Asian Drama

"Shogun" is set in feudal Japan in the 1600s at the dawn of the Battle of Sekigahara. As the enemy's siege approaches Lord Yoshii Toranaga, the strongest military commander in the Sengoku period, a British navigator called James Blackthorne, who comes bearing secrets that could save him from his predicament, drifts ashore into his territory.

Toranaga orders Mariko, a mysterious religious noblewoman who can speak English, to translate for Blackthorne (who later becomes known as Anjin) and a bond begins to form between the two. As the war rages on, their fates intertwine as they navigate among this treacherous political landscape while caught in a power struggle between two of the most powerful daimyōs.

(Source: Drama-Otaku.com)

Adapted from the novel "Shogun" by James Clavell.

Episodes: 10

Airs On: Tuesday

This horror anthology takes its cue from the short fiction of writer Taro Hirai, better known by his nomme du plume Edogawa Rampo - wordplay on the name of legendary writer Edgar Allan Poe. Acclaimed MV director Takeuchi Suguru begins proceedings with Mars Canal, which sees a naked man (Asano Tadanobu) collapse at the edge of a lake that descends, seemingly into the bowels of hell itself. This segment is used to effectively tie together the three main narrative segments of the film. Mirror Hell, directed by Jissoji Akio, sees a detective (Asano again) following a trail of beautiful female corpses back to a mad mirror maker. The Caterpillar (by Sato Hisayasu) sees a limbless war veteran return home only to be systematically abused by his wife. And in Crawling Bugs, by manga artist Kaneko Atsushi, a chauffeur (Asano yet again) becomes obsessed with his actress employer.

Momone Nagaura lives with her parents, grandfather and younger sister on an island in Kesennuma Bay, Miyagi Prefecture. In the spring of 2014, Momone Nagaura graduates from high school and moves to the city of Tome. She fails to enter a university. While she tries to figure out what to do with her life, she begins to work as an apprentice of a forest guide. A turning point in her life occurs. A popular weather forecaster from Tokyo arrives. Momone Nagaura walks on a mountain with the weather forecaster. She hears from the weather forecaster that the weather forecaster can predict the future. Momone Nagaura becomes touched by that comment and decides to become a weather forecaster. She studies hard for the exam to become a weather forecaster. With the help of the people around her in Tome, she finally passes the exam. Momone Nagaura moves to Tokyo and begins to work at a private weather forecasting company. Working there, she grows up as a weather forecaster. Several years later, in 2019, a major typhoon approaches Japan. To help her hometown, she heads to Kesennuma Bay.

A fantasy in which three young people who visit the only remaining cinema in Onomichi, which closes tonight only, are time-leaped to the world of cinema with the final all-night screening of Japanese war films.

Nara Rimi, an established and popular photographer, meets Hyakuta Natsume who has come to Tokyo with dreams of becoming an actress. Although Natsume suffers setbacks, she grows from these experiences in this story about the lifestyles of women whose lives intersect in this world dominated by social media.

(Source: jdramas.wordpress)

Episodes: 9

In Tokyo, Chiwawa is a popular girl. One day, her dead body is found in Tokyo Bay. Her body are in pieces. Chiwawa's friends gather to remember her, but they realize they do not know anything about her like her real name or her background.

Kasane's face is so hideous, you couldn't bear to look twice at her—and her ugliness has forced her to walk a harsh path in life. But her mother left her something: a tube of lipstick. The power of this lipstick will change everything about her downtrodden life.

Junoshin Kake (Gou Ayano) is a ronin. To get hired by the Kurokaze Han, he lies and tells them that a religious group is trying to destroy them. He gets hired by the Kurokaze Han, but they learn that Junoshin Kake lied. Junoshin Kake is given the death sentence and he must think of an escape plan.

The Bastard and the Beautiful World is an omnibus film consisting of four episodes. (1) Fujiko is running as fast as she can, being chased after by a creepy masked man called Mad Dog. They meet a talented pianist on the way. (2) A mysterious relationship between a little girl, Utagui, who eats songs to live, and an artist who can't sing anymore. (3) A married couple sets off on a journey to find the right arm of their dead son. They finally reached a beach in Okinawa and find...? (4) Bastards comes together on a night dance floor for a show.

An epic set in post-WWII Japan and centered on an American former G.I. who joins the yakuza.

1952 Japan a former American Army Captain Nick Lowell is in an Osaka prison where he saves Kiyoshi, a yakuza, from being hung to death. This meeting starts Nick down the path of becoming a fellow brother in the Shiromatsu yakuza family.

