Official Website
www4.nhk.or.jp/P5850

Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Sundays, 2 June 2019

Network
NHK BS Premium

Story
Asahina Motoko is a 23-year-old graduate student who is majoring in German literature. She has never been in love and cannot fit in with other students who discuss romance because of her serious personality. As a result, she privately feels a sense of inferiority. One day, a professor called Sakaki Ikuo tells her that her Japanese is exquisite. From that moment, Motoko starts to develop feelings for Sakaki who is 41 years her senior. She wonders if this feeling is love and attempts to analyse her emotions. When she informs Professor Sakaki that this feeling is perhaps romance, he concludes that she got the wrong idea. However, he grows in significance to Motoko who has no experience to know whether this is love. Meanwhile, Motoko and other students go for a training camp at the university’s seminar house. Motoko falls into the lake and is rescued by Professor Sakaki’s assistant Tanaka Ren. Her friend Tomioka Juri who has feelings for Tanaka, gets jealous. All sorts of heartrending emotions get intertwined and Motoko tries to firmly tell Professor Sakaki how she feels … …

Characters
Hashimoto Ai as Asahina Motoko
A student who is studying German literature in graduate school. She always dresses in black because she is convinced that she does not look good in pretty clothes. She constantly tries to be sensible because of her grandfather’s teachings. She has feelings for Professor Sakaki Ikuo and attempts to search for the definition of love.

Kudo Asuka as Tanaka Ren
Professor Sakaki Ikuo’s assistant. Although he knows that Asahina Motoko has special feelings for Professor Sakaki, he cannot help but be secretly in love with her.

Nakamura Yurika as Tomioka Juri
A graduate student and Asahina Motoko’s friend. Unlike Motoko, she wears pretty clothes. She is secretly in love with Tanaka Ren.

Nishida Naomi as Asahina Yoshiko
Asahina Motoko’s mother. She is divorced. She raised Motoko while working as a nurse.

Saito Yuki as Asagiri Midori
Professor Sakaki Ikuo’s ex-wife. A researcher in German dance, she has even written essays and novels.

Tanaka Min as Sakaki Ikuo
A university professor who is an authority in German literature and also a leading translator. He is a man whom Asahina Motoko respects. He cares about Motoko who has been putting great effort into studying German. He curtly tells Motoko that her affections are not love, but … …

Scriptwriters
Arai Shuko (Pretty ga Oosugiru, Tsubaki Bunguten, Mother Game)
Obayashi Rieko (Inochi Urimasu, Karikare, Kuro no Onna Kyoushi)

Click here for photos from the press conference.

© jdramas.wordpress.com.

Official Website
www.fujitv.co.jp/kimyo

Broadcast
From 9.00 p.m., 8 June 2018

Eien no Hero
Story: With the advances in science, the world has developed cyborg technology that draws from the best in human abilities. Monsters abuse this technology, threatening the lives and safety of citizens. In response to this emergency situation, the Japanese government sets up an office within the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. A hero suit is created using the latest technology to deal with them. One of the men in this office is Inspector Oba Hiroto (Go Hiromi), who has arrested the most number of monsters. He fights off all sorts of and protect world peace. However, he is too busy with work and hardly has time to meet his precious daughter Aki (Kamishiraishi Mone), and gets through each day with just video chats. He thinks that he will be able to live a sedate life with his daughter next year when he retires. However, the police receives a terror threat from a mysterious person called Master Kaiser which shakes up the world … …
Cast: Go Hiromi, Kamishiraishi Mone, Murasugi Seminosuke, Kamio Yu, Morita Kanro, Kimoto Yuki

