Asian Drama

Shiro Miura , an architect, suddenly returns to Marukin Onsen, the public bath house left behind by his late father. The reason for his return is to tell his younger brother Goro, who manages the store, that he will fold the old public bath and rebuild it into an apartment. Goro reacts coldly to Shiro, who runs away from his parents' house and lives freely in the city. On the other hand, Yokoyama a postal worker who is nearing retirement age, is fascinated by Yudo, which is said to give him deep thoughts about bathing.

(Source: Filmarks)

Kurumi and Kaede run a "traveling sandwich shop" that wanders around Japan and offers sandwiches made from local produce.

Shishikari is a remote island, which is behind the times. The island suffers from a decreasing population and declining industries. Keita Izumi (Tatsuya Fujiwara) begins to produce black fig on Shishikari Island. Because of his well received product, the island is close to receiving a 5 billion yen grant from the government, which is part of the goverment's policy to reinvigorate rural economy. The residents of the island are excited, but their peaceful days changes by the appearance of Mutsuo Komisaka. Keita Izumi and his friends Jun Tanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) and Rookie Police Officer Shinichiro Moriya are suspicious about him. One night, Keita Izumi's daughter goes missing. Due to that, Keita Izumi, Jun Tanabe and Shinichiro Moriya happen to kill Mutsuo Komisaka. They decide to hide Mutsuo Komisaka’s murder to protect the future of the island and their families. It turns out Mutsuo Komisaka was a psycho killer. Police officers come to Shishikari Island to catch Mutsuo Komisaka.

Adapted from the manga series "Noise" (ノイズ) by Tsutsui Tetsuya (筒井哲也).

N/A

Set three years after the conclusion of "The Blood of Wolves."

After, Shogo Ogami’s death in Hiroshima, Detective Shuichi Hioka successfully implemented Shogo Ogami’s plan, which was to control the yakuza to prevent further gang wars and save innocent people from getting harmed. Shuichi Hioka manages the criminal organizations, but, due to one evil person who gets released from prison, the situation drastically changes.

Adapted from a novel of the same name by Yuzuki Yuko.

A love story torn by swords...

Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, who aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Shogun's police and city patrol. Tajuro Kiyokawa, once the master of the sword but now a depraved samurai who left his domain putting aside his past ambition, barely make ends meet. Toyo, a woman who runs a tavern next door, feels affection for Tajuro who guards her place against nasty customers, but he never realizes Toyo's feeling...

One day, Kazuma, a half-sibling of Tajuro, came to Kyoto to count on his brother. Kazuma has always looked him up and believed that Tajuro left the domain to pursue his ambition to conquer the shogunate. The city patrol finally finds Tajuro, the one marked as a subversive, and attacks him. What fate awaits for Tajuro, Toyo, and Kazuma after a battle staking their lives...?

Rekihiko Tokiya is an excellent detective in Kyoto. While chasing a suspect, Rekihiko Tokiya falls into a water storage pool at an abandoned factory. He wakes up in a hospital room, stunned that he cannot remember anything from the last 20 years. Although he is 51 years old, he cannot recall anything past the age of 31 when he first started working as a detective. He is a divorcee, but he does not remember his ex-wife. His personality also changes, once confident but now meek and timid. His sense of justice is still strong. Rekihiko Tokiya resumes work as a detective, but he deals with cases differently than in the past.

Police Officer Enami Atsushi was a capable detective with MPD’s First Investigation Division. For a certain reason, he was demoted to Okutama Police Station’s Mizune Police Substation and is now well-liked and known to the local people of Okutama as “Chuzai-san.”

Kousaku Aizawa, Megumi Shiraishi, Mihoko Hiyama, Kazuo Fuikawa and Haruka Saejima have worked and pursued careers down different paths.

Kousaku Aizawa left the hospital emergency room. He now works as a brain surgeon. Megumi Shiraishi works hard as a staff leader for flight doctors at a hospital emergency room. Mihoko Hiyama wanted to become a flight doctor in th past, but she left the hospital emergency room and now works as an ob-gyn. Kazuo Fuikawa works as a emergency physician specializing in orthopedics and works with Megumi Shiraishi. Haruka Saejima still works as a nurse for flight doctors.

They each live fiercely and face new situations.

