Asian Drama

Following the ascension to power of Taira no Kiyomori, the Minamoto clan is exiled. Minamoto no Yoritomo meets Masako, the sister of Hojo Yoshitoki and later marries her. Following this marriage, the gears of Yoshitoki's destiny begin to turn.

In 2023 in Tokyo, Prime Minister Eiichi Higashiyama pushes for COMS at the World Environment Conference. COMS is a method to liquify pollutants and store it in the crack of the sea floor. Prime Minister Eiichi Higashiyama gathers young and talented bureaucrats and launches Japan Future Promotion Conference, which is to benefit the future of Japan. Keishi Amami of the Ministry of the Environment and Koichi Tokiwa of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry are members of that conference.

One day, Yusuke Tadokoro’s article is published in a weekly magazine. His articles warns that Kanto region will sink into the sea. Due to his article, groups begin to hold protests. To ease the situation, Keishi Amami meets with Yusuke Tadokoro, but Yusuke Tadokoro insists that in the near future, Izu Peninsula will sink and that will portend the Kanto region sinking. Around this time, Minori Shiina, who is a weekly magazine reporter, talks to Keishi Amami about possible corruption between a company and the Ministry of Environment. Keishi Amami is uncomfortable dealing with everything, but he takes part in his hobby and goes scuba diving with Koichi Tokiwa. There he faces a shocking event.

Adapted from a novel of the same name.

Follows an aspiring manga artist named Keigo Yamashiro who dreams of making it big. Yamashiro is extremely talented, but what holds him back is his inability to create any villains due to his overtly cheerful personality. Due to this he is currently stuck in the position of being an assistant to a manga writer.

One day Yamashiro receives an assignment from his boss to visit a home and sketch the family living there. When Yamashiro arrives at the house he finds all four family members dead, and a mysterious man. Startled by the incident, the unknown man makes his escape and Yamashiro calls the cops.

When questioned by police Yamashiro lies and says that he did not see the murderer, he does however use the murderer as a villain for his own manga titled “34”. The manga series becomes a surprise hit and Yamashiro quickly becomes a top star in the manga world. However, murders extremely similar to incidents in the “34” manga begin to happen in real life, and Yamashiro is soon confronted by the mysterious murderer.

A new interpretation of "Records of the Three Kingdoms," which is historical text of the three states of Wei, Shu, and Wu in China.

Akutsu Eiji is a newspaper reporter. He is working on unsolved case that took place 30 years ago. The case involved a group of people extorting several companies for money. The group sent cassette tapes to the companies. Akutsu Eiji comes across a mysterious cassette tape. Meanwhile, Sone Toshiya lives in Kyoto and runs a tailor shop. He discovers a cassette tape among his late father's possessions. He plays the cassette tape and hears his voice from his childhood days.

~~ Adapted from the novel "The Voice of Sin" (罪の声) by Shiota Takeshi (塩田武士), which in turn was inspired by the extortion case "Glico Morinaga case" (グリコ・森永事件).

The story of a young man who has felt since childhood utterly alien from others around him. Since that time he has learned to put on a face to hide his alienation. He feels incapable of belonging to the human society, especially so by society's refusal to take him seriously. He then follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, and suicide...

Based on one of the best-selling Japanese novels by Dazai Osamu.

Kanako Oba uses a mysterious site to apply for part-time work. As a result, her life is soon in jeopardy. She is forced to work at the restaurant Diner as a waitress or she will be killed. The restaurant is membership only and their customers are all contract killers.

Kenji Amo is a 2nd generation Japanese-American. He was born in America but went to school in Japan. He returned to America to study at UCLA. Now, Kenji Amo works as a reporter for a newspaper in the Little Tokyo area of Los Angeles.

