The 123rd Drama Academy Awards (Winter 2025) - Best Theme Song

Overall Ranking Top 3

1) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)

2) Elf - Ado (Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?)

3) Koe - Hitsujibungaku (119 Emergency Call)

Voters Ranking Top 5
1) HEART - King & Prince (Onzoushi ni koi wa muzusugiru)
2) Circus Funk (feat. Chevon) - Katori Shingo (Nipponichi no saitei otoko)
3) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)
4) Eureka - Hoshino Gen (Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!)
5) Cinema - aiko (Ensemble)

TV Reporters Ranking Top 5
1) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)

2) Elf - Ado (Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?)

3) Koe - Hitsujibungaku (119 Emergency Call)
4) Eureka - Hoshino Gen (Madoka 26-sai, Kenshui yattemasu!)
5) Illumination - B'z (Omusubi)

Judges Ranking Top 5
1) Puppets Can't Control You - ONE OK ROCK (Mikami-sensei)

2) Elf - Ado (Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?)

3) Iris - BUDDiiS (Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~)

Koe - Hitsujibungaku (119 Emergency Call)

5) Circus Funk (feat. Chevon) - Katori Shingo (Nipponichi no saitei otoko)

Source: The Television

Winners of Music Awards Japan (MAJ) 2025 - Grand Ceremony (22 May 2025)

Here are the winners announced during the grand ceremony of Music Awards Japan 2025 on 22 May 2025:

Song of the Year: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Artist of the Year: Mrs. GREEN APPLE

New Artist of the Year: tuki.

Album of the Year: "LOVE ALL SERVE ALL" by Fujii Kaze

Top Global Hit from Japan: "Idol" by YOASOBI

Best Song - Asia: "Supernova" by aespa

Best Viral Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best of Listeners' Choice - Japanese Song: "GOAT" by Number_i

Special Award - Korean Popular Music: "God of Music" by SEVENTEEN

Special Award - Chinese Popular Music: "Shao guan wo" by Zhou Shen

Special Award - Thai Popular Music: "Ghost" by Jeff Satur

Special Award - Indonesian Popular Music: "Bunga Hati" by Salma Salsabil

Special Award - Vietnamese Popular Music: "Tai Sinh" by Tung Duong

Special Award - Philippine Popular Music: "Raining in Manila" by Lola Amour

Best of Listeners' Choice - International Song: "Neva Play (feat. RM of BTS)" by Megan Thee Stallion

Best Japanese Hip Hop / Rap Artist: Creepy Nuts

Best Idol Artist / Group: Snow Man

MAJ Timeless Echo: Yazawa Eikichi

Karaoke of the Year - J-pop: "Lilac" by Mrs. GREEN APPLE

Karaoke of the Year - Enka / Kayokyoku: "Showa Katagi" by Tendo Yoshimi

Special Award - Oshi-katsu request Artist of the Year: Number_i

Song of the Year for Creators: "Idol" by YOASOBI

A case of mis-directed anger? - Reading between the lines of Higashimura Akiko's criticism towards Bunshun for Nagano Mei's scandal

Amid the controversy surrounding the alleged affair scandal of Nagano Mei and Tanaka Kei over the past month or so, the comments made by manga artist Higashimura Akiko recently are gaining attention as Nagano is the lead for the new movie "Kakukaku Shikajika" which is based on Higashimura's work. During her appearance on ABEMA's "Nichiyou The NIGHT Akiko to Osamu ga ichiyakagiri no kinkyuu nama housou" on 18 May 2025, Higashimura had the following to say about Shuukan Bunshun which first reported on the scandal:

"I know it's weird to say this, but I publish my manga through the publishing company Bungeishunju such as "Gisou Furin". Just two days after the news (about Nagano) was published, I had a meeting with the company to discuss my work. 

While I'm proud to be working with a company which delivers joy through literary works, to have our hard work (the movie) which we poured our heart and soul into being destroyed by a single magazine fills me with so much pain. To be honest, it felt like I was dating someone with a split personality. Especially since I do interact with some of the editors at Bunshun (not involved in the reporting of this scandal though) and go for drinks with them, I was really shocked that Bunshun would do that to me."

