Asian Drama

N/A

Shinmachi Ryotaro is a 37-year-old professional soccer player. He devoted his life to the sport and he was a member of the national soccer team. After an injury, his play has been in decline. This led to him playing for the J3 League. Now, he is forced to retire as a soccer player. All he knows is soccer, but, at the age of 37, he must find a regular job like other people and work like them. His daughters are extremely proud of him because he plays soccer, so he isn't able to tell them about his retirement. Shinmachi Ryotaro then finds sports management company Victory. He decides to work there and work hard for the company, but, in his mind, he still has a hard time accepting his playing career is over. He faces a big problem at work.

Hiroto Miyama works with rookie lawyer Honoka Kono on a team that specializes with criminal cases for Madarame Law Firm. Atsuhiro Sada has become the director of the law firm. One day, the law firm receives a request about a case that took place 15 years ago. The case was about a poisonous wine incident.

Depicts Rinko, who is 33 years old, heading for marriage.

Tamura Shin is a young man who has been pursuing the mystery of the murder that his father, a police officer, caused and changed the fate of their family. Ever since his father’s arrest, Shin and his mother have been criticised by the public and had to live in hiding. One day, Shin is told by his beloved wife to try and give his father the benefit of the doubt, and he decides to meet his father who is in prison. However, when he heads to the old crime scene, he is shrouded by a sudden mist and ends up going back in time to the past. Shin finds himself in the year 1989 – right before the murder took place. The crime scene has become a snowy village. At this village, Shin sees the warm smiling faces of his own face. If he stops his father’s case, he will not lose his family. This spurs him to challenge the taboo of changing the past.

Aikawa Kazuki is a university lecturer who teaches ethology, which is the study of animal behaviour. He just started life as a lecturer six months earlier at the recommendation of Professor Samejima Shun whom he studied under in university. However, when it comes to the animals and living things that Kazuki loves, he gets so immersed that he pays no attention to other things. He is not able to follow the rules established by the university and gets scolded at work every day. In addition, he has the habit of procrastinating on things that he finds bothersome and is also poor at being punctual. Kazuki’s lessons are “not ordinary”. Although he gives students assignments to make them express their opinions, he would end up saying that he does not know the right answer and stump them. Kazuki’s behaviour bewilders the people around him, and at times, it even irritates them. They keep this “eccentric” at a slight distance but this does not perturb him. However, their own values are shaken by the sight of Kazuki, who has no bias or preconceived ideas and enjoys each day following his interests and curiosity, and they are gradually influenced by him.

In his third year of marriage, Jun works at an office and lives with his wife Chie. One day, Jun comes home from work to find Chie collapsed and bleeding in the entryway. He rushes to her aid, but it turns out that Chie was just pretending to be dead. After that, Chie pretends to be dead on a daily basis.

Hiroto Miyama is a poor lawyer who takes on criminal cases, but unable to make money. He pursues the truth for the 0.1% out of Japan's 99.9% conviction rate. One day, Hiroto is scouted by Haruhiko Madarame. Haruhiko Madarame is the head of Madarame Law Firm which is one of the biggest law firms among the 4 big law firms. Hiroto Miyama begins to work with Atsuhiro Sada. Atsuhiro Sada is a lawyer specializing in civil cases and makes lots of money for the law firm. He doesn't have any interest in criminal cases which can not make money.

30-year-old Kamata Rinko is single and a struggling scriptwriter. She has no boyfriend and keeps having night outs at drinking spots with her girlfriends Kaori and Koyuki. “If I become beautiful, a better guy will appear!” “If we grow to like each other, we can get married!” They will not stop talking about these hypothetical questions. Then a younger, handsome, golden-haired guy suddenly utters, “These “what if” women!” and the trio have to face the harsh reality that they are no longer girls. Rinko enters her 30s while still immature, seeking happiness and struggling with romance and work.

The experiences and relationships of five senior students at a rural high school, during the last year leading to graduation.

Hiroto Miyama is a poor lawyer who takes on criminal cases, but unable to make money. He pursues the truth for the 0.1% out of Japan's 99.9% conviction rate. One day, Hiroto is scouted by Haruhiko Madarame. Haruhiko Madarame is the head of Madarame Law Firm which is one of the biggest law firms among the 4 big law firms. Hiroto Miyama begins to work with Atsuhiro Sada. Atsuhiro Sada is a lawyer specializing in civil cases and makes lots of money for the law firm. He doesn't have any interest in criminal cases which can not make money.