Charlie Tamiya also studied at UCLA with Kenji Amo. Charlie Tamiya has feelings for Nagiko who works with Kenji Amo at the same newspaper company. Knowing that, Kenji Amo holds complicated feelings. At this time, Nagiko's friend Emi Hatanaka asks Kenji Amo to marry her. He accepts her proposal, but the Pacific War begins. Circumstances surrounding Kenji Amo changes.

Hibiki Akui is a sensitive 15-year-old girl from an ordinary family with a penchant for writing. She has grown up in an ordinary family. Her father works as a public officer, her mother a housewife and her older brothers studies at a university.

One day, the literary magazine “Mokuren” receives a manuscript script for Akui's novel “Otogi no Niwa.” The novel is an entry for the magazine's 'Rookie of the Year' Award. However, it does not satisfy the conditions of the award and so is tossed into the office trash bin. Editor Fumi Hanai happens to see the novel in the trash can and takes an interest in it...

The Yorozuya need money to pay their rent. They decide to do several small jobs but in each place, they meet the Shogun. Meanwhile, the Shinsengumi is facing divisions. The internal conflict of special forces is linked to shenanigans that involve the Shogun.

10 years have passed since legendary F4 members Tsukasa Domyoji, Rui Hanazawa, Sojiro Nishikado and Akira Mimasaka have graduated from Eitoku Academy. Since their departure, the school has been on a steady decline.

Correct 5 is formed at the high school with Haruto Kaguragi (Sho Hirano) as the group's leader. They are worried about the school's steady demise. They decide to find deadbeat students and kick them out of the school.

Haruto Kaguragi likes ordering stuff that makes him look bigger physically. He uses his butler's name for his online orders and receives the items at a convenience store. Oto Edogawa (Hana Sugisaki) works part-time at the convenience store. She also attends the same school as Haruto Kaguragi. Oto Edogawa is actually from a poor family, but she pretends to be from a rich family to fit in at school. Her fiance is Tenma Hase (Taishi Nakagawa) and he attends a rival high school.

Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture). His simple honesty caught the attention of its charismatic feudal lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira. Nariakira’s assertion that the love of people is what will enrich and strengthen the nation captivated Saigo who took on Nariakira’s secret mission and eventually became a key person for Satsuma. Not a portrait of him survives today and much of his life is a mystery. He is a man who was twice exiled and thrice married. He overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate with exceptional bravery and action. Although he accomplished the restoration, he lost his life in a fight with the new Meiji government.

Based on the novel "Sego Don" by Hayashi Mariko.

Following the showdown with his arch nemesis Ando, Detective Ango Ishikawa takes on a new case with his uncanny ability to communicate with the dead.

'I want to eat your pancreas' Yamauchi Sakura told Shiga Haruki while shelving books at the library. 12 years have passed Haruki, now a homeroom teacher at their old school, was asked to be in charge of the organization of the library collection. As he talks to his student, it made him look back on the days he spent with Sakura. Narrating the moment he picks up a diary, and discovers that his popular classmate is suffering from a pancreatic disease. Sakura decides to spend her remaining days with Haruki. Shiga being a loner initially refuses but slowly accepts Sakura into his life.

Adapted from the novel "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" (君の膵臓をたべたい) by Sumino Yoru (住野よる) and illustrated by loundraw.

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.

Okuyama Keisuke is a successful lawyer with a dark past. He suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder due to abuse and betrayal as a young boy. One day, Keisuke is asked to defend his distant relative and psychopath “friend”, Ando Tatsuya, who is a suspect in a murder case. Tatsuya had robbed him of his own parents and happiness one after another. After that, he was repeatedly mistreated by Tatsuya’s family who adopted him. Keisuke takes a risky gamble to bury Tatsuya from society. Their reunion is the start of a battle with a new nightmare.

A series of grotesque and brutal murders happens on rainy nights, all of them supposedly done by a man wearing a frog mask. Detective Hisashi Sawamura is the first to notice the connections and sets on a pursuit. Soon, he will come to a terrifying revelation that his own family might be the next target.

