Asian Drama

The newest installment in Fuji TV's "Ooku" series is about the women linked to the Tokugawa shogun line. This time, the focus is on Isonomiya Tomoko and her political marriage to the 10th shogun, Tokugawa Ieharu.

Episodes: 10

Duration: 54 min.

Airs On: Thursday

While at sea, the loyal butler on a luxury cruise, Ubukata Suguru, and a mysterious woman named Banjaku Chizuru cross paths as they try to uncover a murder-mystery that occurs on the ship.

(Source: Variety)

Tanaka Kyoko is a 40-year-old OL, who works in the accounting department. She is excellent at her job. She has a modest appearance and doesn’t have a boyfriend, but she has a secret that nobody knows about. Her secret is that she performs as a sexy belly dancer. Every night, she belly dances in a glittering costume at a restaurant.

Meanwhile, Kurahashi Akari is a temp worker at the same company where Tanaka Kyoko is employed. Recently, she notices something has changed about Tanaka Kyoko and she is curious why. One evening, Kurahashi Akari visits a restaurant and is enthralled with the performance by exotic belly dancer Sali. The dancer's real name is Tanaka Kyoko.

(Source: AsianWiki)

Adapted from the manga series "Sexy Tanaka-san" (セクシー田中さん) by Ashihara Hinako (芦原妃名子).

Episodes: 10

Duration: 60 min.

Aired On: Sunday

Nakagawa Arisu is in the 3rd grade of high school and 18 years old. Her mother died when she was 11 years old. She has since lived with her father, who works as a firefighter. Having been influenced by her mother, Nakagawa Arisu has dreamed of becoming a curator who travels abroad often for work. But her life changes when she learns she is pregnant.

Meanwhile, Naruse Toko is about to turn 40 years old soon. She works in the art world as someone who connects art and business. Naruse Toko is dedicated to her work and she hasn't been in a romantic relationship for 10 years. Nakagawa Arisu and Naruse Toko, who are totally different people, happen to meet and their encounter changes their lives.

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About the friendship and love between 4 police officers working at a police station who each have their own problems. Shikahama Suzunosuke is suspended from work due to a mistake he made while Mabuchi Haruhi works at the general affairs department.

When Kirisawa Shogo was a high school student, he was a brilliant amateur boxer. He won 4 boxing tournaments and he seemed to have a bright future in the sport. During his university student days, he quit the sport of boxing. Life went on for Kirisawa Shogo. But, after his beloved wife died, has life has now become a total mess. He doesn't have any hope or desire to live. He just spends his days working part-time jobs to make a living. One day, his friend asks him to coach the boxing team at the high school where they attended. Kirisawa Shogo accepts the coaching position. Being around the young boxers, who work extremely hard, Kirisawa Shogo begins to feel alive once again.

Yasuo grew up as an orphan. He married a woman he loved and they had a son Akira. Yasuo's life seemed great at the time, but his life totally changed after his wife died in an accident. Since that time, Yasuo, who never experienced his parents' love himself, has to raise his son Akira alone.

Adapted from the novel "Kite" (とんび) by Shigematsu Kiyoshi (重松清).

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Fujiki Keisuke is a neurosurgeon, possessing vast medical knowledge and genius surgical skills. As a doctor, his mindset is that all people should be treated the same, even criminals. One day, Fujiki Keisuke's lover is murdered and he becomes the prime suspect. To find out the truth behind her death, Fujiki Keisuke becomes a fugitive. While on the run, he can't ignore the sick people who need help.

Adapted from a manga series "Touboui F" (逃亡医F) written by Izuki Keigo (伊月慶悟) and illustrated by Satou Makoto (佐藤マコト).

Yurina, a mystified high school girl, casually downloaded a mysterious app. Since then, whenever Yurina is in trouble, a silent, mysterious old man servant appears and helps her!

Adapted from the manga "Shimobee" (しもべえ) by Murata Hiroyuki (村田ひろゆき).

In Tokyo, a murderer leaves his signature, an `X`on the dead body. When found, the mark appears eerily similar to that of the one seen on the body of the dead wife of Detective Genji Ando. Banned from the investigation, he secretly reaches out to Jin Jinbo, an associate professor at the medical school`s genome analysis lab. Who better than a DNA expert to identify this potential serial killer?

Akira is the legendary killer known as the Fable. Following the order of his boss and due to being overworked, he lives peacefully with his partner Yoko as ordinary siblings. Akira still works part-time at design company Octopus with CEO Takoda and employee Misaki. CEO Takoda and Misaki are unaware of Akira's background as an assassin.

