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

A fantasy love story that drifts between this world and heaven. Chasuke is in charge of making tea in heaven. He has feelings for a human woman named Yuri whom he has seen from a writer who is scripting her life from heaven. He knows that Yuri is condemned to die in a car accident. To save the woman, Chasuke goes down to this world.

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

Koji Namiki, a talented young pitcher, who had won the National High School Baseball Championships enters university, but soon afterwards injures his elbow. He and his teammates work hard to get back on the field placing all his hopes on a new slow-ball, "the magic pitch." However, the outbreak of WWII wipes out the baseball ambitions from everyone. They join the military and in the navy undergo the severe training that prepares them for death. Death awaits them in a "kaiten" (special attack submarine or "human torpedo") within the gloomy ocean depths, but Koji never gives up his dream of the "magic pitch."

Based on a novel by Iwai Shimako, Jiyuu Renai (a.k.a. Bluestockings) is the story of a love triangle between a man and two beautiful women. Masato Harada (Kamikaze Taxi, Bounce Ko Gals) directed the film, which is set during the days of Japan’s male-dominated Taisho Era (1912-1926), when it was difficult for women to have both love and a career. Yuichiro (Toyokawa Etsushi of Angel Dust and Undo) is the son of a wealthy merchant family, who’s happily married to Akiko (Hasegawa Kyoko of Three…Extremes). When Akiko’s friend Kiyoko (Kimura Yoshino of Ichigo no Kakera) gets divorced, Akiko decides to help her find a job in Yuichiro’s company. Akiko even lends Kiyoko her kimono for the interview. But upon seeing Kiyoko, Yuichiro is immediately smitten…

Kenta, a young pianist who has just lost his job, is drowning his woes at a bar when he meets a man in a Hawaiian shirt named Yamaki. He invites Kenta to work with him, and the next thing he knows, Kenta wakes up to find himself in a room he has never been in before. It is a strange room that seems to have no connection to life. He descends a staircase to find many shelves of books. Yamaki appears once again and tells him that this is Heaven's Book Service, and Kenta is going to start working a short-term, part-time job here. In addition to selling books, this bookstore, owned by Yamaki, provides a service of reading aloud to customers. Although he is unsure of his new surroundings, Kenta follows their actions and starts to work in his new part-time job.