Shirazu Mori
Story: Haruko (Yoshida Yo) has fallen out with her workaholic husband who neglected the family, and returns to her parents’ home with her son Naoyuki (Takahashi Rai) in tow. She attends an elementary school reunion where she reminisces about her childhood. Haruko decides to dig up the time capsule she had buried 30 years earlier although she has completely no recollection of what she put inside. As she takes the time capsule home with her together with Naoyuki, she remembers the forest that she often played at in the past. When she enters this nostalgic place with Naoyuki, he slips and disappears. All that is left in the forest is his cap and the time capsule that she had dug out just now. Haruko desperately searches for Naoyuki with her husband but they cannot find him at all. Meanwhile, when she tries to open the time capsule, there is something unbelievable inside … …
Cast: Yoshida Yo, Hasegawa Tomoharu, Takahashi Rai, Hirasawa Kokoro, Hirooka Yuriko, Nashimoto Kenjiro

Ningen no Tane
Story: Haruta Midori (Kimura Fumino) is an ordinary office lady who works for a design company. Her boyfriend of more than three years has proposed to her, but she cannot give him a reply. There is no one she can confide her troubles in. As Midori makes her way home one night, she impulsively buys seeds called “seeds of happiness”. Then one evening, Midori notices something protruding out from the soil of the flower bed where the seeds were planted. When she takes a closer look, she realises that it’s a child’s hand. She gingerly digs the soil and discovers a human head. This head that has grown from the sprout is Nozomi (Awano Sari), a young girl in a white dress. This mysterious girl wipes off the soil as she picks up a family photo in the living room. “Who are you?” Midori asks. Nozomi replies, “I’m your mother. You planted the seeds, didn’t you?” When Midori casually looks at the bag holding the seeds, she notices the words, “The flowers essential to you will bloom. Type of flower: human” written on it. She is astonished. Nozomi proceeds to say things that only her mother would know. She even stands in the kitchen and starts to make Midori’s favourite cabbage roll. This is the beginning of a queer life between Midori and her mother Nozomi, but … …
Cast: Kimura Fumino, Awano Sari, Yamada Anna, Okamoto Rei, Kasahara Hideyuki

Sakasama Shoujo no Tame no Piano Sonata
Story: Kuroki (Tamamori Yuta) attends the piano faculty at a music college. Even though he has taken a shot at music competitions, he has not achieved good results. He mopes that he that not have talent unlike his classmate Yoshino (Kuroshima Yuina) who has demonstrated her flair for music. One day, Kuroki discovers an unfamiliar second-hand bookstore on a dimly lit street. He drops in and an old collection of music scores in German catches his attention. He is drawn by something on a music score with dark brown smudges which falls out from the set and tries to translate the German words written in the margin. It reads “A piano sonata for an upside down girl” “Never play it”. Kuroki is intrigued and starts search for information on the sonata. He lands on a website that warns of the loss of hands if this piece is not played correctly. His friend Noshita (Ouchida Yuhei) snorts with laughter but Kuroki is so curious about this music score that he decides to take a crack at it. When he starts playing, all the sounds around him suddenly disappear and he is only able to hear the notes of the piano. When he looks up, he realises that even the rain outside, the metronome and the second hand of the clock on the wall have stopped. This is the prologue to the tragedy surrounding a girl gifted in piano.
Cast: Tamamori Yuta, Kuroshima Yuina, Ouchida Yuhei

Daikonzamurai
Story: Tachikawa Itsuki (Hamabe Minami) is a high school girl who is the manager of the school’s basketball club. She holds a shopping bag with a white radish inside and walks excitedly to make simmered yellowtail and daikon which is the favourite of Hagiyama Kakeru (Inoue Mizuki), the senior whom she adores, and ends up colliding with a man (Kote Shinya) who is passing by. This man is dressed like a wandering samurai and wears a white radish at his waist like a sword. Itsuki feels suspicious and tries to leave. But the man slashes with the white radish all of a sudden. Despite Itsuki’s attempt to dodge, the tip of the white radish brushes her arm and she bleeds. Itsuki panics and pleads for her life as if in supplication. The man says they will have a duel one month later, which makes no sense to her. After he finds the photo of Hagiyama in Itsuki’s student handbook, he threatens to slash Hagiyama if she flees and tells her to hone her skills well and leaves. While Itsuki is in a daze, she hears an old man ask if she would like to be his disciple. This old man also wears a white radish at his waist. He tells her, “If you take my instructions, you’ll definitely beat that man!” Itsuki is doubtful but begins to train in using vegetables as weapons under the old man … …
Cast: Hamabe Minami, Kote Shinya, Inoue Mizuki, Kubo Chukichi