Meanwhile, Utsubo is a representative for an NPO. But, Utsubo works with contract killer Suzuki to set people up for extortion purposes. They target someone at design company Octopus.

The novelist Shiraishi Kiyoshi (Yasuda Ken) receives a letter from a mother who has a son with a stuttering problem. She asks Shiraishi in the letter if he would encourage her son to not be daunted by his stuttering. Shiraishi thinks about his own childhood and decides to talk to his editor Nomura (Fuma Kikuchi) about writing his personal story. Muroi (Fukikoshi Mitsuru), an editor who is Shiraishi’s senior, picks up on his intentions. Shiraishi has had a stuttering problem since his youth, particularly the “ka” and “ta” columns of syllables and even stumbled over his own name. He transferred schools a number of times due to his father Kenichi’s (Mashima Hidekazu) work and was laughed at by classmates each time he introduced himself. The strain of transferring schools got to him in the first grade of elementary school. Even when Shiraishi was asked by his mother Yoko (Kanjiya Shihori) what present he would like for Christmas, he could not pronounce the name of the game he wanted because it started with the letter “gi”. Unable to convey his feelings to friends and family in words, Shiraishi wished for friends who could talk about anything. He mistook the hymn Kiyoshi Kono Yoru, better known as Silent Night in English, as Kiyoshiko no Yoru and the imaginary Kiyoshiko was his ideal friend. However, in reality, his Christmas became a day of miserable memories. He eventually wrote about the frustrations that he suffered in Kiyoshiko. Besides the title Kiyoshiko, Shiraishi also wrote about his exchanges with the lonely Occhan (Chihara Seiji) in Donguri no Kokoro, and about his decision to leave both his family and the university student (Fukuchi Momoko) who liked him, for further studies in Tokyo and his departure for the metropolis in Tokyo. Even though he still stutters as an adult, he has a pleasant life with his wife Saori (Nishida Naomi).

A super big project commemorating the 25th anniversary of the formation of TEAM NACS and the 30th anniversary of wowow's opening. It was filmed in Hokkaido, the birthplace of TEAM NACS.

Tokino Mitani runs a watch shop, located on a street far from the downtown area. She is 20-years-old and inherited the watch shop from her grandfather. Unknown to most, she is also an excellent private detective and offers an alibi cracking service. She can crack someone's false alibi by using logic based on time and a watch. She gets payed 5,000 yen for that service.

Yoshiyuki Saji used to be an elite police officer, but he tried to uncover corruption within the police department. This caused Yoshiyuki Saji to receive a demotion to a police station in a rural city. He moves alone there, leaving behind his wife and child. He lives at a boarding house, where Tokino Mitani lives. Yoshiyuki Saji does not get along with the other detectives there. He struggles to solve a case and he hears about Tokino Mitani's ability as an alibi cracker. He doesn't want to ask for her help, because of his pride as a police officer, but he requests her help on a case.

Tokino Mitani runs a watch shop, located on a street far from the downtown area. She is 20-years-old and inherited the watch shop from her grandfather. Unknown to most, she is also an excellent private detective and offers an alibi cracking service. She can crack someone's false alibi by using logic based on time and a watch. She gets payed 5,000 yen for that service.

Yoshiyuki Saji used to be an elite police officer, but he tried to uncover corruption within the police department. This caused Yoshiyuki Saji to receive a demotion to a police station in a rural city. He moves alone there, leaving behind his wife and child. He lives at a boarding house, where Tokino Mitani lives. Yoshiyuki Saji does not get along with the other detectives there. He struggles to solve a case and he hears about Tokino Mitani's ability as an alibi cracker. He doesn't want to ask for her help, because of his pride as a police officer, but he requests her help on a case.

Kishibe Mitsuru is a 31-year-old single guy. After he graduated from a university, he became absorbed with coffee and opened up a business related to coffee. His business failed. Since then, Mitsuru has been unemployed and he hasn't even tried to find a new job. He lives with his mother, who runs a cafe. Mitsuru's comfortable days suddenly changes, because of his older sister and her family. His older sister's home is undergoing renovation and she moves her family into their mother's home temporarily. Mitsuru's older sister insists that he is avoiding reality with his current way of life. She also blames her mother for allowing Mitsuru to live in his current state. She pushes him to become independent.

