While TV stations do air re-runs of their past dramas especially the old hits from time to time in non-primetime slots, there is actually a pool of yesteryear dramas which are buried deep in the archives and never to see the light of day again for some reason. Of course, with the entry of OTT platforms and the presence of DVD rental services, some of these titles may actually be available for viewing, just that they aren't aired on TV. However, there are some which have completely vanished i.e. no OTT presence, not available on rental and never released on VHS nor DVD.
Based on various sources, I have compiled a list of such dramas and the possible reasons explaining why they had been "banished" from appearing on TV again. While this list is not exhaustive, this selection might help you to understand why some of your favourites never get a rerun or why you just cannot find an old drama anywhere. Do share your list of want-to-see-but-never-shown-again or cannot-be-found-anywhere dramas with me too!
- Note that some of the reasons are suggested or inferred based on circumstances but they may not be the true or full reason as to why a drama never got to be re-run on TV or released commercially.
- All entries mentioned here are in order of the year of broadcast.
Broadly speaking, there are three main reasons which can cause dramas to be ineligible or unsuitable for re-runs on TV:
1) The cast getting into trouble with the law or having scandals: If the actor/actress concerned didn't play a significant character, there is a chance of seeing an edited version for reruns and online releases. However, if the character is too important to be edited out or that any editing will spoil the drama, chances are, a straightforward ban on the rerun is easier to execute.
In the list below, other than "Miseinen", "Seija no koshin", "Mare" and "Monte Cristo Haku", I had watched the rest before. Personally, I would love to see "Love Revolution" again because I really liked that drama but I guess it's very difficult since the female lead, second male lead and a key supporting character were all involved in various scandals and crimes. "N no tame ni" was also a great suspense drama and for those who want to see how Kaku Kento and Eikura Nana played a couple on screen back then (probably the first and last time ever on TV since they are married now).
- Ishida Issei was arrested in 2001 for possession of banned drugs and caught in an extramarital affair scandal which led to the self-imposed suspension of his career.
- Sakai Noriko was arrested in 2009 after going on the run for possession and use of stimulants. She was given a suspended jail term.
- Ishida Issei was arrested in 2001 for possession of banned drugs and caught in an extramarital affair scandal which led to the self-imposed suspension of his career.
- Sakai Noriko was arrested in 2009 after going on the run for possession and use of stimulants. She was given a suspended jail term.
- Kitahara Masaki was arrested in 2018 for drink-driving.
- As the drama was based on the Mito assault and rape case of intellectually disabled people uncovered in 1996, the violence and rape scenes caused NTV to be flooded with complaints. This led to a sponsor exodus as some either terminated their deals while some asked for their company names to be removed from the credits.
- Ishida Issei was arrested in 2001 for possession of banned drugs and caught in an extramarital affair scandal which led to the self-imposed suspension of his career.
- Sakai Noriko was arrested in 2009 after going on the run for possession and use of stimulants. She was given a suspended jail term.
- Hirosue Ryoko was recently in the news for causing an traffic accident and arrested for assaulting a nurse.
- A junior high school student in Aichi Prefecture choked on bread in 2002 when he and his classmates mimicked the speed-eating contest in the drama, slipped into a coma and passed away three months later. All plans to release the VHS and DVD versions as well as online streaming were cancelled. The other TV stations also cancelled their programmes related to speed eating contests for the time being as a result.
- Ishida Issei was arrested in 2001 for possession of banned drugs and caught in an extramarital affair scandal which led to the self-imposed suspension of his career.
- Haga Kenji was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2013 due to fraud involving unlisted shares and attempted extortion.
- Oshio Manabu was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison due to the use of MDMA and abandonment of his female companion who reacted adversely to the drug and was left to die when he ran away instead of calling an ambulance.
- Currently available on Netflix (subject to location)
- Same reason as above for Oshio Manabu.
- Esumi Makiko was embroiled in 2 controversies before she quit showbiz in 2017. She was exposed for not having paid her premiums for the national pension scheme in March 2004 despite being the government's image character since November 2003. In July 2014, she suddenly posted on her blog that she had been bullied by fellow mothers of her children's friends but one of those accused of this went to "Josei Seven" and exposed her for lying. The truth was that the things she did to several people became known so the group of mothers distanced themselves from her instead of isolating and bullying her for no reason as she claimed. 2 weeks after this, Shuukan Bunshun reported how Esumi had ordered her former manager to leave graffiti with the words "stupid son" on the residence of Nagashima Kazushige in late 2012 because the child and her child who attended the same kindergarten were on bad terms. Esumi denied this allegation while Nagashima said then that he doesn't even have a son because he only has twin daughters.