Kenichi Endo, Ren Osugi, Tomorowo Taguchi, Susumu Terajima, Yutaka Matsushige and Ken Mitsuishi all receive offers to take part in a big budget drama series with a famous lead actor and world famous director. To study their roles and relationships, the director asks the six supporting actors to live together for 3 months at a share house. The actors begin their temporary living arrangement. An incident from 10 years ago though causes the actors to hold resentment.

Toyoko doesn't know how to love her daughter Terue and subjects the latter to physical abuse when she was a child. As a result, Terue was hungry for love but didn't know how to be loved. Years later, Terue grows up and has a daughter Migusa who is in senior high school when she reunites with her brother Takenori who was separated from her at birth. Due to the reunion, memories of her miserable childhood come flooding back. With the support of Migusa, Terue decides to head to Taiwan to look for her late father's grave and finds out the truth behind her mother's behaviour after meeting Toyoko there.

Based on the novel "Ai wo kou hito" by Harumi Shimoda.

A hustler who gets in trouble with a gang boss in the port town of Sukago agrees to make good with the don by putting him in contact with a mysterious hitman -- an assassin the hustler has no idea...

Plastic surgery, murder, intimidation… Uchibori Miwa, the president of cosmetic company Nympha Miwa, frequently gets coverage in the media due partly to her good looks. However, she finds a posting online that reads, “I know the real Uchibori Miwa” and feels shaken. Miwa looks like a successful person, but has a hidden past that was sealed off. She had once worked as a cleaner of the cosmetic surgery department and always wore a mask because she felt insecure about her own face. Her true face happens to be seen by the doctor Akizuki Yoshihiko, but when he wants to try a new surgical procedure, she undergoes cosmetic surgery for free. The surgery is a success and Miwa, who has obtained a beautiful face like a new person, soon gets married to Akizuki. However, happiness is short-lived. Akizuki had been kind so far, but his attitude suddenly changes. Miwa is forced to live without freedom. Meanwhile, Machida Takeharu, who goes in and out of the Akizuki household as a landscape gardener, encounters Miwa standing around alone in the garden. Having seen with his own eyes how Miwa is subjected to cruel treatment such as Akizuki’s violence, Machida instinctively invites her to his house and the two of them become romantically involved. One day, Miwa angers Akizuki because of something trivial and is severely assaulted. Then Machida arrives. She instructs him to kill her husband and the 50 million yen in the safe will be his. But Akizuki is standing behind them with a gold club. A scuffle breaks out, and the two of them end up murdering Akizuki. Miwa gives Machida money in order to cover up the murder, and tells him not to meet her ever again. Eight years go by. Miwa looks at the posting on the internet as she recalls Machida who probably hates her and her face goes stiff. At that same moment, Machida is staring at a poster of Miwa’s lecture in a town of Fukuoka Prefecture. Then Miwa meets Takeoka Yoshiko, a former investigator who says she is her fan. Hearing Yoshiko’s story about losing her job after the company went bankrupt, Miwa invites her to work in her own company. But in an unexpected turn of events, Miwa subsequently asks Yoshiko to do a background check on Machida.

Set 4 years after movie "Unfair: The Answer."

Natsumi Yukihira (Ryoko Shinohara) receives secret documents of an organization that controls the country from the shadows. Because of this, Natsumi's ex-husband, Kazuo Sato (Teruyuki Kagawa) pays a terrible price. Natsumi goes back to the Investigation #1 of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to take on the organization, but Natsumi becomes involved in a new case. She gets closer to the final enemy.

After death, people have just one week to choose only a memory to keep for eternity.

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.

Sokoi Takehachi and Tsumura Aki are journalists working for the "Weekly Dodongo". Their editor, Yamazaki Jiro, had assigned them to stake out former state assemblyman Okase Shohei, who is about to be released from prison. 7 years ago, Okase was found guilty of misappropriating state funds amounting to 100 mil yen. However, only 70 mil yen were accounted for during the trial. Yamazaki has a hunch that upon his release, Okase will be retrieving that money from wherever he had hidden it. Both Takehachi and Aki had tailed Okase to the racecourse, and from there to a street near Kagurazaka, Tokyo, where they lost him. Next thing they know, the news world is abuzz with the rumor that Okase had found the body of a strangled man at a cemetery in Katsuura, Chiba. Yamazaki's instinct tells him that the murder has something to do with the unaccounted for money, and so he decides to bring Takehachi along with him to call on Okase. They pay a visit to the Nishida Stables, where they are introduced to the stable hand, Suekichi Hideo, the stable owner, Nishida Ryuzo and one of the racehorse's owner, state assemblyman Tateyama Torahei. Yamazaki decides against bringing up the matter of Okase, which puzzles Takehachi, but yet Yamazaki does not share his reason for doing so with him. Not long after, a trunk is found in the forests of Mizusawa, Iwate. In it is a corpse of a man. How is the corpse related to Okase? Why was it stuffed inside the trunk?