A boy was trained to be a killer. Several years later, he is now an elite contract killer nicknamed 'Fable'. The man takes a year off from his job as an assassin in order to live like an ordinary person in Osaka.

The story is set during the high economic development time of the Showa period. Natsu lost her parents during the war so she moves to the Tokachi region in Hokkaido with her foster father who is a dairy farmer. While growing up, Natsu meets a boy at primary school who draws a very beautiful picture of a horse so she becomes interested in animated movies. Upon graduating from senior high school, Natsu moves to Tokyo and joins the budding animation industry in order to fulfill her dream of becoming an animator.

A woman’s dead body is found in an apartment in Kokubunji, Tokyo. The decayed body seems like a half year has passed since its death and it is damaged by domestic cats that ate the body. The woman's death is thought to be a "lonely death" (someone died naturally without anyone noticing for a long period of time). Detective Ayano has doubts about that conclusion. The cats seemed like they were not house trained, which is odd for domestic cats. Detective Ayano wonders whether the cats were really owned by the dead woman. Detective Ayano then finds Suzuki Yoko’s bankbook in an empty fishbowl. It seems like the dead woman is 36-year-old Yoko.

Tachibana Haruka is a rookie nurse with a bright personality. Mihara Natsumi is 34-year-old veteran nurse. She is struggling at work and with her love life. While Tachibana Haruka and Mihara Natsumi work as nurses at a place that deals with life and death, they laugh and cry. The two women grow as persons in the process.

The film centers on Iwao Shishido, who at age forty suddenly leaves his rural village, but returns with a foreign bride during his father's funeral.

This is adapted by director Keisuke Yoshida from Hideki Arai’s 1990s manga series with the same title.

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.

For the past 2 years, Prosecutor Takemura Ririko has worked in the Yokohama District Public Prosecutor’s Office. Ririko, who is a hard worker and has a strong sense of justice, is not good at her job. Ririko grows as a prosecutor and a woman after being in charge of multiple cases.

Shikata Atsushi, Tadokoro Keita, and Kawabata Satoshi spent their childhood days as friends. As adults, they meet again due to a murder case. Atsushi works as a detective, Keita is a suspect and Satoshi is a victim. As they come face to face with the truth of the murder case, they must also confront their detested past, sealed within their minds until now.

Shikata Atsushi, Tadokoro Keita, and Kawabata Satoshi spent their childhood days as friends. As adults, they meet again due to a murder case. Atsushi works as a detective, Keita is a suspect and Satoshi is a victim. As they come face to face with the truth of the murder case, they must also confront their detested past, sealed within their minds until now.

A love story nurtured by a high school girl named Okamura Ninon who fell in love with the handsome boy, Kira Yuiji. Having been bullied in the past, Ninon finds it difficult to engage with other people, therefore she keeps her bangs long and maintains a safe distance from her surroundings. Ninon was being ridiculed for her love of birds and to her defense came Kira, the most handsome and popular boy in class. Everyone admires Kira, yet nobody knew he felt lonely and was suffering from a heart disease. Ninon learned about the secret and promises that she'll stay by Kira's side for the remaining year of his life. Ninon together with Kira's friends, Kazuhiro Yabe and Yahagi Rei, they form a bond of friendship making Kira's remaining 365 days bright and meaningful.

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.

When Koichi was nine years old, his father was accused of killing his mother and younger sibling, before committing suicide. In reality, Koichi's father was framed, and Koichi saw the person who killed his family. However, the police didn't believe his testimony, and his relatives called him a liar. He never gave up his story, though, and so grew up with the nickname "Usotsuki" (Liar).

Eventually, Koichi moved overseas and changed his name, becoming a professional swindler. One day, Koichi finally meets his family's killer again. He then returns to Japan to take his revenge.

After Sugihara Oto’s mother passed away when she was young, she was raised by adoptive parents in the Hokkaido countryside. Although she gave up having dreams, she lives cheerfully and bravely. But she is troubled by her adoptive parents attempts to force her into a marriage with a wealthy man 20 years her senior to save the family from poverty. Soda Ren lost his parents early and was brought up in the great outdoors in Fukushima by his grandfather. However, his grandfather gets swindled and Ren leaves for Tokyo in order to earn money to recover the farmland. He dreams that he will be able to live with his grandfather some day, but reality is harsh. By coincidence, Oto heads to Tokyo too. This is the story of love and growth of six young people from the rural areas who gather in Tokyo.