- Yamamoto Keiichi was arrested in 2006 for drinking with and having non-consensual sex with a minor.
- Taguchi Junnosuke was arrested in 2019 for violating the marijuana control act and subsequently given a suspended sentence.
- Koide Keisuke - drinking alcohol with an underaged girl
- Tokui Yoshimi - failure to report income i.e. tax evasion
- However, this drama is said to be available for viewing on various streaming platforms and rental services in Japan.
- Takahata Yuuta was arrested for sexual violence towards a female hotel employee in 2016 (not charged in the end and resumed his acting career in 2019)
- Shimizu Fumika who quit showbiz in 2017 to join the religious group Koufuku no Kagaku and became an actress starring exclusively in their works under the name Sengen Yoshiko. It is said that re-runs of her works are not allowed in order to avoid being seen as promoting the religious group concerned.
- While this drama is available for viewing on NHK On Demand like other morning dramas, it has not been re-run on TV to date.
2) Controversial / inappropriate themes and scenes: In general, the reasons why these dramas were "banned" had a lot to do with controversial themes related to violence, sex, homosexuality, suicide, self-harm, discrimination, violation of law as well as perceived association with or actual links to real-life criminal cases or negative incidents.
As society evolved over the decades, what was considered still acceptable to be portrayed on TV back then may not be so now since there is a lot more awareness and understanding towards such issues. Of course, adhering to compliance standards and new social norms can also be the reason for the change in opinions towards these titles.
While it can get really uncomfortable to watch some of these titles, I am still hoping for the day to be able to rewatch "Lipstick" and "Psychometrer Eiji" (for the sake of seeing Mabo, Inocchi and Kohara Yuki). I still remember being quite haunted and shocked by "Ningen Shikaku" and "Life". Honestly speaking, I thought "Hanadan" was still OK in terms of the bullying - it was malicious but really not as extreme as compared to some of the radical stuff mentioned in this category.
- The signature scene where Tatsuro (Takeda Tetsuya) dashed onto the road and a dump car stopped just inches away from him so as to show his devotion and propose to Kaoru (Asano Atsuko). This kind of dramatic act was common in the dramas of the early Heisei era but would be considered unrealistic in this era. The action of dashing in front of moving cars is also a violation of traffic laws.
- In fact, the shooting of this scene was a near-miss as the driver applied the brakes late and stopped at a spot further than intended. As such, when Takeda spoke his line which came out in the Hakata-dialect rather than standard Japanese, it was said to be a reflection of the fear he experienced due to this near-miss with the truck.
- The victim count was high in this crime-suspense drama with very violent and gory depictions such as the murder of a character and throwing her severed head at a rubbish dump, shooting the victim until he vomited blood in an elaborate fashion, stabbing someone and throwing the murder weapon into a river.
- It was re-run for the first time in more than 30 years since its OA but the violent scenes were all removed in this edition.
- The story dealt with controversial and sensational topics such as romance between a teacher and student, incest, homosexuality, rape and suicide thus attracting a lot of complaints especially from parents.
- The bullying and violent scenes involving the heroine Suzu (Adachi Yumi)
- The concern about fanning discrimination towards children from less privileged families
- As the drama dealt with serious and controversial themes like bullying, physical punishment, child abuse and suicide, it was said to have "inspired" the suicide of a male junior high student during the broadcast period as he was suffering from being bullied at school.
- Kase Taishuu was arrested in 2008 for possession of stimulants and marijuana.
- There was a scene where Koji (Toyokawa Etsushi) slapped Hiroko's face (Tokiwa Takako) with great force during an argument after they started dating. This would be seen as a case of domestic violence between a dating couple in this era.
- There was a special edition aired in 2020 but the article didn't mention if this scene in question was taken out.
- It was pointed out by viewers that the drama plagiarized the manga "Hot Road" and the media reported extensively on this issue. After the drama finished its run, there was a formal apology issued to the author and publisher. All plans to release the novel version, do reruns and release in video format were canceled.
- Ep 5 from the first series was singled out for being too radical thus banned from being shown again. The story depicted how a young boy had a twin brother who was in a coma and how the latter's spirit possessed him to commit a massacre.
- The teen caught for the murder of a female teacher at Tochigi in 1998 testified that he was impressed by how cool the lead character of this drama played by Kimura Takuya was when he was using his butterfly knife. This led to the media attributing the teen's action as being influenced by this drama so the rerun which was going on at that time was stopped immediately.
- Other teen crimes that happened subsequently were also attributed to this drama so the planned sale in VHS format was canceled. It was only till 2019 when the DVD and Blu-ray versions were released for sale.