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Eru^*UPDATED*
Date: Spring 2020
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Hayashi Koji (Headhunter, Sniffer Series, Cold Case Season 1)
Cast: Kubota Masataka, Nikaido Fumi
Synopsis: In 1909, a long-awaited baby boy was born to a family which has run a dry goods store for generations in Fukushima Prefecture. He would later become the talented composer Koyama Yuichi (Kubota Masataka) who wrote many famous songs. Although Yuichi was brought up as the heir of the business, he was rather dreamy and considered a child with no redeeming traits by the people around him. However, when he encountered music, it sparked joy and unleashed his gift in composing music through self-study. As a youth, Yuichi secretly put his name down for an overseas songwriting competition. This would change his destiny. He won runner-up for the song he entered for the competition. As a result, he got to know Sekiuchi Oto (Nikaido Fumi), a female student who wanted to be a singer. Despite the long distance between them – Fukushima and Toyohashi – they tied the knot. When Yuichi and Oto came to Tokyo, they met all sorts of people and weathered a dark period to produce a number of hit songs. However, war broke out and Yuichi had to compose wartime songs at the army’s request. It pained him that young men died in battle after singing the songs he had written. After the war, the country began to recover amid the chaos. The couple made a new era of music in an attempt to encourage the wounded through the power of music.
Website: –

Hanzawa Naoki Season 2
Date: From 9.00 p.m., Sundays, April 2020
Network: TBS
Scriptwriter: Ushio Kentaro (Shitamachi Rocket Season 2, Black Pean, Chiisana Kyojin)
Original Works: Lost Generation no Gyakushuu and Ginyoku no Icarus by Ikeido Jun
Cast: Sakai Masato
Synopsis: Hanzawa Naoki (Sakai Masato) is seconded from Tokyo Chuo Banking Corporation to Tokyo Central Securities.
Website: –
Related: Hanzawa Naoki Season 1

© jdramas.wordpress.com.

Official Website
mirror-twins.com

Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Saturdays, 8 June 2019 (continues from Season 1)

Network
WOWOW

Story
The acts of revenge are believed to have ended with the suicide of Katsuragi Yugo, the older twin brother Keigo, a detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigation Division. However, one year later, Jinnai Gen, a former management consultant who was arrested for mediating in a bribe from a major construction company to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in a bid-rigging case, is murdered by someone after his release. Keigo and Minagawa Kosaku from Midorisaka Police Precinct investigate this case. Meanwhile, the grandson of Kobayakawa Shotaro, a lawmaker of the Lower House, is kidnapped. Kobayakawa is rumoured to be the next leader of his party and this comes just as he was receiving numerous threats of death. Keigo is designated to negotiate with the kidnapper who demands that the he bring the same amount of ransom money in the same way to the same place for the handover as when Yugo was abducted 21 years ago. Keigo is convinced that this is a copycat criminal. There appears to be no connection between these two cases but the truth is hidden from sight.

Characters
Fujigaya Taisuke as Katsuragi Keigo/Yugo
Katsuragi Keigo: A detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigative Division. He is a serious and stoic man who puts his career first. He became a detective in order to reveal the truth of the kidnapping case involving his older brother Yugo 21 years ago. While investigating the murder of a former management consultant Jinnai Gen one year after Yugo committed suicide, he is made the negotiator in a copycat kidnapping case.