The Kaishinmaru is a hospital ship which goes around to islands without hospitals in the Seto Inland Sea to provide medical services. The doctors and staff live communally on this ship which has facilities like a hospital as it circles theislands. One day, a lone doctor is supposed to come to the Kashinmaru. His name is Sezaki Kota. He is a young freelance general physician who hails from Hokkaido. The nurses Togami Mako and Misaki Noboru; physician Uchimura Aoi; clerical officer Hiuchi Akira who is also Aoi’s husband; ship’s captain and chef Kaito Takeshi; and the rest of the staff prepare Kota’s welcome party. However, Kota arrives much later than the appointed time. He comes across Mako who has just taken a bath and is mistaken for a prowler. She sends him a flying kick. The next day, Kota re-introduces himself to the staff and immediately gets to work. This time, the Kaishinmaru visits Chitosejima. In the morning, Kota examines the island’s residents that have gathered. However, Mako is half-outraged by Kota’s irresponsible attitude such as a recommendation to a patient who cannot get relief from a stomachache to drink carbonated drinks. In the afternoon, Kota goes out with Mako for house calls. It appears that there will be a festival on the island tomorrow and they see a man practising on drums. On the way back from the house calls, Kota notices a woman, Murakami Mizuki, crying in front of a tombstone and he is captivated by her beauty. Mizuki is the daughter of Michinori who runs a shipbuilding business on this island. She and her father are at odds. Learning that Mizuki wants to protect the house filled with memories of her late mother and opposes her father’s intention to discontinue the business and sell the house, Kota decides that he will marry her and be Michinori’s successor. And so, he announces out of the blue to the Kaishinmaru staff that he is getting off the ship tomorrow … … Kota has a terrible weakness when it comes to beautiful women. He would fall in love with a woman he meets on each island he visits, declare that he is going to live with her and make every effort to solve the problem she has. However, various people would get drawn into this fuss. In the end, he would be dumped by the woman. Then, he would tearfully go on to the next island and fall in love with another woman and the same thing would happen over and over again … …

Up-tight salaryman Asakura (Shinichi Tsutsumi) goes to the doctor about his severe tension headaches, but gets car-jacked by bank robbers, who order him to pursue one of the gang that has betrayed them. Unfortunately, Asakura never breaks the rules, won't drive over the speed limit, or run a red light, even if threatened. The frustrated gang stops at a café to make plans, but word is out about their "successful" robbery, and "karmic fate" begins to unfold.

Middle-aged Hideo lives alone with an inflatable doll he calls Nozomi. The doll is his closest companion. He dresses it up, talks to it over dinner, and has sexual intercourse with it. However, unbeknown to Hideo, Nozomi was created with a heart. After Hideo leaves for work each day, Nozomi dresses in her maid's outfit and explores the world outside their apartment with a sense of child-like wonder. She encounters various city residents who metaphorically are as "empty inside" as she is. When Nozomi meets Junichi, who works at a local video store, she falls in love with him and gets a part-time job at the store. She learns about the world through the movies she watches with Junichi, but her happiness with him is interrupted by a dramatic turn of events. Director Koreeda has stated that the film is about the loneliness of urban life and the question of what it means to be human.

Contemporary dancer Taira Kei's talent emerged at a young age and he went to study in Germany in his teens. Called the "young genius", he even won an international championship. But Kei did not fulfill his ambition. His dream suffered setbacks. Kei has now returned to Tokyo and has been working part-time order to take another shot at his dream. He takes great pride in dancing and will never accept half measures. That is why he earns a living by manual labour. Although he used to be full of ambition, he has been frustrated with himself for seemingly wasting away ever since he returned to Japan. At that moment, he falls in love with Nishihara Yui, an older teacher at a prestigious girls high school. He easily clears numerous hurdles with his youth and a boldness which is uncharacteristic for a Japanese, and starts to sway Yui's sense of values.

