminal cases for Madarame Law Firm. Atsuhiro Sada has become the director of the law firm. One day, the law firm receives a request about a case that took place 15 years ago. The case was about a poisonous wine incident.

This work is a home drama featuring Shunpei Akagi, who just became a single father three months ago for some reason. When a childhood friend wrote on SNS that "# I am looking for a family" with a humorous idea, Shunpei decided to live under one roof with four adults and three children. They are depicted as having different personalities and values, and eventually becoming a "family".

Akira is the legendary killer known as the Fable. Following the order of his boss and due to being overworked, he lives peacefully with his partner Yoko as ordinary siblings. Akira still works part-time at design company Octopus with CEO Takoda and employee Misaki. CEO Takoda and Misaki are unaware of Akira's background as an assassin.

Meanwhile, Utsubo is a representative for an NPO. But, Utsubo works with contract killer Suzuki to set people up for extortion purposes. They target someone at design company Octopus.

Nobuto Urita is a boxer, who loves his sport more than anything. No matter how hard he tries, Nobuto Urita keeps losing his matches. Meanwhile, Kazuki Ogawa spars with Nobuto Urita at the same gym. He is a boxer with elite talent and skills. Unlike Nobuto Urita, Kazuki Ogawa will likely win a championship. Kazuki Ogawa is also engaged to Chika Amano. She is a childhood friend of Nobuto Urita and also his first love.

Toto Bank President Ichihara is in a hotel suite romancing his secretary Nana when he suddenly loses consciousness. Four women arrive to perform CPR, but their efforts to save him are in vain. They calmly rid the room of evidence, then ensure the deletion of all records pertaining to the president’s stay. Previously, the president had stipulated that should he die suddenly, his death must be be made to appear as if he had died at home. Keitaro is a former litigation clerk who worked as a political secretary and is now running a ramen restaurant . He ordered the four women to deal with the situation happening in the hotel room. Together restauranteur Keitaro, housekeeper Satsuki and secretaries Chiyo, Nana, Fujiko, Saran and Miwa, form a shadow corps, whose mission it is to help the weak and punish evil-doers. With their combined skills and experience, they are a force to be reckoned with.

Iwane Sakazaki has two childhood friends: Kinpei Kobayashi and Shinnosuke Kawade. They received training at the same dojo. Kinpei Kobayashi's younger sister Mai is married to Shinnosuke Kawade. Also Iwane Sakazaki will marry Mao who is the younger sister of Kinpei Kobayashi and Mai. The three friends are like brothers. Shinnosuke Kawade then hears a rumor that his wife Mai is having an affair and he kills her. Kinpei Kobayashi becomes enraged that his younger sister is murdered and kills Shinnosuke Kawade. To punish Kinpei Kobayashi, Iwane Sakazaki is ordered to kill his friend.

After the Onin War, the world is plunged into chaos. Amid this situation, heroes of the warring states begin to emerge in an attempt to unify the country and rule in these turbulent times. In the mid-1540s, there is a young wandering samurai in Mino which is strategically located between the East and West. His name is Akechi Mitsuhide. At this time, there is plenty of internal strife within the Toki clan which rules Mino. Surrounded by the Oda of Owari, the Imagawa of Suruga and the Asakura of Echizen, Mino has constantly faced the risk of invasion. Mitsuhide is pulled into battle and destroys the enemy. His bravery as well as stratagem catches the attention of Saito Toshimasa, the chief retainer of the Toki clan, and he is singled out. This man who is also known as Saito Dosan will go on to takeover the Toki and make Mino his own.

Kisaragi Toko is a detective in the Investigation 1 Section 11 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Her senior, Detective Hideaki Takano, has decided to move to the Public Security Bureau. Hideaki Takano’s transfer will be carried out in 1 week. During this time, a murder takes place. A wealthy man is found dead in his home. His throat has been cut and a blue flower placed within the wound. Also, the victim's wife Mayumi is missing. A newspaper then receives an email from Kurasuta 16, professing themselves as the murderer. The email also implies the location of Mayumi. Since Detective Hideaki Takano is soon to transfer to the Public Security Bureau, Toko Kisaragi feels more pressure and responsibility to solve the crime. ~~ Adapted from the novel "Chou no Rikigaku: Keishicho Satsujin Bunsekihan" by Asami Kazushi.