Sato Ikuo met his wife, Kawamura Kaede at the hospital where he is interning at, when her grandfather, Kawamura Ryutaro, was hospitalised for his heart problems. He fell in love with her and decided to marry her even though their social statuses are worlds apart. The Kawamuras are a distinguished family running the prestigious Kawamura Memorial, a funeral home, and Kaede is their sole heir. Whereas Ikuo comes from a broken home and was brought up by his single mother. Due to that, Ikuo actually marries into the Kawamura family and tries to lead a happy life with his newly wedded wife. He takes in stride all the snide comments and innuendos from his in-laws, as he is not bothered about inheritance and what-not. In fact, Ikuo does not even get involved in the politics at the hospital, as his dream is to go to remote places that lack medical practitioners so as to be able to help as many people as possible. Will Ikuo and Kaede be able to lead a normal family life? Or will they be dragged into an ugly battle over the family fortunes? This drama will make us think about the meaning of family, and the impact of fighting over inheritances. -- by TV Asahi

Set in the year 2019 in Japan. In order to crack down on free expression, a new law is passed, which allows for the government to create an armed force to find and destroy objectionable printed material. Meanwhile, to oppose this oppressive crackdown, the Library Force is created. The Library force, including instructor Atsushi Dojo and Iku Kasahara, work to protect the libraries. A fierce battle then ensues between these two groups.

Iku (Nana Eikura) joined the Library Defense Force after a member from that team retrieved an important book that was targeted for censorship. She is assigned to work under Atsushi’s (Junichi Okada) team. She endures Atsushi's harsh treatment and looks for the member who retrieved her book. She also finds herself becoming attracted to Atsushi. Iku meets female high school student Marie (Tao Tsuchiya) at the library. Maries has a hearing disability. She is also a childhood friend of Mikihisa (Kei Tanaka). Iku senses Marie’s strong feelings for Mikihisa. Asako (Chiaki Kuriyama) works as a clerk for the Library Task Force. She has frequent meetings with curator Shuji (Aoi Nakamura). This creates complicated feelings for Hikaru (Sota Fukushi). One day, Mikihisa is arrested because of a book he recommended to Marie. Official reason given is because the book is unsuitable for disabled people. The members of the Library Task Force are angered by Mikihisa's arrest.

On April 5, 2007, a couple married in a church. At first glance, it was a typical wedding. The bride, however, was suffering from late-stage breast cancer and had been given only a month to live.

Miki Kakuta (Nana Eikura) graudates from a second-rate university and scores a job at the top company in her field. Miki then becomes an OL (Office Lady), but things turn for the worse for Miki. After a few trivial errors she becomes the target of bullying by her co-workers (even endures a fake webpage made about her). Her immediate boss Yukiko Sano (Yoshino Kimura) gives Miki the cold shoulder, co-worker Marika Tachibana (Anne Watanabe) acts as her friend but makes jokes about her behind her back, senior employee Shota Nakahara (Jun Kaname) seems reliable but Miki realizes that she should keep her distance, and her head boss Seichi Kirino (Naohito Fujiki) is absolutely indifferent to her. Through all of this Miki decides to tough it out and not run away from her job.

The story revolves around a young woman named Mei, who was rescued as a young girl by someone calling himself her "butler." With only a vague memory, though, the experience seems like just a dream. But one day, after her parents' accidental death, he appears: Rihito comes from a line of outstanding butlers, and he has been appointed to serve her! Now her ordinary life has completely flipped, as she discovers that she's actually the heiress to a fortune, and is forced to transfer to St. Lucia Girls' Academy, where all the students have butlers! As a result, her childhood friend Kento decides to enroll in a butler school so that he can stay close to her.

Yamashita plays the head of a funeral service shop that deals with bodies brought in by the police, including suicide and murder victims. He reluctantly inherited the shop after his father passed away, but as he learns about the lives of the various deceased people that are brought to him, he begins to mature. Another highlight of the story is his romance with a rookie female detective.

Iwase Ken and Yoshida Rei have been friends since elementary school. Ken, is obstinate and unskilled in love, but he fell long ago for the lively and cheerful, Rei. But Rei is about to get married to another man. While Ken and other friends from high-school attend the wedding ceremony, a fairy appears and sends Ken back in time, giving him a second chance to win the girl he loves.

Hikaru is a mildly incompetent bookstore employee who‘s just a bit too nice for his own good. He‘s also an aspiring manga artist, and distributes mysterious “Debikuro Communication” flyers at night. On Christmas night, a miracle is created by the love Hikaru and three other people in his life - his attentive childhood friend Anna, a world-famous lighting designer named So-yeon whom he meets by coincidence, and a former university classmate named Kitayama who‘s gone on to become a popular manga artist.

Based on the novel "Debikuro kun no Koi to Mahou" by Ko Nakamura.

Akiho Takeda (Eikura Nana) is assigned to #3 investigation team for The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. On her first day at work, a burglary takes place at a jewelry store in Shibuya. The case though is taken by the #1 investigation team which Akiho hoped to join. Nevertheless, Akiho goes secretly to the jewelry store where the theft took place. There she sees a man with piercing eyes among the onlookers. That man is veteran detective Shuichi Hagio (Takahashi Katsumi), who also works for the #3 investigation team. They become partners and work together. Later, a safe at a jewelry store in Roppongi is broken into. The safe breaking case is assigned to the #3 investigation team. Shuichi and Akiho go to the jewelry store in Roppongi. They learn that the safe was protected by a secret code and a high tech fingerprint authentication system. Stolen from the safe is the diamond called "Besu". The "Besu" is one of three diamonds that makes up the "Kuraida Family's Three Sisters". The other two diamonds are "Ani" and "Kyasari". The diamond "Ani" was stolen from the jewelry store in Shibuya, that occurred a few days earlier. Several people believe the two diamond thefts were done by the same person(s), but Akiho mentions the techniques used by thieves are different. Yet, Akiho believes there must be a connection between the two cases. --Asianwiki