Saburo (Shun Oguri) is a high school student good in sports, but not very good with his studies. One day, Saburo travels back in time and arrives in the Sengoku period of 1549. There, Saburo meets Nobunaga Oda who looks and sounds just like Saburo. Nobunaga Oda is the son of a warlord and magistrate of the lower Owari Province. Nobunaga Oda though is physically weak and he asks Saburo to take his place. Then, Saburo as Nobunaga Oda attempts to unify the country of Japan.

The son of the second generation owner of a traditional Japanese confectionery shop ‘Kururiya’ in Tokyo’s Kototoibashi, Kururi Takuzo was born and raised in Tokyo. He received a strict education from his father, who was a man with an old-fashioned way of thinking, and his skills in making the shop’s signature dango have surpassed his father’s. But in his personal life, he has divorced thrice and is a rather sloppy man to women. Now at the age of 55, he leads a carefree life. His hobby is to go for walks in town with the antique single-lens reflex camera that his father bought for him when he was a child, and capture the scenery of the good old-fashioned Tokyo which will change someday. In the middle of such days, Takuzo encounters women whom he is attracted to. He spends a time with each woman, talking over delicious alcohol and food while having a fleeting love. Will love work out for him?

Takiya Genji and his newly formed gang, GPS, have successfully taken over Suzuran and overthrown their former leader, Serizawa. He soon realises however, that reaching the top is tough, but staying there is even tougher. Unity is fast deteriorating as inner turmoil begins to grow within the grounds and loyalty crumbles. Genji is soon beset by a malaise as he doubts his ability as a leader and fighter. Meanwhile, a certain rival school declares all-out war on Suzuran and this conflict will test Genji's ability to rise up to the challenge.

Gigolo Wannabe acquaints the audience with seven young men of disparate backgrounds, from a street performer to an ex-banker, who have been through various circumstances such as losing a business and getting kicked out of a basketball team. They are brought together by a desire to make quick money as 'hosts'-essentially the male equivalent of hostesses in a club. However, their enthusiasm is almost arrested upon discovering that the club's 'manager' has run off with their deposits! To add to the problem, the bar owner's granddaughter, Chika (Riko Narumi) suffers a heart disorder, so the owner decides to let the young men run the joint themselves, though not without disastrous results. As the plot unfolds, the club transforms itself from a cluttered place with clashing personalities to one that is more mellow and professional in a bid to raise money for Chika's heart operation abroad.

Based on the popular Japanese comic of the same name about an average girl's high flying romance and friendship with F4 or four handsome heirs. High school sweethearts Tsukasa and Tsukusi are finally getting married. Tsukasa gives his fiancee a precious family heirloom ― but only to see a robber disappear with it. Tsukasa and three other F4 friends reunite for the globetrotting search.

"Ouroboros" is an ancient symbol that depicts a snake eating its own tail - meaning infinity. Based on a popular comic, a clumsy detective and a cool gang stand up to true evil. Ikuo and Tatsuya grew up in a children's orphanage together. When their favorite teacher, Yuiko, is murdered, a policeman wearing a gold watch covers up the incident. Ikuo and Tatsuya promise each other to avenge their teacher someday. Twenty years later, Ikuo is a detective in Shinjuku second police station investigating various cases with elite detective - Mizuki, while smart and handsome Tatsuya has become one of the top members of a gang group.

Hoshino Asuka is dumped by her boyfriend, who is a colleague at the same workplace, on her 25th birthday. To make matters worse, her apartment catches fire and she can't return to live in it. Asuka finds herself wishing for happiness and the elephant god Ganesha suddenly appears. He had lived with Nogami Kohei in that apartment several years ago. With the appearance of Ganesha, Asuka learns what true happiness is.