Imamiya (Fumino Kimura) is a detective who deals with fraud and scam cases. She arrests Kaji (Mahiro Takasugi), who is involved in a voice phishing case. Imamiya and her colleagues do not know who is at the top of the voice phishing group. Detective Tezuka (Kenichi Endo) suggests that they should let Kaji walk free and see if he will lead them to the top of the group.

A boy was trained to be a killer. Several years later, he is now an elite contract killer nicknamed 'Fable'. The man takes a year off from his job as an assassin in order to live like an ordinary person in Osaka.

Yazaki Rio is a 32-year-old screenwriter, who was once popular but has not written any new titles in a while. One day while she was giving a lecture, she distributes a questionnaire to the attendees. Later when reading the answers, she notices that 4 women are all talking about a man named "Ito". With the encouragement of her producer, she decided to write a new TV series about the women and their relationship with "Ito".

Shikata Atsushi, Tadokoro Keita, and Kawabata Satoshi spent their childhood days as friends. As adults, they meet again due to a murder case. Atsushi works as a detective, Keita is a suspect and Satoshi is a victim. As they come face to face with the truth of the murder case, they must also confront their detested past, sealed within their minds until now.

Shikata Atsushi, Tadokoro Keita, and Kawabata Satoshi spent their childhood days as friends. As adults, they meet again due to a murder case. Atsushi works as a detective, Keita is a suspect and Satoshi is a victim. As they come face to face with the truth of the murder case, they must also confront their detested past, sealed within their minds until now.

Makoto Masaki and Haruko Kogetsu are both 29 years old and single. Since they were children, they have passed each other at various places like on the beach and shrines. Yet, the two are not aware of each other at all. One day, a man appears in front of Makoto Masaki and introduces himself as God. He tells Makoto Masaki about his destined soul mate and that she works next door. When he faces Haruko Kogetsu, he tells her "I'm your destiny."

Tomonaga Ranmaru, Kamekanbo Hikaru and Miyazawa Kanji, who happened to meet through a strange turn of events, ride in a car to eat and sleep at hot spring inns as they journey across Japan in search of an enigmatic hot spring geisha called Miyabi.

Balsa (Haruka Ayase) is a 30-year-old female bodyguard-for-hire. Her life changes when she saves Imperial Prince Chagumu who is being carried away by a raging river. They then attempt to return the great egg of the water spirit, which is in Prince Chagumu's possession to its source in the sea. Along the way, they are hunted by hired assassins.

Satomi 
Shinobu works in the Mobile Investigation Unit of The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The Mobile Investigation Unit conducts the initial investigation at all crime scenes. He works with Inokuma Yuki. They are a couple, but they keep their relationship a secret at work. They both hope to work at the #1 Investigation Station. One day, they meet beautiful Tachibana Kara at the site where a dead body was found. Kara appears at the other crime scenes involving grotesque murders. She shows an interest in Yuki. Satomi Shinobu thinks it's a bad sign for Yuki. To protect his girlfriend from danger, he struggles to find uncover the truth behind the serial murder cases and Kara’s identity. 


After leaving an abusive relationship, Shino decides to quit her job and move away to a new area. She gets a part-time job at a local shop and discovers the manager is also her new neighbor, Kyoshiro. Shino finds herself quickly becoming attracted to Kyoshiro, but also knows he lives with his girlfriend Akari, who is almost immediately suspicious of Shino's intentions. With the failure of her last relationship in the forefront of her mind, Shino is hesitant to make more mistakes involving her love life, but must also weigh that against her own desire to find happiness.

Toko Kisaragi (Fumino Kimura) is a detective who just transferred to 11 Section of the 1st Investigation Division at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Her father was also a detective.