Katsuragi Yugo: Katsuragi Keigo’s older twin brother. The victim of a kidnapping case that happened 21 years ago. After taking revenge on all the people who ruined his life, he is believed to have shouldered all the crimes and committed suicide… …

Kurashina Kana as Yoshizaki Eiri
Katsuragi Yugo’s ex-girlfriend and collaborator. She does not know her biological parents and got through life only believing in him. Yugo had saved her from abuse as a child and they were always together after that. She had initiated contact with his younger twin, Keigo, in order to help with his revenge. Because Yugo means everything to her, she cannot accept his suicide. One year later, she meets Keigo again. He informs her about her birth mother and she wavers over whether she should meet her.

Watanabe Dai as Akagi Katsuhiko
A detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s First Investigative Division. He sees Katsuragi Keigo as his rival but afterp the spate of cases, he now trusts Keigo as a like-minded police officer. Because he started out as an inspector, he is the type of rigid bureaucrat who is proud of his profession. He is the officer in charge of investigating the kidnapping of Kobayakawa Shoji’s son.

Satoi Kenta as Katsuragi Eiichi
The father of Katsuragi Keigo and Yugo. He died in a freak accident while driving right after he appeared on a television programme one year ago to call for information on Yugo, who has been missing ever since he was kidnapped, and offer 100 million yen of his own personal wealth as a reward. When he was alive, he had served as the chairman of Kobayakawa Shotaro’s supporters’ association. He learnt that Minagawa Kosaku is the biological father of his twins in the wake of Yugo’s kidnapping, and has complete faith in him.

Takahashi Katsunori as Minagawa Kosaku
A detective of Midorisaka Police Precinct. Rank: Assistant Inspector. The biological father of Katsuragi Keigo and Yugo. He was in charge of Yugo’s kidnapping case 20 years ago. However, case remained unsolved when it reached the statue of limitation. He believes it was Yugo’s desire for revenge against the criminals that saved him in the years since the kidnapping case, and has been assisting Yugo from a young age. This causes him and Keigo to grow apart when Keigo learns about all of this. Meanwhile, he secretly pursues a case … …

Nakamura Shunsuke as Kobayakawa Shoji
A lawmaker of the Lower House and a member of the political party, Sominto. Kobayakawa Shotaro‘s son. Before he became a lawmaker, he served as his father’s secretary. He constantly puts the Kobayakawa family’s well-being first.

Furuya Ikkou as Kobayakawa Shotaro
A lawmaker of the Lower House and a member of the political party, Sominto. He has held the portfolios of Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology as well as Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and is regarded as the next leader. Because of that, he has received death threats and is searching for full-time security. Meanwhile, his grandson Naoto is kidnapped. He has faith in Katsuragi Keigo who is investigating the case. He has a past which he cannot forget.

Miyazaki Yoshiko as Asuma Kotono
The proprietress of Asuma Ryokan. The older sister of Yoshizaki Eiri’s birth mother Asuma Ayano. She meets her niece, Eiri, for the first time and generously accepts her.

Scriptwriter
Takahashi Yuya (Hi no Ko, Angel Heart, Tenshi to Akuma)

Click here for photos from the press conference.

Related Post:

• Mirror Twins Season 1
• Mirror Twins CM

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Official Website
www.ntv.co.jp/anaban

Broadcast
From 10.30 p.m., Sundays, 14 April 2019 (for two seasons)

