Asian Drama

"If I tell you that I like you, will this end our friendship?"

One-sided love is always a series of choices. I secretly think about you, but an invisible wall called "friend" stands in my way. I wanted to break down that wall, but I couldn't...

A manager chasing his dream, and the regulars who lost their dreams. All sorts of human dramas take place in this restaurant. Why do sweet-sounding things like love and dreams hurt so much?

A short drama series set in a peculiar café, each depicting a step forward and growing up.

(Source: Japanese = sokenbicha.jp || Translation = ECOTVSubs)

Episodes: 8

Duration: 10 min.

Aired On: Monday

N/A

In 1965, Takeshi Kitano drops out of a university and enters the Asakusa France Za, which is a performance theater. He becomes an apprentice to Senzaburo Fukami, who is a legendary entertainer. Senzaburo Fukami demands that Takeshi Kitano keep the mindset of an entertainer, not only on stage but also in his daily life. Takeshi Kitano cultivates his dream of becoming an entertainer with other apprentices. Due to the popularity of TV, people attend the theater less and less, but Takeshi Kitano spends his youthful days with Senzaburo Fukami and other apprentices who are full of talent and unique personalities.

Akutsu Eiji is a newspaper reporter. He is working on unsolved case that took place 30 years ago. The case involved a group of people extorting several companies for money. The group sent cassette tapes to the companies. Akutsu Eiji comes across a mysterious cassette tape. Meanwhile, Sone Toshiya lives in Kyoto and runs a tailor shop. He discovers a cassette tape among his late father's possessions. He plays the cassette tape and hears his voice from his childhood days.

~~ Adapted from the novel "The Voice of Sin" (罪の声) by Shiota Takeshi (塩田武士), which in turn was inspired by the extortion case "Glico Morinaga case" (グリコ・森永事件).

Born in Osaka in 1937, Kawahara Kimiko is the eldest of 3 sisters. At age 9, she moves with her family to Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture. Growing up surrounded by the local Shigaraki pottry, she decides to become a ceramics artist. Even though she is passionate, she faces many setbacks as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This drama follows her life from childhood to marriage to a pioneer career in the ceramic arts.

Born in Osaka in 1937, Kawahara Kimiko is the eldest of 3 sisters. At age 9, she moves with her family to Shigaraki in Shiga Prefecture. Growing up surrounded by the local Shigaraki pottry, she decides to become a ceramics artist. Even though she is passionate, she faces many setbacks as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This drama follows her life from childhood to marriage to a pioneer career in the ceramic arts.

"Poison Daughter” & “Holy Mother”

Yumika is an actress. Since she was a child, she has had to endure her mother Yoshika controlling her life. Yoshika is a “poison mother” to Yumika and Yumika cannot tolerate her mother anymore. Yumika appears on a talk show and criticizes her mother. Her criticism causes a sensation.

Meanwhile, people around Yoshika state that she is not a poison mother and she is actually a good mother.

“Tsumibukaki Onna”

She blames herself for everything and feels like terrible.

“Best Friend”

A screenwriter gets nervous because her rival is doing good.

“Yasashii Hito”

A woman is too nice to commit murder.

“My Dearest”

A middle aged woman opens her mind only to a cat.

Based on novel by Yamasaki Toyoko, screenplay by Habara Daisuke and directed by Tsuruhashi Yasuo. The era setting is changed from the Showa 30's to the year 2019.

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.

Hajime Saionji (Takaya Kamikawa) is the perfect butler and he works for a madame who is elegant. The madame is full of curiosity and has a pure personality. Hajime Saionji began to work for the madame before her husband died and they share a deep level of trust.

One day, they a face murder case. The madame holds doubts about the murder case. Hajime Saionji uses his great reasoning powers in an attempt to solve the mystery.

Sayaka Minami works as a designer for a company. She is 30-years-old, single and has not had any love experience due to her 15 year unrequited love for Ryosuke Sagisawa. They have been friends since they were kids.

One day, Sayaka wakes up and a strange man is in front of her. She panics and the man introduces herself as Shohei Machida. He works as a salesman at the same company as Sayaka. He tells her that they are in a relationship and live together. Sayaka lost her memory for 3 months.