Born into a wealthy family, 17-year-old Masato (Emoto Tasuku) has never been deprived of material comforts, but his distant relationship with his parents leaves him feeling empty. One day, Masato discovers that he was kidnapped by a woman when he was an infant. Curious about his past, he travels to Okinawa to find the woman, Aiko (Matsuyuki Yasuko), and ends up staying to work at her restaurant. As the two grow closer over time, an ambiguous relationship develops, not quite mother and son, not quite lovers.

In the past, Kyoka (Naomi Watanabe) was an excellent employee at travel agency Sunset Tours. She was called the "legendary travel master," but a conflict with her boss led to her transfer to a free department. Now, Kyoka works at a branch office for Sunset Tours in Kyoto. She teams up with rookie employee Ichiro (Yusuke Yamamoto) and divorced taxi driver Tetsuo (Susumu Terajima). Tetsuo is familiar with the roads in Kyoto.

Detective Mizunuma Shouzo (Terajima Susumu), his younger sister Rie (Nishida Naomi), who works at a firm of judicial clerks, and Kamijo Masato (Horibe Keisuke), a psychiatrist who runs a mental clinic, are each saddled with enormous debts of 200 million yen for a variety of reasons. These three people join hands and commit fraud to strip money from rich people and pay off their debts.

Yoroi Kyosuke is a convicted swindler who is recruited by the government to serve as a spy against terrorists. Dorothy, also a member of Kyosuke's team, has been established as an elite spy with previous experience as part of the UK's intelligence agency MI6.

Kanbe Miwako (Fukada Kyoko) is a detective who wears expensive clothes and is chauffeured to work every day. She is the granddaughter of the super-rich Kanbe Kikuemon, who earned his vast fortune through dirty means when he was young and now wants to repent by spending it all on his only granddaughter and her work. With a characteristic 「あのー、ちょっとよろしいでしょうか」"Excuse me, may I speak?..", she comes up with unusually clever as well as unusually expensive means to lure out the criminals, annoying her coworkers to no end, but always getting her man. This second series is similar to the first except that the police have a grander conference room and the Kanbe clan has even more wealth and luxury. -Lzydata

Detectives Sakurai Shintarou and Hikage Koichi are partners. They are also corrupt and often blackmail criminal groups and seize their money. One day, the Chief of Police becomes aware that 2.5 million yen in seized money is missing. He orders Shintarou and Koichi to bring the money in by tomorrow morning. Shintarou and Koichi are in big trouble. They then read an article about a pension fund embezzlement case involving 6 billion yen. The prime suspect of the pension fund embezzlement case spent most of that money, but he has 2.5 billion yen left.

Wataru Honjo is a veteran suit actor who resents popular young actor Ryo Ichinose for getting the role of Black Dragon in an upcoming film version of Dragon Four, a role he had wanted to play himself. He also becomes convinced Ryo has no respect for the genre. Hostilities continue on the set of the movie, but eventually the two men start to gain respect for each other and even start to form a friendship.

Soon, Ryo is given the starring role in an upcoming Hollywood movie titled "Last Blade" being shot on location in Japan. However, production is eventually halted when a stunt actor quits abruptly, refusing to film a dangerous scene in which his character fights a team of ninjas while engulfed in flames. The foreign staff members are left in the lurch, but they soon decide to call in the man they've heard is the best stunt actor in Japan - Wataru Honjo.

A continuation of the drama Inokashira Goro, who is an imported goods dealer, visits various towns on business. After business meetings, he will stop by shops that he is interested in and looks forward to meals above all else. This summer, he visits Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture for business.

Based on Kusumi Masayuki and Taniguchi Jiro's manga of the same name.

