Asian Drama

The 63rd work of NHK Taiga Drama depicts the life of Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese female poet who wrote "Tale of Hikaru Genji". This story is set in the mid-Heian period.

(Source: nhk.or.jp)

Episodes: 40

When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what's going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges.

(Source: Drama-Otaku)

Release Dates: May 17, 2023 (Festival) || June 2, 2023 (Cinema)

Duration: 2 hr. 6 min.

Content Rating: G - All Ages

Yamihara Kokoro and Asada Toramatsu live in a town that is quite peaceful, until a serial murder case happened where the bodies all had their blood drained out. Five years have passed but the case remains unsolved. Meanwhile, Kokoro and Toramatsu have been in a relationship for a year, but are unable to get married as they are keeping a serious secret from each other. Kokoro is actually a vampire. However, she does not attack humans and live modestly. Toramatsu is a popular resident in the town and is trusted by many. After getting a divorce, Toramatsu got drunk and went back to his old house, where he met Kokoro, the current occupant. As the two continue to keep their secrets hidden, a horrific murder occurs once again in the town.

A Samurai Time Slips in to the future.

Takanashi Hinako is a 30-year-old office lady who has been working as a secretary at Relation Gate for the past 8 years. Everyday, the company's charismatic president would give her various "impossible tasks", making her single for the past 6 years and have no time to think about her future. One day, the president gives Hinako an extremely huge "impossible task" - Be the president of the company's subsidiary.

Naho is the deputy curator of the art gallery established by her grandfather, an avid art collector. Naho's husband is the managing director at a different art gallery in Ginza which his family has run for several generations.

To avoid the hectic pace of Tokyo, a pregnant Naho decides to move to Kyoto. There, she finds a painting by an unknown painter. She becomes fascinated with it and soon faces an unexpected truth.

Adapted from the novel "Iribito Ihoujin" (いりびと-異邦人-) by Harada Maha (原田マハ).

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.

Three mothers have sons with the same name of Yu Ishibashi and they are all 10 years old.

In Kanagawa, Ishibashi Rumiko is 43-years-old and she works as a freelance writer. She is married to Yutaka, who works as a freelance cameraman. They have a 10 year old son Yu.

In Osaka, Ishibashi Kana is a 30-year-old single mother. After her divorce, she has worked part-time jobs and raises her 10-year-old son Yu alone.

In Shizuoka, Ishibashi Asumi is a 36-year-old housewife. She is married to Taichi and they have a 10-year-old son Yu. Her husband works as a salaryman.

These 3 women are happy and busy raising their boys named Yu. Due to some little thing, their lives fall apart. Their anger and anxiety unconsciously head towards their sons Yu.

Adapted from a novel of the same name.

Kureno Masora is a young doctor who was working happily at a large hospital in Tokyo. However, she found out that she has an illness and decided to continue working as a doctor, while hiding her illness at a clinic located in a small village called "Niji no Mura". Therefore, Masora gets to meet the interesting villagers and gradually learns about facing life enthusiastically.

A four-piece omnibus-style special drama produced by the production staff of "The Really Scary Story" and the JRA Japan Racing Association.

6 people gather at a coffee shop on a winter day. While having fun conversations as usual, they begin to talk about mysterious events that they have recently experienced.

The first two stories are "Winter Miracle" starring Tsuchiya Tao, and "Lost at dusk" starring Aoi Wakana.

Hajime Machida is a high school student. He is not good with his studies or playing sports. He does like people and he is loved by those around him. One day at school, Hajime Machida gets hurt and he goes to the school infirmary for treatment. There, he meets classmate Nana Inohara . She treats Hajime Machida instead of the school nurse who is not there. Nana Inohara tells him that she does not like people. After that, Hajime Machida begins to care about her and Nana Inohara begins to have feeling for him. ~~ Based on manga series "Machida-kun no Sekai" by Yuki Ando .

Hisashi Tanaka is a medical student in Hokkaido, Japan. He does volunteer work at a hospital. In his time there, he gets to know the upbeat Yasuaki Kano, who has suffered from muscular dystrophy since he was 12-years-old. Yasuaki Kano is a little eccentric, doing things like running out of the hospital and wanting to eat a banana late at night. Yasuaki Kano develops a crush on a new volunteer at the hospital...who is also Hisashi Tanaka's girlfriend...

After discovering that they work at the same company, a gaming crazed otaku and a fujoshi reunite for the first time since middle school. After some post-work drinking sessions they begin dating, but will it be a perfect relationship for the two of them?

Sakura grew up on a remote island. She has a dream, which is to build a bridge on her island. In the spring of 2009, Sakura joins a big construction company. She does not hesitate to tell her colleagues about her dream to build a bridge. Sakura's determination to accomplish her dream affects the colleagues at her company.