University student Sugishita Nozomi, Naruse Shinji, Ando Nozomi and Nishizaki Masato end up coming upon the scene of the murder of the Noguchi couple, because of a plan they had devised. Nishizaki is arrested at the scene and is given a 10-year prison term because of his voluntary confession. 10 years later, Takano Shigeru, a former police officer who has misgivings about the verdict of this case, starts to pursue the truth. He is convinced that it all began as a result of an incident caused by Nozomi and Naruse on an island in the Seto Inland Sea in the summer 15 years. "They committed a crime at that time. It was for the sake of each N.

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!

In the year 1590, powerful daimyo Hideyoshi Toyotomi nears his plan to unify all of Japan, but he comes across a floating fortress known as Oshi Castle. Nagachika Narita, in charge of defending the castle, must use his army of 500 men to combat Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army of 20,000.

It is April at Kokubunkan Public High School which is known for being good at both studies and sports. Aoyagi Haruka, the rookie form teacher of Class 3D, swells with hope. However, the assistant form teacher is Takakura Yuko, the biology teacher with a poor reputation in school. Furthermore, the transfer student Toda Toshio suddenly accuses the class prefect Mochizuki Ryohei and others of bad deeds. There is a lot to sort out for the new school term. One day, Class 3D’s Yamagishi Rio is instructed by her boyfriend, Tatsuya, to collect the email addresses of her friends. Tatsuya attends a first rate university and has also passed the bar exam. He belongs to the “winners”, but is in truth a peddler who sells unregulated herbs. In order to keep her relationship with Tatsuya going, Rio caters to his demands even though she knows is it wrong. Before long, there is a spam email that starts the rumour of Rio offering email addresses and encouraging unregulated herbs. An inspection of Rio’s bag is carried out without warning. Rio seeks Haruka’s help and Haruka promises to keep it a secret from the school. However, Yuko points out that Rio is a mere tool of the peddler. In addition, there is a call about the collapse of the students of Class 3D after smoking the unregulated herbs. In an attempt to save an embattled Rio, Haruka asks Yuko for help. But Yuko coldly says that she will save Rio in exchange for Haruka’s first paycheck. Yuko, the classics teacher Uchida Sumire and art teacher Fujii Aya wear different faces from daytime. They are “black teachers” who solve problems in return for large sums of money.

The plot revolves around a young man named Nagashima Kyohei who has felt emotionally detached due to a traumatic incident in his high school days. However, when he takes a job sorting through the personal belongings of the deceased, he's forced to face the concept of life and death. He eventually develops a relationship with a co-worker named Yuki Kubota, which allows him to open up a little more, but he soon discovers she has a dark past of her own.

~~Adapted from the novel by singer and writer Sada Masashi.

The story will focus on a love triangle between the three leads. Eikura plays the role of Morimoto Naoko, a girl from the countryside whose first love is her uncle, Ikezawa Masato (ARATA). She follows after him to Tokyo by getting admitted into an elite medical university, but there she runs into Masato's girlfriend and colleague Aya (Kanno), a beautiful and intelligent researcher who is the daughter of the university hospital's director. However, things get complicated after Naoko and Masato meet again.

Koji is a college student and aspiring photographer. One day, while Koji is taking pictures of families in a Tokyo park, a man suddenly appears within his camera's view and interrupts his shot. However, he's later contacted by the man with an odd request. Without revealing the purpose of the job, he asks Koji to take photographs of a woman who walks through the park with her young daughter. Koji agrees, but the strange task leads to changes in the relationships he has with the women in his life.

Those women include a longtime friend that Koji can talk to about anything and his step-sister, who offers both kindness and firm encouragement when he needs it. As Koji photographs the new third woman in his life, he feels as if she reminds him of someone from a distant memory.

Adapted from a novel by Yukiya Shoji.

The basis for the drama is the novel "Kashikogi" by author Cho Chang-in, which has sold 2 million copies in Korea since its publication in 2000. It has already been adapted as a television drama and a stage play in that country. On February 4, Shogakukan is publishing the book in Japan under the title "Good Life" Sorimachi plays the part of Daichi Sawamoto, a newspaper reporter who has always prioritized his work over his family. When his wife suddenly leaves him, he finally notices the love he has been receiving from his son. Just as he decides to answer back, it is discovered that his son has leukemia. Igawa plays Sawamoto's wife, Eikura plays a pediatrics specialist, and Ihara plays a doctor.

Tsunoda Miki is a graduate of a second-rate university who manages to find a job at a top-notch company. But after a minor mistake, she becomes the subject of serious bullying by her superiors and other co-workers. Ultimately, she chooses to endure the harassment, not wanting to simply run away from it.