Network
NTV

Story
Tezuka Nana and Shota have recently married despite their 15-year age gap. The happy newlyweds move into an apartment near the Sumida River in Tokyo. Nana is a designer of sportswear. She was pursued by sports gym trainer Shota whom she met through work. What they share in common is a love of mysteries. Seeing the close families and couples, they imagine a bright and happy future for themselves. However, the fates of Nana and Shota are rocked by a residents meeting that Nana attends with Kusumi Yuzuru of unit 101, Tamiya Junichiro of unit 103, Ishizaki Yoko of unit 104, Ukita Keisuke of unit 201, Kuroshima Sawa of unit 202, Xinyi of unit 203, Ono Mikiha of unit 301, Kitagawa Sumika of unit 304, Enomoto Sanae of unit 402, Fujii Atsushi of unit 403, Akaike Misato of unit 502 and Tokoshima Hiroshi who is the building manager. The agenda for the meeting is to determine the cleaners for the garbage collection point. However, no one wants to volunteer for this job and they end up deciding by votes. Then Tokoshima starts to say “Each one of us has had a moment when we thought we’d like a fellow dead” out of the blue. The residents are stunned but they begin to talk about the people they have wanted to eliminate. When Nana comments that arrests will be made quickly in murder cases because the police will investigate people with motives, the conversation heads in an unexpected direction. If people have someone they want to kill and they “swap murders” with others who share the same idea, there will not only be no motive but also no arrest. The residents of the apartment building start dying around them after this meeting. Those with motives to kill have alibis and the murderers cannot be arrested in any of the cases. The riddle lies in a game that the residents are playing among themselves. 13 of them wrote down the people they want to kill for offending them and started this murder game where these slips of paper are randomly drawn. At first, it was something that none of them took seriously. Then the people whose names were written started getting killed one after another and another threatening note is delivered with the warning, “You are next”. There is no turning back even if they have regrets.

Characters
Harada Tomoyo as Tezuka Nana
A designer of sports wear who stays at unit 302 and works from home. She met her husband Shota through work and they got married despite their 15-year age gap. She is a kind and dependable wife. She is the indoor type and an avid reader who loves mysteries.

Tanaka Kei as Tezuka Shota
Tezuka Nana’s husband and a resident of unit 302. He is a sports gym instructor who adores his wife like a puppy adores its owner. He is good-natured and seems all brawn and no brain.

Nishino Nanase as Kuroshima Sawa
A university student in a science course. She stays at unit 202. She has a quiet personality and always seems to have bruises on her body.

Takenaka Naoto as Tokoshima Hiroshi
The apartment’s building manager who lives nearby. He is impudent and bossy person and cannot read situations.

Kimura Tae as Enomoto Sanae
The chairwoman of the residents council who stays at unit 402. A full-time housewife who lives with her husband Masashi who is a police officer. She has a rather passive but cheerful personality. She becomes friendly with Tezuka Nana.

Namase Katsuhisa as Tamiya Junichiro
A former banker who retired early. He stays at unit 103 with his wife Kimiko. He is inflexible because he is too serious.

Nao as Ono Mikiha
A single young woman who stays at unit 301. She works for a home delivery service and loves organic things.

Mikura Kana as Ishizaki Yoko
A housewife who stays at unit 104. She lives her husband Kenji who works for the ward office, and their two children. She is active in her children’s education

Kanazawa Miho as Xinyi
A foreign student from China who stays at unit 203 with two other foreigners. She works part-time at a restaurant that serves Bhutanese cuisine in the neighborhood.

Hakamada Yoshihiko as Kusumi Yuzuru
A bachelor who stays at unit 101. He is company employee and the type who is easily swayed but has a good heart.

Katagiri Jin as Fujii Atsushi
A bachelor who stays at unit 403. He is a doctor at a university hospital’s orthopedic surgery unit. He badly wants to get married but is unpopular.

Matobu Sei as Kitagawa Sumika
A single mother who stays at unit 304. She is a radio personality. She tends to neglect her 5-year-old son Sora because she is busy with work.

Tanaka Yoji as Ukita Keisuke
An underling in a gang. He stays at unit 201 and is the type who is reasonable.

Minemura Rie as Akaike Misato
A full-time housewife who stays at unit 502 with her husband Goro and elderly mother-in-law Sachiko. She has been devotedly caring for Sachiko but … …

Scriptwriter
Fukuhara Mitsunori (Gokudo Meshi, Makanai-sou Series)