Ichinomiya “Riku” Kou, a young upper-class man who tries to live a life without any debts to anyone, and a strange yet beautiful homeless girl called Nino who claims to be from the Venus. Unfortunately for him, he ends up owing his life to Nino and has no choice but to live with her under the bridge by the Arakawa river in order to follow his debt-free policy.In 2010, the manga was already made into an anime that spawned two seasons.The live-action movie of “Arakawa Under the Bridge” is scheduled to open in spring of 2012, but TBS already announced that we are also going to see a drama adaption airing in a midnight slot later this summer.

Saburo, an ordinary high school student, travels back in time to the Sengoku era (1549). He encounters a young lord who looks exactly like him and is told, “Be my substitute. I’m the eldest son of the Oda family, Oda Nobunaga.” After the young lord leaves, Saburo is mistaken for Nobunaga by a vassal and taken to the castle. He starts to live as Oda Nobunaga from this day. The young samurai of the Oda family, which is merely a minor feudal lord, set out towards the extraordinary dream of unifying the whole country through the power of Saburo.

Saburo, a person from modern times who has no experience killing people, does not understand the willingness of the warlords of the Sengoku era to lay down their lives for their family. It is the same for the vassals too. They have had a hard time understanding Nobunaga’s actions ever since the ill-mannered, wilful Saburo took over. Despite this “generation gap across space and time”, they are soon on the brink of achieving their dream.

The special took place half a year after the series' end. With Osaka Gakuen getting ready for an upcoming Valentine's Day event, Sano and Nakatsu reflect on the final week of their last summer vacation, which falls into the timeline of the original series between episodes 7 and 8. The special also includes a graduation scene and addresses the relationship between Mizuki and Sano. ~ Tokyograph

Takakura So witnessed his father's murder at a young age. Pledging to catch the killer, he grows up to become an elite cop in New York City, where the criminal lives. His character is cool-headed and disciplined, yet adapts well. Because of major drug dealings, he gets sent to Tokyo to conduct a joint investigation with the Japanese police. There, he gets teamed up with, Kudo Maruo, a detective from a special investigative division. Kudo is a hot-blooded fighting expert due to his earlier days as a delinquent, but he makes a strong impression with his stylish appearance and is always interested in going on group dates. His personality, interests, and investigation methods are completely mismatched with Takakura's, but the two somehow work together to crack the case they've been given.

Monkey Punch's Lupin III manga and anime franchise is getting a live-action film adaptation in summer 2014.

The movie will chronicle how the five main characters meet and how they become the "Lupin Crew." The film will also include an original character, Lupin's nemesis named Michael Lee.

Lupin III (Shun Oguri), Daisuke Jigen (Tetsuji Tamayama), Ishikawa Goemon (Gou Ayano), Fujiko Mine (Meisa Kuroki) and Inspector Koichi Zenigata (Tadanobu Asano) meet. They face a powerful enemy and form the Lupin team in response. The Lupin team then faces the challenge of retrieving the "Crimson Heart of Cleopatra" locked away in a fort like safe. The treasure is thought to allow its owner to control the world.

Ango Ishikawa (Shun Oguri) is a detective with smarts and a keen sense of observation. He's in a great physical shape and also highly ambitious. Ango also only focuses on his work and his personal life is pretty much non-existent. One day, a former police officer is killed by a gun shot. Ango goes to the scene of the crime, but is shot in the head by the killer who is lurking at the crime scene. Ango hovers between life and death. At that time, he thinks to himself "where do people go after they die?" and then "I don't want to die." A miracle then happens. Anglo survives with the bullet still lodged in his head. He goes back to work. A new murder case takes place. When Ango goes to the crime scene he notices a boy who looks like he is about to cry, but only Ango is able to see the boy. The boy is the one who was killed. Since Ango was shot, he can now see and talk with the dead.