Based on the same-titled novel, the drama is set in the year 1964, the year the Olympics were held in Tokyo. A nation trying to rebuild its economy post world war II, Japan was eager to show the world what it had to offer. Amidst all the excitement and enthusiasm, two fires had broken out consecutively; at the private residence of the Chief of Police, Suga Shuichiro, and then at the Nakano Police Academy. However, both incidents were hushed up, and even Detective Ochiai Masao, from Division One MPD (Metropolitan Police Department) had to find out about it from his fellow colleague. Ochiai was puzzled as to why no investigations were being carried out and it soon came to light that prior to the first fire at the Chief's home, a threatening letter had been sent to the MPD. In view of the upcoming Olympics, everyone at the MPD were feeling jittery over the letter and the arson, and thus a team was set up to ensure the safety of the public during the event. Ochiai and his team mates were to carry out the investigation secretly. Information came to Ochiai, that some 25 tubes of dynamite were stolen from a gunpowder factory. While questioning the owner, Ochiai was introduced to Shimazaki Kunio, a poor student from Akita prefecture, attending Tokyo University and working part-time there. Suspecting him of the crime, Ochiai started digging around into Shimazaki's life and was surprised to find out that his own sister, Yumi, was actually dating Shimazaki!

Yuichi Mafune is known as a finance broker, but he's actually a conman. One day, two men show up in front of Yuichi. One man is "M" and the other is his underling Yuki Seki. They ask Yuichi Mafune to steal the "M funds". The "M funds" is thought to be a longheld legend that massive amounts of gold and other stolen loot from World War II were hidden in the basement of a Japanese bank. The loot was then taken by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces to fund secret operations.

Yuichi accepts the proposal after hearing of the large fee offerred if successful. In order to steal the "M funds," which Yuichi isn't even sure if it exists, "M" plans an unprecedented money game which brings in interests from the U.S., Russia and other places.

Ichi has given up his cane sword and his former life as a traveler in order to settle down with his loving wife Tane in his home village. However, his plan to live the quiet life is interrupted when he learns that the Tendo clan has taken over the village and is constantly harassing locals. Soon, a group of farmers come to Ichi and beg him to help his own village like he’s helped countless other villages in travels.

Based on the bestselling manga (graphic novel) by Aya Nakahara, LOVE*COM THE MOVIE (short for Lovely Complex) centers on two high school students. Risa Koizumi is the tallest girl in class, and the last thing she wants is the humiliation of standing next to Atsushi Otani, the shortest guy. But fate and the whole school have other ideas, and the two find themselves cast as the unwilling stars of a bizarre romantic comedy duo. As their friendship blossoms, so do Risa's feelings toward Otani. LOVE*COM examines the often-complicated feelings and comedic moments of the experience of dating people of different heights. A girl, because of his short stature, previously rejected Otani and he thinks he looks peculiar with a taller girlfriend. Risa has the opposite problem, already tall and never finding a guy who is taller. These height complexes, and the romance that eventually ensues in spite of them, develop the Lovely Complex that this film is ultimately about.

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.

Yukihira Natsumi is a no-nonsense, intelligent Tokyo homicide cop known as the department's "number one" case closer, who nevertheless also has a bad reputation for not working well with others and pushing the limits of the law. As she sees it, her only job is bringing in the bad guys, and the results are all that counts. However, she is haunted by a hostage case five years prior in which she had to pull her weapon and kill a man, which earned the ire and distrust of some of her coworkers and members of the community. To bring balance to her life, Natsumi must find a way to deal with her demanding work, the aftermath of a divorce, and caring for her young daughter—all while chasing down a serial killer who's taunting the police with serialized short stories that foretell the next murder with no time to spare.

Adapted from the 2004 novel Suiri Shosetsu by Hata Takehiko.

The story concerns a boy called Shuji, growing up in a rural area of Japan where the community is divided into "Shore" and "Offshore" - the latter so-named because it is built on reclaimed land. He meets a few main...

In Tokyo, the reckless single mother Keiko moves to a small apartment with her twelve years old son Akira Fukushima and hidden in the luggage, his siblings Kyoko, Shigeru and Yuki. The children have different fathers and do not have schooling, but they have a happy life with their mother. When Keiko finds a new boyfriend, she leaves the children alone, giving some money to Akira and assigning him to take care of his siblings. When the money finishes, Akira manages to find means to survive with the youngsters without power supply, gas or water at home, and with the landlord asking for the rental.

Shot in Los Angeles, California, Takeshi Kitano plays Yamamoto, a lone yakuza officer. Defeated in a war with a rival family, his boss killed, he heads to L.A.

As time passes, Yamamoto and his new gang emerge as a powerful force, gradually expanding their turf to an extent that they must confront the Mafia. The Mafia's attacks are ruthless, and soon Yamamoto and his gang are driven into a disastrous situation of no return as they are hunted down one by one.

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.