Makino Hiyori is a rookie detective who is passionate about her work. One day, a video clip depicting a person being burned alive, is posted on the internet. Investigators believe this is a copycat crime of a murder that took place 5 years ago.

Makino Hiyori visits ex-detective Natsume Soichiro who investigated the case 5 years ago. He lives is at a share house where only ex-police officers can live.

Due to circumstances Satoru is forced to find a new home for his cat Nana. Satoru, a gentle boy with a secret, boards a silver station wagon with his cat companion and they embark on a "final journey" to find a new owner for Nana.

Sasaki Sachiko works as a literary magazine editor. She is well respected by her colleagues due to her perfectionist ways. On Sachiko'd wedding day, her boyfriend Shungo disappears. Sachiko is dumbfounded by her boyfriend's disappearance.

The next day, Sachiko goes to work, but she can't stop thinking about Shungo. She realizes she is more traumatized than she thought. Sachiko decides to go to a restaurant. When her meal comes out, she forgets all about Shungo. Her experience makes her become a connoisseur of gourmet meals.

Onuki Hajime was a thief, but he now works as a welder and lives happily with his girlfriend. Hajime Onuki is threatened by a former partner in crime. He forces Onuki Hajime to break into the mansion of a picture book writer to steal. He is caught by others while in the act, but they keep mistaking him for someone else. Hajime desperately keeps up the ruse to not get caught.

~~ Based on the play “Dorobou Yakusha” which was written and directed by Masafumi Nishida. The play was performed in 2006.

Kahoko Nemoto is a naive 21-year-old university student. She relies on her mother, Izumi (Hitomi Kuroki), for everything in her life. Her mother wakes her up everyday, picks up her clothes, while Kahoko Nemoto has never done housework or driven a car. One day, Kahoko Nemoto meets a young man who grew up in a completely opposite environment.

Three tales about enigmatic strangers entering into the lives of trusting citizens play out in three different Japanese cities, hinting at a connection to a grisly home invasion homicide in the Tokyo metro area.

Haruko Azumi is a 28 year-old woman working in a small office. She begins an awkard loveless half-relationship with an old school friend who works at a convenience store. At the same time a gang of rogue schoolgirls is attacking men at night, and another young woman, Aina, gets involved with two graffiti artists who have created a stencil from a poster of Haruko Azumi's disappearance in 2015, looking for love with either one of them.

Sayaka works at a office. She's not very good at her job or with love. One night, she finds a man, Itsuki, collapsed in front of her home. She takes him inside and they begin to live together. Itsuki teaches Sayaka about cooking wild herbs and collecting wild herbs, but he has a secret.

The eldest daughter of the Kohashis, Tsuneko, was 11 years old when her father Takezo died of tuberculosis. Taking her father’s teachings about the importance of ordinary life to heart, she became ‘Toto One-chan’, a paternal figure to her mother Kimiko and two younger sisters Mariko and Yoshiko. She struggles to sustain the family as the head of the household. Right after the war, she launches a lifestyle magazine created for the sake of females together with Mariko and Yoshiko in a devastated Tokyo. It is called ‘Your Life’ and was full of practical articles for readers. With the help of the genius editor Hanayama Isaji, the magazine grew to become essential to females living in the period of high economic growth.

The eldest daughter of the Kohashis, Tsuneko, was 11 years old when her father Takezo died of tuberculosis. Taking her father’s teachings about the importance of ordinary life to heart, she became ‘Toto One-chan’, a paternal figure to her mother Kimiko and two younger sisters Mariko and Yoshiko. She struggles to sustain the family as the head of the household. Right after the war, she launches a lifestyle magazine created for the sake of females together with Mariko and Yoshiko in a devastated Tokyo. It is called ‘Your Life’ and was full of practical articles for readers. With the help of the genius editor Hanayama Isaji, the magazine grew to become essential to females living in the period of high economic growth.

Toto Neechan (とと姉ちゃん?) is an upcoming Japanese television drama series and the 94th asadora on NHK. It will premiere on April 4, 2016 and will end on October 1, 2016. The theme song is "Hanataba wo Kimi ni", by Utada Hikaru.

After Sugihara Oto’s mother passed away when she was young, she was raised by adoptive parents in the Hokkaido countryside. Although she gave up having dreams, she lives cheerfully and bravely. But she is troubled by her adoptive parents attempts to force her into a marriage with a wealthy man 20 years her senior to save the family from poverty. Soda Ren lost his parents early and was brought up in the great outdoors in Fukushima by his grandfather. However, his grandfather gets swindled and Ren leaves for Tokyo in order to earn money to recover the farmland. He dreams that he will be able to live with his grandfather some day, but reality is harsh. By coincidence, Oto heads to Tokyo too. This is the story of love and growth of six young people from the rural areas who gather in Tokyo.