A body is found under the basement floor of an abandoned building. The body has been cemented. Detectives hold a meeting to investigate the case. The murderer then calls the investigation headquarters. The murderer introduces himself as Toremi. Toko Kisaragi becomes Toremi's negotiator. While giving hints about the murder, Toremi also ridicules and provokes the detectives. Toremi then calls and announces a second murder. The second victim is found and that person is also cemented.

Kanbara Kiko is a poor single mother whose 5-year-old son, Haruto, gets admitted to a prestigious kindergarten in an unexpected turn of events. One Haruto's first day of school, high-end cars are backed up in front of the kindergarten’s front gate. Mothers swagger on high heels within the compound and carry luxury brand bags. Although Kiko is shocked by the reality of this kindergarten where she is out of her element, she expresses her feelings directly to the mothers who regard her as an enemy. With her vivacity and compassion, she starts to change the thinking and establish new bonds with these rigid women living in a completely different world and generation.

Saburo (Hiroki Hasegawa) works at a medical office on The Izu Islands, which has seen its population dwindle over the years. Even though Saburo doesn't have a medical license, he performs operations under the instructions of Dr. Muraki (Kohei Otomo). Because of his gifted dexterity and sincerity, people call him the Young Doctor. Saburo becomes conflicted over his position, but he convinces himself that what he is doing is helping people. Saburo becomes is also loved by nurse Akiko Suzuki (Izumi Inamori) and Akiko Tasaka (Fumino Kimura), who is the daughter of the director of a general hospital in Tokyo.

Shiraishi Tomio graduated from Tokyo University and works for a foreign securities firm. He has a beautiful fiancee, Aoike Kozue, and life has been smooth sailing. However, one day, his father Takao commits suicide, leaving behind a lot of debts. As the joint guarantor, all of Tomio's savings are spent on paying off the debts. In addition, he is pursued by moneylenders. He loses everything. His money, job and fiancee … and becomes homeless. The path he chooses is that of the moneylenders who drove him to the very bottom. He ends up going to work for Akamatsu Daisuke who runs Akamatsu Finance. Akamatsu Finance looks like a normal company on the outside, but lends money at high interest rates behind the scenes. Tomio wants to regain everything that he and his father lost in their lives because of money, with money. Deciding that he will endure any kind of hardship for the sake of money, Tomio goes to great lengths to do whatever it takes to achieve his aims, even the illegal. He meets Konno Mio, the daughter of his debt-ridden high school teacher. She makes him realise before he is aware of it, that he has been obsessed with money, and special feelings start to blossom between the two of them. Furthermore, Tomio's former girlfriend, Kozue, who has complicated love-hate feelings for him shows up again. The three soon develop a complex romantic relationship. Faced with the truth of his father's death, Tomio plots a heroic revenge. But will he be able to regain all that he has lost?

Tsubaki Hibino (Emi Takei) is a young teenage girl with a talent for styling other people's hair. Yet, Tsubaki suffers from low self-esteem and isn't very comfortable styling her own hair. She also has a tendency to dress old-fashioned. She's teased at high school because of this.

One day, popular male student Kyota Tsubaki (Tori Matsuzaka) targets Tsubaki for teasing. Kyota Tsubaki holds sway over the entire classroom and is quite a playboy. Inexplicably they fall in love. Meanwhile, Kyota Tsubaki has commitment issues ...

April 4, 1959 in the early morning Detective Fujisawa Rokuro of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was walking his dog along the banks of Tokyo's Musashino district, and found the body of a young woman. Her handbag, an express delivery envelope, and other possession were stil with her, her identity was immediately confirmed as airline stewardess Ikuta Setsuko. Initials her death was considered a suicide due to the visual evidence of a lack of struggle, and the peaceful expression on her face. Upon further examination the cause of her death was determined as suffocation. semen was also found at the scene leading detectives to believe the crime occurred shortly before the body was found.