In a society in which justice is awfully subjective, and the possibility of finding the truth is so complicated, detective Yugami simply chases after the facts of various cases. He will casually approach potential suspects and talk to them in order to attain new information. All he is looking for are the facts. He feels that there is no point in following the rules, nor trying to read the atmospheres of the environment he's in. For him, resorting to unique and illegal investigations is not out of the ordinary. To assist him, he also has a sidekick, Torao Hanyu, who's a serious detective with a completely different personality. For Yugami, he simply wants to arrest as many criminals as possible through his illegal investigation style, so Torao's existence becomes a bother for him. Two detectives with absolutely nothing in common, somehow try to combine their skills in order to combat the enemies of society.

40-years-old Makoto Tanaka has remarried and is now caring for Nanae, his new wife, and the two daughters from Nanae's prior marriage. Makoto tries to have an ordinary family, but when Nanae gets pregnant, things begin to change. His eldest stepdaughter becomes openly rebellious. Feeling stifled, Makoto asks his wife to abort the baby…

Nobuko (Sayuri Yoshinaga) works in Nagasaki, Japan as a midwife. Her son died 3 years earlier from the atomic bomb. On August 9, 1948, her son appears in front of her again. Since that time, Koji (Kazunari Ninomiya) appears in front of her and they reminiscence about pleasant times. These happy, but bizarre moments seem eternal.

Mizuki’s husband Yusuke went missing for 3 years. He suddenly comes back home one day and asks Mizuki to go on a trip with him. Their trip consists of visiting the people that helped Yusuke on his previous travel. While...

Movie contains the stories of three people: Suzuki (Toma Ikuta), Kujira (Tadanobu Asano) and Semi (Ryosuke Yamada). Suzuki is a former middle school teacher. His girlfriend was killed, which led him to quit his job and attempt to take revenge...

Alien pods come to Earth and, naturally, start taking over Human Hosts. One such pod only manages to take over one human's, Shin Izumi, right arm. Together they grow and co-exist, all the while the other aliens are making meals...

Synopsis from Midnight Eye: A sumptuous and at times super-charged swordplay fantasy, Gojoe puts the spin on one of Japan's most popular feudal legends: the battle at Kyoto's Gojoe Bridge. Though its multitude of characters and warring factions might make Gojoe somewhat confusing to Western eyes, the basic storyline is simple: warriors of the Heike clan get their heads chopped off by an invisible force at Gojoe bridge. Benkei, a former Buddhist monk plagued by the demons of his own past, sets out to destroy the evil force that lurks at Gojoe, aided by his graverobbing sidekick Tetsukichi. They soon discover that the perpetrator is in fact a young warrior, a former lord named Shanao, out for revenge against the clan that ordered the death of his family. The fact that Sogo Ishii, the creator of such contemporary punk masterpieces as Burst City (Bakuretsu Toshi, 1982) and Crazy Thunder Road (Kuruizaki Sandaa Rodo, 1980) is at the helm should be an indication that this is not your average swords-and-kimonos adventure. Gojoe plays less like a jidai geki than a true Ishii film in period garb. Elements and themes from his films from the 1990s - spiritualism, the metaphysical, man being a small but essential part of the greater cosmic scheme - are combined with a resurgence of the boundless energy of his work from the 80s.

Low level and bumbling Yakuza Miki Shunichiro snatched $200 million from his syndicate, and hides out at the Hotel New Mexico, a strange isolated hotel filled with quirky employees. Soon, one after another people from his past start showing up at his hotel room door, including his hot ex-girlfriend, her pathetic weakling boyfriend, his Yakuza brother, and an assassin sent to kill them all. Meanwhile, everything happening in his room is being watched by Captain Banana, a professional peeping tom, and his new protege, Okita Soji - although not the Bakumatsu era Samurai sword master of the same name. This Okita Soji is a sweatervest wearing peeping tom with a bad haircut, played by Asano Tadanobu, who is the complete polar opposite of his character Samehada from Sharkskin Man and Peach Hip Girl.

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryôko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents.

The film has little plot to speak of, but is instead divided into three short episodes, each of which opens with a man desperately running away before being trapped in a dead end, where something out-of-the-ordinary occurs. The episodes include a musical number, a Mexican stand-off and a police pursuit.

An editor arrives at a Sumo village to find the missing award-nominated writer Deko just in time to bring him to an award ceremony. There, the editor learns that Deko's weird friends have been desperately trying to kill him because of the book Deko wrote about their embarrassing memories. Despite their countless attempts at murder, Deko's dumbness keeps him from even noticing his friends' intentions.

The film is concerned with the lives of the Haruno family, who live in rural Tochigi Prefecture, the countryside north of Tokyo. Nobuo is a hypnotherapist. He teaches his son, Hajime, Go. Hajime becomes an excellent Go player, but he has a rough time with girls and puberty. Yoshiko refuses to be an average housewife, and works on animated film projects at home. She uses assistance from Grandfather Akira, an eccentric old man who is a former animator and occasional model. Eight-year-old Sachiko periodically sees a silent, giant-sized double of herself which mimics or benignly watches her. She contemplates ways to rid herself of it. Uncle Ayano is a sound engineer and record producer who comes to stay for a visit. He engages in inward reflection, seeks closure regarding an old relationship, and recounts a childhood experience- a tale which influences Sachiko and ties into later events.