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Kirin ga Kuru^*UPDATED*
Date: January 2020
Station: NHK
Scriptwriter: Ikehata Shunsaku (Soroban Samurai Kaze no Ichibei, Natsume Soseki no Tsuma, Kamogawa Shokudo)
Genre: Period
Cast: Hasegawa Hiroki, Kadowaki Mugi, Okamura Takashi, Ishikawa Sayuri, Nishimura Masahiko, Takahashi Katsunori, Uesugi Shozo, Omi Toshinori, Ito Hideaki, Sawajiri Erika, Sometani Shota, Sakai Masaaki, Motoki Masahiro, Kimura Fumino, Minami Kaho, Murata Takehiro, Tokushige Satoshi, Kataoka Ainosuke, Dan Rei, Sasaki Kuranosuke, Takito Kenichi, Tanihara Shosuke, Mashima Hidekazu, Yoshida Kotaro, Ichikawa Ebizo (narrator)
Synopsis: After the Onin War, the world is plunged into chaos. Amid this situation, heroes of the warring states begin to emerge in an attempt to unify the country and rule in these turbulent times. In the mid-1540s, there is a young wandering samurai in Mino which is strategically located between the East and West. His name is Akechi Mitsuhide (Hasegawa Hiroki). At this time, there is plenty of internal strife within the Toki clan which rules Mino. Surrounded by the Oda of Owari, the Imagawa of Suruga and the Asakura of Echizen, Mino has constantly faced the risk of invasion. Mitsuhide is pulled into battle and destroys the enemy. His bravery as well as stratagem catches the attention of Saito Toshimasa, the chief retainer of the Toki clan, and he is singled out. This man who is also known as Saito Dosan (Motoki Masahiro) will go on to takeover the Toki and make Mino his own.
Website: –

Official Website
www.wowow.co.jp/dramaw/kaminote

Broadcast
From 10.00 p.m., Sundays, 23 June 2019

Network
WOWOW

Story
21-year-old Furubayashi Shotaro comes to the skilled surgeon Shirakawa Yasuo for an examination. He is diagnosed with cancer of the anus and discharged from hospital after surgery. However, he finds out that the cancer has spread several months later. As the cancer gets progressively worse, it causes unbearable pain. There is no hope that he will recover. Shotaro’s aunt Akiko, who has been nursing him, is also emotionally drained and pleads with Shirakawa to administer euthanasia. Shirakawa rejects this and tries every possible means to treat Shotaro. But there is nothing that can be done. He eventually makes the agonising decision to euthanise the young man. However, when Shotaro’s mother Yasuyo, who is a journalist, learns about her son’s death, she brings a charge against Shirakawa. Was Shirakawa’s actions murder or manslaughter? While this becomes the talk of the town for consecutive days, it makes the legalisation of euthanasia, which had already been debated, seem very real. Behind the scene are groups seeking to pass a bill legalising euthanasia and drastic medical reforms, doctors opposed to mercy killing and Yasuyo who plans to make use of the mass media to block the bill. Shirakawa soon gets engulfed this torrent.

Characters
Shiina Kippei as Shirakawa Yasuo
The head of the Department of Surgery at Musashino General Medical Centre. A gastroenterologist with great skills. His patients have strong faith in him. He makes the agonising decision to administer euthanasia for his 21-year-old patient Furubayashi Shotaro.

Sugimoto Tetta as Yamana Keisuke
A doctor with the Department of Surgery at Musashino General Medical Centre. A plastic surgeon who is Shirakawa Yasuo’s colleague. He is unhappy with the current medical system and joins Jamo.

Suzuki Sawa as Furubayashi Yasuyo
Furubayashi Shotaro’s mother. A journalist who has influence on the media. She brings a charge against Shirakawa Yasuo for Shotaro’s euthanasia.

Kitamura Yukiya as Niimi Sadakazu
The chairman of Jamo and a heart surgeon. He set up Jamo with the objective of reforming the health service and takes in doctors including Yamana Keisuke.

Hoshino Mari as Motomura Yukie
A nurse who works for Yokohama Nanbu Municipal Hospital. She used to worked under Shirakawa Yasuo and understands him well. She gives an anguished Shirakawa advice.

Ashina Sei as Shibaki Kaori
The deputy chairman of Jamo. A freelance anaesthetist. She assists chairman Niimi Sadakazu at Jamo and becomes his right-hand person.