- The controversial themes such as crime, rape, mental abuse and violent scenes in the drama set in a juvenile home attracted lots of attention and criticism back then.
- Ishida Issei was arrested in 2001 for possession of banned drugs and caught in an extramarital affair scandal which led to the self-imposed suspension of his career.
- Hirosue Ryoko was recently in the news for causing an traffic accident and arrested for assaulting a nurse.
- The story dealt with serious and controversial themes such as bullying, youth crime and sex.
- The sexual scandals involving the leads Nakai Masahiro and Matsumoto Hitoshi
- It was also reported that some cast members did not give clearance for a rerun.
- The bullying scenes involving the heroine Tsukushi (Inoue Mao)
- The drama attracted lots of complaints from the start due to the depiction of harsh treatment of students from the teacher played by Amami Yuki until sponsors had to remove their names from the credits section.
- There were also lines deemed to be discriminatory towards women.
- Ep 3 featured a story about how a popular fortune teller was exposed by the news programme for being a fraudster. At that time, there was a famous fortune teller Hosoki Kazuko who protested against this for insinuating that the character was her and the portrayal was demeaning of her.
- Due to the drama featuring the heroine being subjected to endless, malicious and violent bullying and the complicated human relationships in the classroom, FujiTV received more than 2,000 complaints from viewers about this drama being inappropriate for children and encouraging bullying.
- The BPO also received about 55 similar complaints.
3) Licensing issues / Difficulty in getting approval from all parties involved for the re-run: These are what have been nicknamed as unable to air due to "otona no jijou" i.e. adult circumstances due to social restrictions, practices and organisational reasons that are hard to explain. For original stories, the issue is usually with those who have the right to decide whether to do a rerun so it can be the production side, the broadcaster and the cast and their agencies who may say no.
On the other hand, disputes with the original material's authors also come into play when it determines whether something gets ever shown again. Perhaps the most classic example would be "Umizaru" because the author openly fell out with FujiTV over the broadcaster's unauthorised and disrespectful actions towards him.
As for the restrictions imposed by agencies especially the old Johnny's Jimusho, I wonder how true it can be these days under STARTO because so many had left after the scandal and if the new agency still has that much of an influence on the broadcasters. However, on an individual basis such as what happened in Tokiwa Takako's case, preventing unsavoury content from hurting the status and image of an actor now is perfectly understandable.
You will also notice that some of these reasons haven't been verified so they were just speculations based on the circumstances.
Other than the last two in this list and "Akuma no KISS", I've watched the rest. Thankfully for OTT, there are some titles which are appearing there but I guess "Umizaru" is sealed forever at the bottom of the sea unless anything magical happens one day.
- As there was a scene where Tokiwa Takako appeared nude on screen with her chest bared (this was before she became a famous actress), her agency blocked the re-run of this drama to protect her image.
- Ep 5 was pointed out for allegedly plagiarising the novel "Senseijutsu satsujin jiken". While the proper authorisation was obtained later, this episode was taken out for future reruns of the drama series.
- The plot which describes how a lethal virus dropped into Chiba Prefecture due to an artificial satellite's collision with a meteor, is said to bring to mind the COVID pandemic.
- The drama featured quite a number of ex-Johnny's Jimusho artists.
- The original manga's author refused to give FujiTV authorisation anymore in 2012 due to the TV station showing up unannounced to interview him and producing a Umizaru-related book without his approval. While he accepted the apology from FujiTV's then-news reporting department director in 2015, he declared on Twitter in Nov 2017 that there will be no broadcasts or streaming of the Umizaru works forever.
- Was actually re-run on TV several times from 2010 to 2014
- The old Johnny's Jimusho used to have restrictions on the use of images and portraits on artists who left the agency. Even though the company had gone through a major change in terms of structure and name, it was believed that this might still be an issue since Nishikido Ryo had left in 2019 while Ninomiya Kazunari has his own agency now (but he's still working with STARTO as ARASHI).
- This was a joint project with other production companies so agreement from all parties is needed before TBS can do a re-run.
- The scenes depicting how underaged individuals had unrestricted access to an adult video shop were deemed as potentially inappropriate for the current era.
- Currently available for viewing on various streaming platforms and rental services.
- The original's author did not agree to a scene in Ep 2 which featured a student with Asperger syndrome whose right to remain in school was decided by a majority vote and removed mention of herself as the author in the credits section as revealed on her official website.
- Similar issue as per above - Yamashita Tomohisa left Johnny's Jimusho
- Re-run in 2019 within Shizuoka and Aomori only
- Said to be available for viewing on TSUTAYA DISCAS