After getting busted for goofing off at work, lovable morons Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) and Mitsuo (Sho Aikawa) are forced to murder their high-strung boss Ujimoto, whose abusive nature is threatening his wimpy employees' well-being. Like everyone else in Tokyo with a body to stash, they take his rotting corpse to Black Fuji, a mountainous black mound of garbage the people of this sprawling city use to dispose of their undesirables. Though some use it to ditch unwanted household appliances and dirty magazines, most use it to hide the bodies the recently deceased. Unfortunately, the toxic combination of solid waste and human flesh has reached its boiling point, causing the dead to rise from their shallow graves. It doesn't take long for these Tokyo zombies to infest the country, sending our bumbling buddies on a road trip to Russia. Why Russia, you ask? Because Russia is manly, of course! Their extended holiday is abruptly interrupted by a band of flesh-eating shuffle-butts, and the duo soon find themselves in a gated community run by the rich and powered by the poor, where zombie tournament fights are held to alleviate the stress of these money-hungry moguls.

"Kore de Ii no da!! Eiga Akatsuka Fujio" covers the life of manga artist Fujio Akatsuka (Tadanobu Asano) told through the eyes of his editor Hatsumi Takeda (Maki Horikita). New editor Hatsumi Takeda is ordered to take charge of popular gag cartoonist Fuji Akatsuka for her first job with a large publishing company. Fuji Akatsuka is playful and loves gags. Quiet Hatsumi becomes charmed by his ways & their working relationship starts to click ...

Late autumn, 2015: The world is in the grips of a mysterious virus, nicknamed the Lemming Syndrome because those infected develop a depression so strong they commit suicide. Musicians Mizui (the ubiquitous Tadanobu Asano) and Asuhara (Masaya Nakahara), may have found a way to alleviate the disease's symptoms through dissonant sound.

Saijo Mie is the new concierge at a hotel. She receives unreasonable requests from different guests everyday. Sugawara, her superior tells her that there are three words that a concierge should never say, “No” “It’s not possible” “I can’t”. It is not just the guests who come to the concierge desk that aggravate Mie. Those pampered guests who stay in the hotel’s suite rooms also give her tall orders beyond all imagination. Will Mie be able to deal with the challenges posed by these troublesome characters?

It begins with Mitsue (Rie Miyazawa), a young librarian, rushing home in a thunderstorm, frightened out of her wits. Her terror, we soon see, is a product of the war, particularly the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which she barely survived. She lives with her father, Takezo (Yoshio Harada), in their bombed-out house, now partly repaired. Dad is her confessor, adviser and friend, the only one she can tell about her fears, dreams and past. Most of her friends and family died in the bombing - including Dad. That Dad is with her only in spirit doesn't faze her. He looks, acts and talks like one of the living. But, as befits a ghost no longer bound by selfish earthly concerns, he is interested only in her problems. Particularly her budding relationship with the shy, bespectacled Kinoshita (Tadanobu Asano), who is researching the bombing and wants Mitsue's help - and possibly slightly more than that.

In a row of wooden municipal houses in the countryside, Hidenori Yamane (Tadanobu Asano) & Nanase Ogawa (Minami) lives together under the same roof. The roommates co-exist in a tense & awkward state. Every night Hidenori hides in the attic and peeks through a hole into Nanase's room, while thinking of the cruelest ways to inflict revenge. Meanwhile, Nanase, who wears outdated sweaters and glasses, refers to Hidenori as her "brother" (even though they are not related) and is aware he is peeking at her at night. They sleep on the same bunk bed but do not have sex. There was a case that happened 10 years ago and since that time Nanase awaits for the worst form of punishment. One day, a couple moves into their neighborhood and a delicate crack starts to emerge between their closed off relationship.

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.

In a row of wooden municipal houses in the countryside, Hidenori Yamane (Tadanobu Asano) & Nanase Ogawa (Minami) lives together under the same roof. The roommates co-exist in a tense & awkward state. Every night Hidenori hides in the attic and peeks through a hole into Nanase's room, while thinking of the cruelest ways to inflict revenge. Meanwhile, Nanase, who wears outdated sweaters and glasses, refers to Hidenori as her "brother" (even though they are not related) and is aware he is peeking at her at night. They sleep on the same bunk bed but do not have sex. There was a case that happened 10 years ago and since that time Nanase awaits for the worst form of punishment. One day, a couple moves into their neighborhood and a delicate crack starts to emerge between their closed off relationship.