Tsukuda Kohei, a man who gives up his career as a researcher to succeed his father's manufacturing factory strives with his workers to overcome the troubles and pursue their passion in manufacturing. Though Kohei quits research at the Space Science Development Agency to succeed Tsukuda Manufacturing, he cannot leave behind his passion for developing rocket. The cost for developing rocket engine has put Kohei's company in serious financial trouble. While he scrambles for funds, their rival company - Nakashima Industrial - sues Tsukuda Manufacturing for patent infringement. The company's reputation soon goes down and banks refuse to finance them, but then one of the leading companies in Japan, Teikoku Heavy Industries, offers to buy a Tsukuda's patent for 2 billion yen. Although the company is heavily in debt and desperately needs the cash, the patent is what the engineers put their dreams. Kohei - a president who is responsible for the living of his workers - faces a difficult judgement to make.

Edawakare (Takenouchi Yutaka) is the driver of Sentaxi, a marvellous vehicle which is able to take a passenger back to his or her “life’s turning point”. His cool appearance is at odds with his talkative, meddlesome, sweet-toothed character. He gives advice to passengers who are flustered after failing in their life’s choice. (jdramas)

After receiving a cosmic blast while masturbating, a virginal teenager gains psychic powers and joins a group of ESP virgins in order to defend the world from evil psychics.

(Source: IMDb)

Adapted from the popular manga, this drama is set in the town of Higashimikawa in the prefecture of Ehime and is about Kamogawa Yoshiro, an average teenager, with no special talents nor outstanding abilities. Until one day, he could suddenly hear other people's thoughts. He could tell that Hayashi-sensei harbors some ulterior motive when it comes to dealing with the new transfer student, Asami Sae. Yoshiro admires Asami, and thus with his newfound powers, he intends to protect her from Hayashi sensei. With that "I shall protect you" thought, came another, "I shall save the world!". Later that day, at the Cafe where he often hangs out, he realises that his childhood friend, Hirano Miyuki, and the Cafe owner, Nagano Terumitsu, have also acquired new powers. Meanwhile, upon hearing the news of how many townspeople are suddenly acquiring special powers, the mysterious teacher and his assistant decide to move to the town of Higashimikawa...

Kudo Sayaka is a 2nd grade high school student. She is a gal who wears miniskirts and has her hair dyed blonde. Even though she is a high school student, her actual academic grade level is on par with 4th grade elementary school students. During the summer, Sayaka attends a private institution. There, she meets Teacher Tsubota. Besides her mother, Teacher Tsubota is the first adult to praise her. Sayaka begins to change.

High school student Kyosuke Shikijo (Ryohei Suzuki) is the most talented member of the school's martial arts of the fist club. His late father was detective and Kyosuke share his father's strong sense of justice. Kyosuke also has a secret. Kyosuke likes to wear female underwear and transforms himself into the alter ego "Pervert Mask," wearing female underwear and gaining superhuman powers. This unusual interest also comes from his parents, with his father a masochist and his mother a sadist. By chance, Kyosuke gets the underwear of female high school student Aiko Himeno's (Fumika Shimizu). With her underwear, he gains various pervert techniques and attempts to protect Aiko from a dirty and heinous teacher (Ken Yasuda).

Mie’s father died during the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. One day, she finds a bundle of unsent New Year’s cards, which languished there for 28 years. To find out why the cards were never sent, Mie tracks down Haruhiko Sakacho. Haruhiko played on the same high school baseball team with her father. Mie eventually gathers together her father's former teammates to play in the Masters Koshien (a senior league baseball tournament). Mie also uncovers a truth about her father and the baseball team. ~~ Based on the novel "Kiroi Jou" by Kiyoshi Shigematsu.

Tanaka Tamako had been working for a male-dominated restaurant business but was betrayed by her boyfriend who was hired as the chef. In addition, she is taken to the police as a result of an incident she caused because her friend Fujimura Satsuki was subjected to sexual harassment. Tamako resigns from her unreasonable company and starts a bistro selling homemade pot-au-feu on a rooftop in an alley in Jingumae, Tokyo. This is the story of females who are labelled “write-offs” and the restaurant they have established in order for them to get out from life’s abyss. They battle difficulties and search for ways to change their lives as they experience the joys of work. This is a problem restaurant because they are all females with problems, but it is certainly not lousy. The women who have a common enemy – men, and the restaurant unites them in a fight to the death.