Fujisawa unable to forget the peaceful expression on Setsuko's face makes a direct appeal to the head of criminal investigations. He is order to work in combination with young detective Ichimura Yoshitaka. Fujisawa is the ace of the MPD, but he tends to go off on his own and that sometimes gets him into trouble. Manager Takaku Ryo takes it upon himself to monitor Fujisawa and Ichimura's behavior.

Eventually it is discovered that a blue Renault with a foreign license plate was seen one the night of the incident near the crime scene. The owner of the blue Renault, a young preist,mis found the be the sender of the express envelope found with the body. The young priest is the prime suspect, but this situation could become an international problem if handled incorrectly. One day while Fujisawa is on a stake out at the Church of Villiers were the young priest preaches a mysterious woman comes and speaks to the Chief Priest. The atmosphere around her seems to repel people.

Based on the novel "Kuroi Fukuin" by Seicho Matsumoto.

Maki’s mother commits assault and Maki is temporarily placed in the children’s orphanage, Kogamo no Ie. Post is a young girl who reigns as the leader at Kogamo no Ie. While she has lost her parents, she is remarkably strong, resilient and positive. There is also Piami and Bonbi who respect Post. These girls, who each have different backgrounds, do not appear sad and seem quite indifferent. When asked for the reason for the queer nicknames they call each other, Post replies that they have cast away everything they received from their parents including their pasts as well as their names. Even if they constantly think about their parents, there will be no happiness. She advises Maki to leave the past behind. Bravado is the only weapon to protect themselves in this harsh, cold world. However, Maki believes that her mother will come to get her.

In the year 1926, Machiko Hasegawa is a 6-year-old child and lives in Fukuoka. She is a bright girl, who enjoys playing outdoors. At home, she loves to draw. Her father is a handsome mining engineer and he loves his family more than anything else. When Machiko is 14-years-old her father passes away. The rest of her family decides to move to Tokyo. Her mother than makes a quick decision and sends 15-year-old Machiko to manga artist Tagawa as his student. Machiko's life is peaceful, but the oncoming war makes things tense. Machiko's family moves back to Fukuoka. When the war is about to end, the local newspaper asks Machiko to publish a serial manga. Machiko has difficulties in coming up with an idea for the manga series and decides to go to the nearby Momochi Seaside Park. She watches the ocean and comes up with the idea for manga series "Sazae-san".

~~ Based on the autobiographical essay manga "Sazae san Uchiake Banashi" by Machiko Hasegawa.

'Subete wa Kimi ni Aeta Kara' follows various different people and couples in 6 loosely connected stories. All of the stories are set at Tokyo Station and take place just before Christmas. The different characters range from a company president who distrusts human beings, to a train driver who just received the shocking diagnosis that he has only half a year left to live. # "Eve no Koibito" ('Christmas Eve Lover') - A company president (Tamaki) meets a woman (Takanashi), who just lost a beloved person, in a restaurant at Tokyo Station. He thinks that all women only like his money and enjoys being alone. She originally moved to Tokyo to become an actress, but now she is planning to go back to her hometown right after her short play at an orphanage. # "Enkyori Renai" ('Long Distance Relationship') - A love-dovey couple that is going through a long distance relationship. She (Kimura) is an aspiring fashion designer in Tokyo and he (Higashide) is a construction worker in Sendai. Will their hectic schedules allow them to at least meet each other on Christmas? # "Christmas Present" - Ichikawa plays a woman who works in an orphanage. That day she is waiting for the new mother of the 7-year-old Akane to come and pick her up. # "Nibun no Ichi Seijin Shiki" ('A Half Coming-Of-Age Ceremony') - A train driver (Tokito) who cannot bring himself to tell his son that he only has half a year left to live. The train driver's wife is played by Otsuka. # "Christmas no Yuuki" ('Christmas Courage') - A part-timer (Honda) at a cake shop has a crush on her senior at work, but she lacks the courage to approach him. # "Okurete Kita Present" ('Belated Present') - The owner of the cake shop at Tokyo Station (Baisho) gets reminded of a promise that she made with a certain someone (Kobayashi) 49 years ago.