Oguri Shun plays Hyuga Toru, an affluent man whose personality is on the contrary, speckled with flaws. A CEO of an IT firm who is published on Forbes as a billionaire, Toru attained his fortune through chance and pure luck. A woman who meets Toru and eventually becomes attracted to him is Sawaki Chihiro, played by Ishihara Satomi. Chihiro is a hardworking college student at Tokyo University who has prepared for her future as much as she possibly could through studies and obtaining licenses. Despite her efforts, she has yet to land a job. Upon meeting Toru, she begins to unravel a genuine pureness inside him and solitude resulting from such pureness, which eventually draws her closer to him. The two repeatedly conflict each other, but little by little learn about one another to grow and develop together. Despite the worldwide recession and financial difficulties, there are people like Mark Zuckerberg who began work from merely an apartment room or a garage that end up growing to be companies generating over ten billion dollars revenues after merely 10 years or so, embracing their new found wealth by living the dream life. Whether it's a game or application software, Ecommerce, or other IT related firm, there are more than a few who rose in fame to such status in recent years. On the other hand, Japan's unemployment rate for new grads dropped to a record low and those who want to work are unable to, or their wishes to work at their company of choice is not granted. A Cinderella story of the real world. Will the two be able to compromise their values and lifestyles to become a happy couple? --Fuji TV

29-year-old Hyuga Toru is a wealthy man. He first started to run an internet website from his small room and his hobby began to make a lot of money. Nowadays, he doesn't like to socialize and if somebody comes to him he suspects that they may want his money.

Sawaki Chihiro attends a job fair and by an unexpected occurrence begins to work for Toru. Chihiro soon realizes that Toru isn't so bad. There's pureness in him and also a good deal of loneliness. She then begins to have feelings for him.

When a mysterious plague spreads ancient Japan, a pure young man named Yoshihiko (Takayuki Yamada) is chosen to save his village. He sets out with his friends to find a legendary plant to stop the plague and also find his father who never returned after embarking on the same journey.

Tottori Kenichi is a foul-mouthed but gifted veterinarian nicknamed Dolittle. His catch phrase is 'pet care means business'. He is the director of his animal clinic and rescues not only 'voiceless' pets but also helps their owners, who lack understanding and caution, with their problems and worries. Working with him is animal nurse Tajima Asuka. Hanabishi Masaru is Dolittle's friend, a charismatic vet and host of a popular TV animal show who is good at making diagnosis but has a secret as he could not overcome his phobia of operating on animals. The drama focuses on the friendship between those 3 and tries to teach viewers about human-pet relationships.

Koyama Kazumi is a poor but optimistic college student who firmly believing that there are more important things than money. Despite his own poverty he ends up taking on other people's debts and faces various challenges to pay off those debts

Suzuran High School is also known as The School of Crows. The biggest clique, Serizawa Army and its boss Tamao Serizawa are challenged by a new student to the school, Genji Takiya. Takiya, son of a yakuza boss, wants to be the school's ace fighter. But at the advice of Ken Katagiri, a low-ranked start-out yakuza, Takiya starts to muster together a gang of his own. And as he grows into a true leader, he must face an ultimate battle with Serizawa's gang.

Based on a popular comic, this hilarious comedy follows the chaos, troubles and friendship at a boys’ boarding school after a girl-disguising-a-boy joins. Ashiya Mizuki has just come back to Japan from California where she was raised. She fell in love with Sano Izumi, a hopeful high jump hero, who has quit after an accident. As she wants him to go back to the sport once again, she enters the same high school as a boy! With a short hair, flattened chest and lowered voice, she starts sharing the same room with Sano.

This second season of Hana Yori Dango picks up right after Domyoji leaves for New York. After confessing to Domyoji, Makino has not spoken to him for a year. Rui and the other members of F4 try and help Makino meet Domyoji again by going to New York for the christmas holidays. Though F4 and Makino meet Domyoji again, he has become a completely different person, and so they leave for Japan.

Some time later, Domyoji's mother annouces that they will be returning to Japan. There, they hold a giant super-rich and classy birthday party for Domyoji and announce something very important. Domyoji, like in the first season, is engaged to a rich girl and heir. The only difference is that they are to be wed soon. What will Makino do?