Tokura Wataru works in Tokyo for a TV shopping program. After getting on the bad side of the show's charismatic presenter, "Antarctic Ice", he gets transferred to a rural call center. Waiting for him is Aoyama Kyoko, nicknamed the "queen of complaints" for her expert ability at handling unsatisfied customers. Unsettled by this call center that seems to have no regard for the rules, he begins working on a plan to return to the main office in Tokyo. Though at first he struggles in his new position he soon finds love in his work.

Set in the early 1980's, Moyuru (Yuya Yagira) is a student at an art school in Osaka. He is full of passion and desire in his pursuit to become a manga writer. He also doesn't lack confidence in his abilities. Morinaga Tonko (Yamamoto Mizuki) is Honoo's senior at school and the manager of the badminton team which Honoo belongs to. Right before summer vacation, Moyuru makes a decision. He decides to take his manga manuscripts to a publishing company in Tokyo.

The story is set in Asia in 2020 when West and East cultures are mixed in confusion. A young girl Genpou Shiori is a descendant of the the Phantomhive noble family. Shiori runs a large enterprise, Funtom Company, and she disguises herself in male attire, naming herself “Kiyoharu”. The family only allows males to be the head of the family, and they have also been tasked with the duty to solve difficult cases that happen in the underbelly of society by order of the queen. In order to get revenge, she gave up her life as a woman and made a contract with the demon butler, Sebastian Michaelis, in which Sebastian protects Shiori until she completes her revenge in exchange for devouring her soul.

The story deals with a hospital in a village, which is run by Sakuranomiya family. The hospital does mainly end-of-life care. The residents there place their full confidence in the hospital.

One day, a radiologist at the hospital disappears with one CT. What did the radiologist try to discover and what is the secret the family tries to keep secret about the hospital?

Adapted from the novel series "Team Batista" (チーム・バチスタシリーズ ) by Kaido Takeru (海堂尊).

Maiko Osawa learns that her father died in Hokkaido, while on a business trip. She feels like a distant relative died, because her father did not spend much time with his family. During her father's funeral, Maiko is surprised when she learns of her father's secret.

Maiko and her family knew Maiko's father worked as the boss in the sales department of a large bakery company and was enthusiastic about his job. What they didn't know is that a fellow worker held a grudge against her father and her father was in heavy debt. Two detectives from Hokkaido arrive. Was her father murdered?

The drama focuses on 45-year-old Tsuboi Ryota, the coordinator of a large CM company who is receiving a request from one of their clients to change some parts of their new CM. However, he’s unable to really explain to the director what changes should be made exactly. At the same time, he receives a call from his older sister, who tells him that his father has collapsed while golfing in Nagano and that he was admitted to a local hospital. In a hurry, Ryouta decides to go to Nagano, his birthplace.

Tsuboi Ryota is a good man. Nobody can really hate him, which is why the coordinator between his company and their clients seems like the perfect job for him. However, he frequently finds himself stuck in a dilemma, whether that’s between his wife and his daughter, his older sister and their mother, or his family and work in general.

Adding some mysterious, almost fantastical elements to this family drama are Miyazaki as a puzzling young woman Ryota happens to meet at the hospital and Natsuyagi as his father who strongly believes in the existence of a tiny fairy-like race called the ‘Kuna’.

Episodes: 10

Asagi Serina is a housewife who loves her husband, Takefumi, to the extent that she would not mind being his shadow. However, his response to her excessive devotion is to attempt to avoid her “burdensome”, “gross” expression of love. With a wife's naivety, she refuses to suspect her husband of infidelity, and initially gets frustrated. One day, with the help of her good friend, Motoko (Ashina Sei), Serina goes out for a meal with the men at the publishing company where Motoko works. The moment a man in the group makes a move on her, it is captured on film by the sleuth, Jinnai Haruki (Kiritani Kenta). Not wanting her husband to see the photograph, Serina starts working at Jinnai's detective agency as an assistant. This ordinary, bumbling housewife grows stronger and improves her self-confidence through the skills she hones. Serina wants to support and help her husband instead of flaunting her new self to him because he is having a hard time. Aware of the problem that happened to her husband because of her over positivity, she sets about trying to solve it. ~ Jdrama Weblog

When a mysterious plague spreads ancient Japan, a pure young man named Yoshihiko (Takayuki Yamada) is chosen to save his village. He sets out with his friends to find a legendary plant to stop the plague and also find his father who never returned after embarking on the same journey.

A former psychologist, who has the ability to recognizes lies through behaviour and mimic, now works as a detective. He uses his ability for solving difficult cases.