Mizuno Gota, an aspiring musician, finds himself in a quandary when the convenience store where he works part-time suddenly closes down. One day, he catches sight of a newly-opened hamburger shop called Yankee Burger. When Mizuno enters, he is asked by the owner Ozeki Katsuya for feedback on the taste. He condescendingly tells Ozeki that the burger lacks punch, and the next thing he knows, he is offered a full-time job at the shop. Thinking that he can put his mother at ease and at the same time be able to drive a Ferrari some day if he stops living as a part-time worker and joins the hamburger shop, Mizuno decides to take the company entrance exam.

Kuki Fumihiro is a son from a wealthy zaibatsu (conglomerate) family. His father raises him to become pure evil. Kuki kills his father to protect his adopted sister Kaori.

Afterward, Kuki disappears. He undergoes plastic surgery and takes the identity of Koichi Shintani. He watches Kaori and faces the great evil that exists within the Kuki family.

A story-a-week episodic medical mystery that treats the theme of reality changing when faced with imminent death. Mystery and exhilarating human drama unfold against the backdrop of the “unnatural death institute”, or “UDI”. For example, the body of a young man is brought into the UDI lab one day; his cause of death attributed to ischemic heart disease in which blood fails to be conveyed to the heart. But the victim’s parents are puzzled by the freak nature of their son’s death and turn to medical coroner Mikoto, to find out why. Together with her lab technician partner, Yuko Shoji, and rookie medical recorder, Rokuro, they examine the body for a possible drug poisoning and then learn that another female colleague of the deceased man has just died suddenly.

Saigo Takamori, the hero of the Meiji Restoration, was born to a poor, low-ranking samurai family in the Satsuma domain (present day Kagoshima Prefecture). His simple honesty caught the attention of its charismatic feudal lord of Satsuma, Shimazu Nariakira. Nariakira’s assertion that the love of people is what will enrich and strengthen the nation captivated Saigo who took on Nariakira’s secret mission and eventually became a key person for Satsuma. Not a portrait of him survives today and much of his life is a mystery. He is a man who was twice exiled and thrice married. He overthrew the Tokugawa Shogunate with exceptional bravery and action. Although he accomplished the restoration, he lost his life in a fight with the new Meiji government.

Based on the novel "Sego Don" by Hayashi Mariko.

Children go missing in a town and the adults around them die suspiciously. When an internet rumor spreads that an adult met a child who went missing, and the adult dies 3 days later, local newspaper reporter Shunya Ezaki begins to investigate the mysterious deaths. Meanwhile his girlfriend, Nahomi Harada, works at a kindergarten school. A boy's mother does not pick him up and she takes him with her. Then a mysterious man appears and the boy under Nahomi’s care soon goes missing.

Rei Kiriyama is a 17-years-old shogi player. He debuted as a professional shogi player when he was in middle school. He lives by himself in Tokyo, because his parents and younger sister died in a traffic accident when he was little. One day, Rei Kiriyama meets three sisters who are his neighbors. The three sisters are Akari Kawamoto, Hinata Kawamoto, and Momo Kawamoto. This is his first meeting with someone outside of the shogi world in many years. Having meals with the Kawamoto family brings warm feelings to Rei Kiriyama. As Rei Kiriyama continues his shogi career, his interactions with his neighbors allow him to grow as a shogi player and as a person.

Salaryman Fukase Kazuhisa graduated from a famous university but his life is very ordinary and unremarkable. His only hobby – if it can be called that – is drinking coffee. Coffee, in fact, leads him to Mihoko Ochi, who becomes his girlfriend. Then one day, Mihoko receives a mysterious letter which consists of a single line, “Kazuhisa Fukase is a murderer.” Fukase’s instinct tells him that the time has finally come to face “that incident” 10 years ago. One winter 10 years ago, his good friend Hirosawa Yuki died in an unfortunate accident during a snowboarding trip with his university classmates Tanihara Yasuo (Ichihara Hayato), Asami Kosuke , Murai Takaaki and Murai’s younger sister Asuka. However, there is a big secret hidden in that accident. Letters are also sent to Tanihara, Tanihara and Murai who also share in this secret, and even they are hit by a series of incidents. Fukase decides to confront the truth of the past in order to protect the people dear to him.