Machi, a young high school student from a small mountain town, is having fun with her friends inventing the outline of a fantasy tale. They all add an episode to this exquisite invention whilst, in parallel, the adults pursue their daily life. But when, due to a storm, an intact thousand-year-old forest surfaces from the entrails of the earth, a new space opens up where reality and fantasy mingle and where everything becomes possible.

After the forced suicide of Nobunaga Oda at the Incident at Honno-ji, powerful figures Katsuie Shibata, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Nagahide Niwa and Tsuneoki Ikeda meet to decide on a successor. The conference would become Japan‘s first group made political decision. The meeting was known as the Kiyosu Kaigi.

Kota (Satoshi Tsumabuki) hears about an impending 1.5 billion yen gold bar heist from his friend Kitagawa (Tadanobu Asano), a former college classmate, and decides to take part. The gold bar sits in the basement of the HQ of Sumita Bank. Helping Kota and Kitagawa are bank security employee Noda (Kenta Kiritani), a North Korean spy pretending to be a college student (Shim Chang-Min), Kitagawa's younger brother Haruki (Junpei Mizobata) and a former elevator engineer (Toshiyuki Nishida). These 6 men are about to carry the boldest of schemes to bypass the bank's high-tech defense system.

Emi Hosho (Eri Fukatsu), a not so successful lawyer, is assigned to the one of the most unusual of cases. Her client is accused of murdering his wealthy wife and he his alibi is that he was staying at an inn while suffering from "kanashibar" (sleep paralysis). The only witness able to corroborate his alibi is the 500-year-old ghost of the Sengoku period military commander Rokubei Sarashina (Toshiyuki Nishida) - who sat on the accused's chest all night long.

Attorney Emi Hosho travels to the inn to investigate further. Emi Hosho also falls into "kanashibar" and soon discovers the 500-year-ghost sitting on her chest. Knowing that the ghost is the only witness who can support her client's alibi, she grabs his hand and pleads with him to testify in court.

Three unpopular brothers, Masaichi, Masaru and Masao, are struggling to be popular among the girls. Luckily enough, they finally get a chance to have a co-ed picnic with some pretty young ladies! With 21 free-associative episodes ranging from a nonsense "sci-fi" comedy to a dance-battle daydream, Funky Forest: The First Contact will challenge your mind and melt logic, as its unique characters find themselves in warped dimensions way past our imagination.

Ryo (played by Japanese music celebrity UA) has always had an affinity with water. Ever since she was young, important events in her life have been accompanied by rain. She runs a bath-house with her fiancé, until one day, during a rain-storm, he is killed in a car crash. Ryo becomes solitary and isolated, and the bath-house is closed. One day, however, she returns home to find a strange man, Yusaku (Asano Tadanobu - previously seen in Ichi the Killer), in her house. A pyromaniac by nature, his love of fire proves to be very useful to Ryo as he enlists him to keep the bath-house's furnace running. The pair soon enter into a love relationship, and the bath-house flourishes once more. However, Yusaku has a dark past, which threatens to resurface and destroy everything.

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Kano Sozaburo. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

A wealthy middle class doctor has his comfortable life turned upside down when he is attacked and imprisoned by his doppelganger . The attacker assumes the doctors own identity and, in so doing, forces the doctors wife into an identity crises of her own.

"Falling into the Evening" tells the story of a young woman’s confusion when her boyfriend starts a relationship with another. Rica and Kengo have been living together for the past four years. It’s been a very happy time for Rica; the only dark spot being an accident she caused during a shoot for a commercial in which Kengo’s good friend, Shibata, nearly lost his life. The memory of this event weighs heavily on Rica’s conscience. One night Kengo tells Rica that he has fallen in love with a charming but „inscrutable“ woman named Hanako. Kengo moves out of their apartment and, although Rica is terribly hurt and confused, she cannot bring herself to hate Kengo. Nevertheless, she suffers a great deal as a result of their separation. She cannot believe her eyes when Hanako suddenly appears at her door, but this is not nearly as baffling as when Kengo also turns up at Rica’s apartment looking for his new lover. For a while this threesome co-habit in a kind of Ménage à trois, but then Hanako starts staying away for nights on end – without telling either of them where she goes. Kengo soon tires of the situation; Rica, however, decides to find out what’s going on once and for all.

A young woman's husband apparently commits suicide without warning or reason, leaving behind his wife and infant. Yumiko remarries and moves from Osaka to a small fishing village, yet continues to search for meaning in a lonely world.

Two young guys work in a plant that manufactures oshibori (those moist hand-towels found in some Japanese restaurants). Their weird bond is based on uncontrollable rage--something neither can articulate or control--and the strange jellyfish that they keep as a pet.