Hayama Shono as Furubayashi Shotaro
A patient with terminal cancer. He has cancer of the anus and dies at the young age of 21.

Inoue Hajime as Otsuka Akihiko
A doctor at Tokyo Mitabashi Hospital. He sets up a group called Soshiren to oppose legalising euthanasia.

Sakai Maki as Furubayashi Akiko
Furubayashi Shotaro’s aunt, and Yasuyo’s older sister. She cannot stand to see Shotaro suffer and pleads for Shirakawa Yasuo to euthanise him.

Kondo Masaomi as Sadohara Kazuma
A former prime minister. He remains an powerful figure even though he has retired from politics. He is the person responsible for Jamo, a group that champions euthanasia.

Scriptwriter
Tanaka Hiroshi (Yokokuhan)

Original Work
Kami no Te by Kusakabe Yo

Related Post:

• Kami no Te Teaser

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Date: From 8.00 p.m., 27 July 2019
Scriptwriters: Manabe Chiaki (Shitsuji Saionji no Meisuiri Series, Kasouken no Onna Seasons 15 – 18, Iryu Sousa Seasons 4 – 5), Ito Yoko (Onnatachi no Tokusou Saizensen, Keiji 7-nin Seasons 1 – 2)
Cast: Otsuka Nene, Totsugi Shigeyuki, Shibue Joji, Kanai Yuta, Kurokawa Mei, Yuge Tomohisa, Anami Atsuko, Minemura Rie, Yamaguchi Shota, Fukami Sansho, Kimura Midoriko, Watanabe Ikkei
Synopsis: Misaki Kumiko (Otsuka Nene) is an anthropologist who specialises in researching human bones. One night, she receives a phone call from a man who summons her to a construction site because he wants some bones examined. However, by the time Kumiko goes to their meeting place, she discovers a blood-soaked dead man hugging a rucksack. She also sees the shadow of a person hurriedly leaving the scene. Kumiko’s childhood friend Nikaido Tatsuya (Totsugi Shigeyuki), who is a detective of the First Investigation Division, investigates and identifies the dead man as Miyabe Yasuaki (Fukami Sansho), an employee of a cleaning company. Human bones are found inside the rucksack that he had been holding. Was Miyabe the man who called Kumiko and did Kumiko’s arrival at the scene thwart the murderer who had attacked the victim to seize the bones? Kumiko begins to examine the bones that Miyabe had protected with his life. She learns that it belongs to a man in his late 20s. But she is unable to determine the cause of death which could have been from asphyxiation due to strangulation or suicide. She also finds out that this man shattered his shoulder more than 10 years ago and had a prosthetic implant. The construction site where the case occurred is a plot planned for the elementary school of the prestigious private educational institution Aoshima Gakuen. The late Miyabe had spoken the mysterious words “Weren’t you the one who killed him?” to Aoshima Gakuen’s Aoshima chairwoman Towako (Kimura Midoriko) on the day the incident. Furthermore, Towako’s only son Hikaru (Kanai Yuta) is currently missing and it is learnt that he had prosthetic treatment after a compound fracture. Towako claims that her son is living in the US but … … Are the bones that Kumiko is examining Hikaru’s? If Miyabe’s words are true, this means mother killed son. Kumiko is at a loss. Hikaru’s former classmate Tachibana Kaori (Kurokawa Mei) who is now a teacher comes to say something.
Official Website: www.tv-asahi.co.jp/misakikumiko