Based on Reverse by Minato Kanae.

The 17-year-old Yatabe Mineko grew up in a family of seven in a mountain village in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture. Her father Minoru has gone to Tokyo to work in order to earn extra money. However, her life completely changes when her father does not come back for the New Year. Mineko asks her family to let her go to Tokyo to find him and promises to send money home. In the autumn of 1964, she and two childhood friends Tokiko and Mitsuo are hired to start working at a small factory in Tokyo’s working class neighborhood. After work each day, Mineko searches for her father and gets disheartened at times. Mineko overcomes challenges and starts to lay down roots in Tokyo as she experiences many meetings and farewells amid the laughter and tears with regulars, people of the shopping street, friends, and colleagues. But will she be able to find her father?

Kiriyama Rei is a 17-years-old shogi (Japanese chess) player. He debuted as a professional shogi player when he was in middle school. He lives by himself in Tokyo, because his parents and younger sister died in a traffic accident when he was little. One day, Kiriyama Rei meets three sisters who are his neighbours. The three sisters are Kawamoto Akari, Kawamoto Hinata and Kawamoto Momo. This is his first meeting with someone outside of the shogi world in many years. Having meals with the Kawamoto family brings warm feelings to Kiriyama Rei. As Kiriyama Rei continues his shogi career, his interactions with his neighbours allow him to grow as a shogi player and as a person.

“If you want help, but have no one to consult … At such times, make a phone call first!” Akenabe Yugo’s occupation is a “rental saviour”. He is a “saviour” who shows up to handle any kind of impossible demand for a limited time only. This is a peculiar, innovative rental service which has appeared as a result of a movement in the rental industry. But Akenabe is certainly not a fellow to be worshiped as a saviour. He is just a very good-natured middle-aged man who is forced to be one as a way to make supplementary income through this commission-based, for-profit, confidential service because he has a huge debt and a wife and child. On the other hand Aoi Denjiro, who is a “rental saviour” together with Akenabe, is a big show-off who loves attention.

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.

Nishiuchi Mariya stars as a novice concierge in a luxury hotel who strives to see her customers smile. The heroine with never-give-up attitude who doesn't say "no" to customers tries her very best to solve problems with support from her seniors. The drama brings heart-warming one-off episodes every week to viewers.

Toko has finally got her dream job as concierge at "Hotel Vollmond". One day, fashion designer and customer, Sachi, requests Toko to change the flowers at her party venue, which Toko promises to do without due consideration. With the help of her senior, Honjo, she manages to keep her rash promise, but Honjo starts to question why on earth Washio chose Toko as concierge in the first place. Toko, then, gets enthusiastic about supporting a customer who plans to propose to his girlfriend.

Tomura (Yosuke Eguchi) was once widely lauded as a legendary patissier, but some 8 years ago he inexplicably left the field. Since that time, Tomura has lectured at culinary schools and wrote a guidebook for pastry critics. Natsume (Yu Aoi) is a young woman who travels from Kagoshima to Tokyo to find her boyfriend. Natsume fins a job at "Patisserie Coin de rue" - a pastry shop run by husband & wife tandem Yuriko (Keiko Toda) and Julian (Nathan Berg). At "Patisserie Coin de rue" Natsume works with talented patissier Mariko (Noriko Eguchi) & her fascinating creations. Meanwhile, Tomura is now a regular at "Patisserie Coin de rue" & his encounters with Natsume brings about changes in both of their lives ...

Romeo, A.K.A. Kosuke Matsuyama (Shun Shioya), is a second-year high school student. A nice, normal, nonviolent type, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a rampaging crowd of Korean boys, outraged by insults perpetrated by several of his idiotic class-mates on two Korean girls. He makes a narrow escape, but soon after, he and his best bud Yoshio (Keisuke Koide) are sent by their home-room teacher to invite the Korean students to a friendly soccer game as a way of restoring the peace. Trembling like black-uniformed leaves, they enter enemy territory, where Kosuke encounters a doll-faced, but serious-looking girl (Erika Sawajiri) playing a Korean folk song, "Imjin River," on a flute. He and Yoshio are also nearly lynched by her older brother Lee Ang Son (Sosuke Takaoka) and his gang, but he is already smitten -- and eager to learn that haunting tune. The story concentrates on Kosuke's struggle to not only master a song, but win the love of a girl who seems to live in an alien, hostile world. Meanwhile, Ang Son and his crew are street-fighting with Japanese toughs as if playing a contact sport, with one side scoring hits, then the other. He is macho to a fault, but when he learns that his sweet-heart (Kyoko Yanagihara) is pregnant and determined to keep the baby, he faces a choice that makes him quail: grow up or cop out.

