Asian Drama

In the dawn of the Meiji period, the Gokumonjou, an inescapable prison, has been established in the middle of an enormous lake to counter the soaring crime rates the new era has brought. Serving as the ferrymen are the famous Kumou brothers: the eccentric family head, Tenka; the reckless but noble second son, Soramaru; and the guileless youngest, Chuutarou. In spite of their grim work, the three lead relatively peaceful lives in the ever-cloudy town of Oumi, together with their housekeeper, Shirasu Kinjou. But buried in the long history of Oumi is the legend of the terrifying "Orochi," a serpentine beast that awakens every three hundred years in a human vessel. Unbeknownst to Soramaru and Chuutarou, the actual job of the Kumou family is to seal the Orochi away before it fully revives—or the world will be plunged into destruction. Amid the monster's next resurrection, the Kumou family must find the resolve to keep laughing under the clouds.

Legal apprentice Okumori Rei is on the verge of getting married when he is cornered by someone due to a past secret. Eight years ago, during the summer when Rei was a third-year junior high school student, he killed his father Kosuke and made it look like he went missing in order to protect his mother Akiko from domestic violence. This became the secret between him and his mother. Rei aspired to be a lawyer and had lived without getting deeply involved with anyone. That was until he met Tachibana Saya at law school. She is like a sudden light that illuminates his dark life and the two of them soon fell in love. However, right after Rei’s marriage to Saya is decided, he starts receiving ominous messages from someone who knows his secret.

Balsa (Haruka Ayase) is a 30-year-old female bodyguard-for-hire. Her life changes when she saves Imperial Prince Chagumu who is being carried away by a raging river. They then attempt to return the great egg of the water spirit, which is in Prince Chagumu's possession to its source in the sea. Along the way, they are hunted by hired assassins.

Meisuke Nueno (Ryuhei Maruyama) is the homeroom teacher of a 2nd grade 3 class in high school. He is referred to as Nube. He sometimes carries himself as an idiot, but he does care about his students a lot. He also has a hidden side. Meisuke Nueno has a demon's hand. He solves monstrous case and fights desperately to save students from monsters.

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.

New student Kanji transfers to 6th grade 2 class, where Ayami Mutoi (Keiko Kitagawa) works as the homeroom teacher. Students begin to talk among themselves that they have seen new transfer student Kanji in a dream. Yuiko Koto (Manatsu Kimura) also had a night mare. In her nightmare, a boy that looks transfer student Kanji appeared as a prince. Ayami Mutoi tries to keep that to herself. She actually likes the prince in her dream.

In this world of uncertainty, would we be happier if we could predict the future...?

What would you do if all of your dreams had a way of coming true...including nightmares? Beautiful and young, Ayami has a solid reputation as a dedicated and reliable elementary teacher, but her true character is solely clandestine. Ayami does not believe in love and trust, and her values make her oblivious to other people’s matters. Almost devious, she is always scheming so she never has to deal with responsibility and troubles that spur around her. One day, a new student Yuiko enrolls in her home-room class. It does not take long for Ayami to find out that Yuiko has an ability to predict the future through the dreams she sees in her sleep; dreams which are symbolic and require proper interpretation to understand the upcoming occurrences. But when Yuiko begins to have nightmares of people around them, Ayami, though unwillingly, must team up with Yuiko to try to change the tragic fate of those around them... But can they properly assess what Yuiko’s nightmares truly mean and change what may already be destined?

Akumu-chan is a family drama enjoyable from kids to adults, packed with excitement and fun fantastic visuals with a pinch of humor that shows how Ayami learns the true meaning of life. Each episode will transport the viewer to a bizarre and seemingly paranormal dream world that is a fantasy-filled treat to the eye and an oneirocritical ride for the mind!