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Date: From 9.00 p.m., 29 July 2019
Scriptwriter: Kaneko Shigeki (Boku Unmei no Hito desu, Sekai Ichi Muzukashii Koi, Kyou wa Kaisha Yasumimasu)
Cast: Yamada Ryosuke, Haru, Ozawa Yukiyoshi, Kotaki Nozomu, Tsunematsu Yuri, Kojima Kazuya, Chiba Yudai, Asano Kazuyuki, Nakamura Baijaku
Synopsis: Kitagawa Shusaku (Yamada Ryosuke) was an elite police officer with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. But he has been unemployed for over a year after committing a crime for his family. His father Taizo (Nakamura Baijaku), the former headmaster of a well-known private junior high school, lost his position due to a scandal. He wrote about his experience in a book called Ruined Family which has become a huge best seller, and helped him make a comeback. Shusaku’s older brother Hirofumi (Ozawa Yukiyoshi) has also achieved success in the US as an AI doctor while older sister Chiaki’s (Haru) relationship with a partner chosen by AI is going well. Their butlers Koiwai Rinji (Asano Kazuyuki) and Sunoki Matsuya (Chiba Yudai) has also returned to the family. However, Shusaku is the only one among the Kitazawas who cannot keep up. He is seeking to become a patissier, which has been a long-time dream, but keeps failing job interviews. Meanwhile, Taizo proposes that Shusaku ghostwrite his next book Educational Failure. Shusaku takes on the challenge. But no matter how many times he writes, his scripts keep getting rejected by his father. Shusaku lets Sayuri, an AI specialising in composition that his brother loaned to him, amend the script, and manages to establish his position within the family as a ghostwriter. This depicts Shusaku as an utter villain with a series of cliched deeds such as shoplifting, cheating, domestic violence. However, Taizo is suspected of fabricating facts when the book is released and finds himself facing a crisis. A family meeting is convened because of yet another scandal, and Chiaki says something shocking, “Then Shusaku’s actions just have to match with the book!” Will Shusaku be able to get through this problem and protect the family’s honour?
Official Website: www.ntv.co.jp/momifuyu2019

Related Post:

• Momikeshite Fuyu

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Official Website
www.mbs.jp/drama-scams

Broadcast
From 1.28 a.m., Wednesdays, 3 July 2019

Network
TBS

Story
After graduating from a prestigious private university, Kusano Seiji gets a job at a big company and lives the life of a winner. However, he is one of the new graduates axed merely six months into his job because of the economic downturn precipitated by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. At the same time, Kusano’s father suffers a severe illness and has to undergo expensive treatment that is not covered by insurance. To make matters worse, he cannot find another job and is pressed by the bank to repay his student loan. As Kusano sinks into despair, his good friend Tanaka Shotaro suggests a shady part-time job where he can make hundreds of thousands a day. Kusano ignores the advice of his childhood friend Azuma Misaki and jumps at the opportunity. However, he discovers that this part-time job is to be the front man who withdraws money which old people targeted in fraud involving phone calls feigning distress have deposited into ATMs. After Kusano shows his mettle, he is forced to be the caller who makes the phone call to the old people. Although he is conflicted by his rapid progress as a fraudster, he attempts to make a quick buck and break free from the underworld but … …

Characters
Sugino Yosuke as Kusano Seiji
He graduated from a prestigious private university and got a job at a big company. However, he is dismissed within six months of joining the company due to the downturn caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. His father also falls sick and needs expensive treatment. He not only unable to find another job, he is pressed by the bank to repay his student loan. He ends up dabbling in a shady part-time job after he is driven into a corner.

Maeno Tomoya as Kiyomiya Soichi
He meets Kusano Seiji at the scene of a scam and they become partners. He is divorced because he is in debt and has been swindling people in order to get his family back.

Yamamoto Maika as Azuma Misaki
Kusano Seiji’s childhood friend. She is a cheerful, sensible person and is constantly concerned about Kusano.

Tozuka Junki as Tanaka Shotaro
Kusano Seiji’s friend from high school days. He steers Kusano onto the path of swindling.

Wada Masato as Dokugawa Kaoru
The manager of a swindling operation who becomes Kusano Seiji’s boss. He conducts hellish training to become a swindler.

Sugimoto Tetta as Tojo
He is the financial backer who provides funds to teams of swindlers and controls the money in the business.

Scriptwriter
Tsugita Jun (Giver, Deadstock)

Original Work
Roujin Kui by Suzuki Daisuke

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