On the side, Rui begins to fall in love with Makino... will this become a love... square?

On her way to school, high school girl Nana sees a train accident. But this is just the beginning of the nightmare that awaits her. Nana and her friend Kanae come across various bizarre phenomena, including red fingerprints and a female spirit who "lives" on the station platform. One day, Nana's younger sister is lost, and the only possibility seems to be that she had been taken by these spirits. The missing tracks. The predictions that a mysterious woman makes. Weird incidents which happen one after another. Entangled series of frights and mysteries lead to a shocking climax.

Makino Tsukushi is the only poor student at Eitoku Gakuen, the school of the ridiculously rich and privileged that is ruled by Flower 4 or F4, a group of four boys who come from extremely powerful families: Domyoji Tsukasa, the leader and heir of the Domyoji World Finance Group; Hanazawa Rui, the introverted son of a large company; Nishikado Sojiro, a player who is the heir of a tea ceremony school; and Mimasaka Akira, a madam killer with ties to the underground.

If a student gets on the F4's bad side, he/she gets a red notice and is bullied and driven out of school.

Makino hopes to pass her days quietly-- without drawing any attention to herself-- but one day, she stands up to Domyoji in defense of her friend. The next day, Makino gets the dreaded red notice. Even though she is harassed, Makino decides to keep going to school because she is a "tough weed". She declares war right back on the F4. Her resolve gets the attention of her crush Hanazawa Rui and oddly enough, rouses romantic feelings in her worst enemy, Domyoji Tsukasa. The series is based on the Japanese shoujo manga "Hana Yori Dango" (Boys Before Flowers) by Kamio Yoko.

Aoyama Saori, working as an office lady at an MNC, gets into trouble with a drunkard on a train. She's saved by Yamada Tsuyoshi. As a form of appreciation, she sends him Hermes teacups. Having no experience with the opposite sex, Tsuyoshi decides to ask for help on the Aladdin Channel BBS on how to interact with Saori.

(Source: TVDb)

Adapted from the novel "Densha Otoko" (電車男) by Nakano Hitori (中野独人). ~~ Based on a real online conversation on the Japanese forum 2channel.

Episodes: 11

Duration: 45 min.

Aired On: Thursday

Ratings: 7.5

Four schoolboys find themselves the last virgins left at school. During the summer holidays, a girl they knew as children 11 years ago, moves back to the neighborhood. Despite their childhood attraction to her, they realize she is a mere shadow of the "princess" they all thought they knew. This story of summer - love, friendship, school, family, the hypocrisy of adults, complications of life, experience and failure is set in an everyday shopping district and shows the clumsiness of children who have developed a little later than their peers. It's a bright romantic comedy that both young and old can appreciate.

Four schoolboys find themselves the last virgins left at school. During the summer holidays, a girl they knew as children 11 years ago, moves back to the neighborhood. Despite their childhood attraction to her, they realize she is a mere shadow of the "princess" they all thought they knew. This story of summer - love, friendship, school, family, the hypocrisy of adults, complications of life, experience and failure is set in an everyday shopping district and shows the clumsiness of children who have developed a little later than their peers. It's a bright romantic comedy that both young and old can appreciate.

A love story between a young man who has been forced to grow up too quickly, and a young woman with an ailment that has placed restrictions on her life. Natsuo has been looking after his younger brother and sister since the death of their parents. He has also been running the family bicycle shop. Yuki becomes the only person in the world in whom he can confide. For Yuki, Natsuo becomes the catalyst that has her trying to break out of her cocoon. -- KIKU-TV 

The 35th NHK Taiga Drama is Hideyoshi, the story of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the restriction that only members of the samurai class could bear arms. Hideyoshi is regarded as Japan's second "great unifier".

The drama won 11th Television Drama Academy Awards (1996-Dec-20) for best drama.