Shirakawa Jiro is a genius author. At the age of 15, his novel for a magazine won the top prize. He has written 99 mystery novels as a trick genius since then. Shirakawa is tackling what would be his milestone 100th novel, but he has not been able to write anything and this has gone on for more than three months. Aonuma Kiryu is a genius interviewer who is able to get people to loosen their tongues. Taking pleasure in being an imposter, the unattractive Shirakawa has transformed into the handsome Aonuma. He does so in order to listen to what people say. While he has no interest in the truth, he seeks a real case which he had found through the internet as material for his 100th novel. It is the unsolved and sensational Tulip Murders which occurred during the summer of 1999. The grotesque abandoned corpses of two housewives were found with their skirts tied up around their necks by a homeless man. This was followed by yet another murder one year later. Together with the beautiful editor Kahiyama Rika, Shirakawa heads to the small town of Keshinohara where the cases occurred. As Aonuma, he interviews the people involved one by one and gets close to the hidden truth with his formidable powers of deduction. There is a miracle spring, a power healer; an affair, embezzlement, and cover up. What is happening in this hermetic town?

The story revolves around two struggling comics, Takashi Komoto (Keisuke Koide) and Yohei Tanaka (Atsushi Ito), who have been performing together as a manzai comedy duo called “Boso Swimmers” for the past 12 years with very little success. The pair rarely discuss their concerns for the future together, even though they’re now 30 years old with little hope of making it big. Even so, they maintain their passion for comedy and start keeping an “exchange diary” as a way of communicating with each other more frankly.

It is April at Kokubunkan Public High School which is known for being good at both studies and sports. Aoyagi Haruka, the rookie form teacher of Class 3D, swells with hope. However, the assistant form teacher is Takakura Yuko, the biology teacher with a poor reputation in school. Furthermore, the transfer student Toda Toshio suddenly accuses the class prefect Mochizuki Ryohei and others of bad deeds. There is a lot to sort out for the new school term. One day, Class 3D’s Yamagishi Rio is instructed by her boyfriend, Tatsuya, to collect the email addresses of her friends. Tatsuya attends a first rate university and has also passed the bar exam. He belongs to the “winners”, but is in truth a peddler who sells unregulated herbs. In order to keep her relationship with Tatsuya going, Rio caters to his demands even though she knows is it wrong. Before long, there is a spam email that starts the rumour of Rio offering email addresses and encouraging unregulated herbs. An inspection of Rio’s bag is carried out without warning. Rio seeks Haruka’s help and Haruka promises to keep it a secret from the school. However, Yuko points out that Rio is a mere tool of the peddler. In addition, there is a call about the collapse of the students of Class 3D after smoking the unregulated herbs. In an attempt to save an embattled Rio, Haruka asks Yuko for help. But Yuko coldly says that she will save Rio in exchange for Haruka’s first paycheck. Yuko, the classics teacher Uchida Sumire and art teacher Fujii Aya wear different faces from daytime. They are “black teachers” who solve problems in return for large sums of money.

Shinobu Takeuchi becomes a homeroom teacher at Ooki Elemntary School in Osaka, Japan. Shinobu loves mystery novels and can't stand things when it doesn't turn out right. Shinobu with three of her students then attempts to solve a difficult cases that even detectives can't solve.

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.

Yukari Hayasaka is a high school student who has become tired of her life of constant schooling. She then comes across a group of student fashion designers in need of a model for their "Paradise Kiss" clothing label. Yukari knows nothing about the fashion world and is taken back by the group's eccentric ways, but she soon comes to admire their free thinking ways and ability to pursue their dreams with a one track mind.

The 45th NHK Taiga Drama is Komyo ga Tsuji.

Kazutoyo lived during the end of the Sengoku period (1546-1605). He was the first feudal lord of the fief of Tosa on the island of Shikoku. He served Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Chiyo (1557-1617) was his wife, and was known in history for her dedication and devotion to her husband (like Matsu was to Toshiie in Toshiie to Matsu). She is the daughter of a samurai who served the feudal lord Asai.