16 years ago, there was an occurrence of zombies in western Mexico. They rapidly spread around the world through the transmission of a virus. The world was thrown into panic with the appearance of the first zombies, but because their movements were slow and they were also feeble, zombies were not commonly perceived to be such a threat and their existence became an everyday affair. In Tamagawa ward in Japan, there is a special welfare division where all the defective staff members from other divisions have been transferred. The primary responsibilities of this division are to manage and capture special insurance subjects (residents carrying the zombie virus or zombified residents). Akaba Shinsuke is one such staff member, but he is in no way motivated. In his 25 years, he has had no one to call girlfriend and leads an uninspiring life. However, one day, a girl with the looks of an idol and skills of a martial artist is assigned as a rookie

Nine men and women in heaven become couples and soon find themselves back on Earth participating in the "Love Game." 

Harumi Hagiwara lands in the hospital after being involved in an accident. She hits it off with her nurse, Reiko Nishimura, and the two decide to move in together after she's discharged. However, Harumi begins to witness a series of mysterious events soon after noticing Reiko's strange behavior. Additionally, she fears for her own safety when Reiko starts referring to herself as 'Mari' as if she's become an entirely different person. Before long, the situation develops into a case of murder.

Based on the novel "Roommate" by Aya Imamura (published August, 1997 by Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.).

Muto (Jun Kunimura) and Ikegami (Shinichi Tsutsumi) are two gangsters who hate each other, but Ikegami is in love with Muto's actress daughter Michiko (Fumi Nikaido). Meanwhile, Muto attempts to make his wife Shizue's (Tomochika) dream come true which is to have their daughter appear in a movie.

Koji (Gen Hoshino), who is just a passerby, is mistaken for a movie director. Koji then requests to independent film director Hirata (Hiroki Hasegawa) to cast Michiko as the leading actress in his film. Their situation soon goes completely wrong.

1. Screenplay for "Why Don't You Play in Hell?" was first written by Sion Sono 15 years ago as an action film.

The film revolves around two men, Mutoh and Ikegami, who are fierce enemies who feel nothing but hatred for one another. However, Ikegami unexpectedly falls in love with Mutoh’s daughter, aspiring actress Mitsuko.

Mutoh wants to celebrate the release of his wife Shizue from prison by giving their daughter her debut, so he decides to produce his own movie specifically to that end.

Soon, a movie buff named Koji is hired to direct after being mistaken for a filmmaker and an actual indie film director named Hirata is recruited to help.

Complicating matters even further, Ikegami soon injects himself into the chaos of his hated rival’s production.

In a residential area, a man is murdered by another man, who broke his apartment. Sergeant Kizaki, who is working near the area, hears a gunshot and runs towards the apartment. Detective Omura already is at the scene of the crime.

During their investigation,they get closer to finding out the identity of the killer. Soon, Sergeant Kizaki feels someone is behind the case. A girl then steps out from the shadows. Sergeant Kizaki feels she is linked to the murders somehow.

Two prisoners managed to escape after the police truck carrying them crashed. One of them ,is a gangster. The other called "Otowa YonKo" - our protagonist - is a con artist whose cheats money from criminals or terrorists. Accidentally, "Otowa Yonko" then becomes the new teacher for the nearby high school, under the new name "Hachisuka Goro", and according to a deal of "Hammer Session" with the headmaster.

Adapted from the manga series "Hammer Session!" (ハンマーセッション!) written by Koganemaru Yamato (小金丸大和) and Yatsu Hiroyuki (八津弘幸) and illustrated by Tanahashi Namoshiro (棚橋なもしろ).