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?

Kumagai is an art teacher at a private female high school. Sakai, the school's chairman of the board, runs the school like the school is his own property and pays Kumagi a low salary. Then, Music Teacher Naoko and P.E. Teacher Oyamada asks Kumagi to join them in a scheme to blackmail Sakai.

Unexpectedly, Sakai and his girlfriend Akemi go missing. The duo are assumed to be kidnapped by Minowa and Nakao who are education consultants. Meanwhile, Kumagai and Naoko unwittingly become involved in a scheme to steal large amount of gold bars that were hidden by Sakai.

Tanaka Tamako had been working for a male-dominated restaurant business but was betrayed by her boyfriend who was hired as the chef. In addition, she is taken to the police as a result of an incident she caused because her friend Fujimura Satsuki was subjected to sexual harassment. Tamako resigns from her unreasonable company and starts a bistro selling homemade pot-au-feu on a rooftop in an alley in Jingumae, Tokyo. This is the story of females who are labelled “write-offs” and the restaurant they have established in order for them to get out from life’s abyss. They battle difficulties and search for ways to change their lives as they experience the joys of work. This is a problem restaurant because they are all females with problems, but it is certainly not lousy. The women who have a common enemy – men, and the restaurant unites them in a fight to the death.

The Vancouver Asahi baseball team consists of 2nd generation Japanese immigrants living in Canada. They play within a local amateur baseball league. The team got popular due to their fair play spirit, while struggling to fight against discrimination and poverty in their everyday lives.

Reggie (Satoshi Tsumabuki) is a 2nd generation Japanese immigrant who works at a sawmill in Vancouver. He is the leader of the team and plays shortstop. Roy (Kazuya Kamenashi) is the team's ace pitcher and works at a fishery field. Kaye (Ryo Katsuji) is the team's 2nd baseman and co-worker of Reggie. Tom (Yusuke Kamiji) is the catcher and works at a tofu shop. Frank (Sosuke Ikematsu) works at a hotel and plays baseball with the team.

When she was a middle school student, Futaba Yoshioka liked Kou Tanaka who was unlike the other boys and quite gentle. Kou Tanaka then moved away and they lost contact.

At the end of Futaba Yoshioka's first year as a high school student she meets Kou Tanaka again. Kou Tanaka’s name has changed to Kou Mabuchi and his personality seems different from his middle school days.

July 1590, Odawara. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army had surrounded the Odawara Castle for over three months, hoping to conquer this last obstacle to his dream of the country's unification.

Standing at the gate of the castle, a lone man facing the menacing guards shouted out: "Do not throw your lives away. Treasure living!". Not long after, the castle gates opened and the reigning lord surrendered. The name of that man is Kuroda Kanbee. An excellent military strategist, he worked hand-in-hand with Hideyoshi to unify the country.

Kanbee's family had fled to Harima, and were relatively poor. As the protege of Kodera Masamoto, Kanbee was very much trusted and relied upon by his lord liege. However, Kodera was suspicious of Kanbee's father, Mototaka, thinking that he was trying to usurp his power. One day, Kodera decided to match-make Kanbee with the daughter of Kushihashi, another one of his vassals. Kushihashi's son, who was of the same age as Kanbee, intensely disliked Kanbee and objected to the match. Since this was the order of Kodera, they had no choice but to marry the youngest daughter, Teru, to Kanbee. On Kuroda clan side, in order to assuage their lord liege's suspicions, Mototaka decided to step down, and made Kanbee the head of the clan. Kanbee was but 22 years old. Kanbee and Teru were married, and they were blessed with a son soon after, but when many years had passed and yet Teru couldn't seem to conceive a second child, Kanbee decided to adopt the young children of his vassals as his proteges who became known as "Kuroda's warriors".

When Kanbee turned 30, a revolutionary young lord was slowly laying siege to all the various shogunates, aiming for a unified Japan. Harima became the place where the clash between Oda and Mori Terumoto was set. Kanbee was very attracted to Oda's unification plans, and had gone to Gifu Castle to meet up with him. There, he became acquainted with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and soon became Hideyoshi's right-hand man, marking the birth of Gunshi Kanbee.

Uno Meiko is the daughter of parents who run a western style restaurant in Tokyo. She marries and moves to Osaka with her husband. Meiko experiences cultural differences between Tokyo and Osaka, as she lives as a mother and wife in Osaka.

"Heita is an ordinary high school boy with a kind heart but no real interest in romance. His class is joined by a transfer student named Q10 ( pronounced "kyu-to" the same as "cute" ), who looks like a girl but is actually a robot. Together, the two end up causing trouble at school, and Heita even begins falling for Q10."

Filming began on 2010-October and finished 2010-December.