From her comments, it seems that Higashimura feels that the negative attention on her movie as a result of Nagano's scandal was more to do with Bunshun's reporting and at this timing before the movie was to be screened. Given that she has a working relationship with the publisher, it seems that she probably expected some form of "consideration" (忖度) to be given because what Bunshun did was tantamount to "betrayal" of their ties.

Now...looking at the comments below the article, it looks like the public doesn't see it in the same way and feels that her anger seems to be wrongly directed at Bunshun rather than Nagano who created this mess with her actions. There are a few aspects to consider here:

Holding back on negative coverage and interfering with the business of another department in the same company?

Coincidentally, TBS' drama which Nagano also stars in, featured a similar development where the reporter in the societal news department was lashing out at her colleagues in the news reporting department that their negative news coverage about her contact would spoil the effort and trust she had spent in building the relationship. And this was met with the retort that because of this bending-over-backwards consideration for the interests of others / "sontaku" was what made their news reporting hardly effective and not reflective of reality.

Going by Higashimura's argument, because she has a working relationship with the literary publishing arm of Bungeishunju, Shuukan Bunshun should not have reported on this scandal, especially not just before the release of her movie? The thing is, the literary works department and the editorial department of Shuukan Bunshun are most likely operating independently so for one department to exert influence on the other probably doesn't work in real life. Besides, Shuukan Bunshun is known for not shying away from controversy and influence (whether you feel that their articles are good for the public interest is another issue though) so I strongly doubt that the literary works department has the power to make the magazine "cancel" out a juicy scoop they took time and effort to investigate.

Likewise, if you consider the fact that the literary arm is still doing business as usual with Higashimura after the scandal's report came to light, this can also be seen as a sign of how both departments operate independently. It is not known if the literary department were "apologetic" or did anything to pacify her in the meeting straight after the publication of Bunshun's report but honestly, there was no need for them to do so anyway since they didn't go anything wrong to her in the first place.

And if Higashimura has an issue with the timing of the reporting, perhaps TBS should be even madder at Bunshun for releasing the first report just one episode after they started showing "Caster"? And if Nagano and Tanaka had taken a different route after the first report e.g. admitting to the scandal, would the second report even have come out with more damning evidence? Too many "what-ifs" here to consider.

Is the fault of the scandal with the parties who created the mess or the media outlet which exposed them?

From what it seems, Higashimura does have a very good opinion of Nagano which is fair enough because the latter was picked for this role which is modelled after Higashimura herself. And whatever Nagano may have done or not done in her private life, that could be unrelated to how she worked and acted in this movie. As such, I think it's understandable that Higashimura is full of praise for Nagano's acting or hard work put in for the movie.

The issue here is, Higashimura's comments seem to suggest that the mess which is plaguing her movie is because of Shuukan Bunshun's reporting. This is what I struggle to reconcile - why are you not upset with your lead actress who plunged your movie into this controversy and created trouble for everyone but you lash out at the media outlet for exposing her? Erm...perhaps someone can explain to me why?

Would negative press about the cast necessarily cause the performance of a work to suffer?

Consumers do have a choice. If you don't like something or someone in the cast, you make your choice with your remote control (TV), mouse (online streaming) or wallet (cinema). People who won't want to watch something in the first place will not choose the work anyway regardless of what happens. And those who really want something will still go ahead despite the "obstructions".

For those who wouldn't want to watch "Caster" because of Nagano, they can make a conscious choice not to watch the drama. Conversely, if you want to watch the movie "Kakukaku Shikajika" or want to support Nagano, you visit the cinema voluntarily and pay for the ticket with the money in your wallet. It is arguable whether negative press about the cast will affect the performance of a work and by how much. However, it is a bit too simplistic to draw a definite correlation between the scandal and the performance of a work because there are many factors which can come into play.

Personally, as I've been watching "Caster" every week, I find that the messy storyline is more likely to make me drop this drama rather than me rolling eyes while watching Nagano mouth those self-righteous lines with the bad press she is mired in right now at the back of my mind. Likewise, you can argue that "Kakukaku Shikajika" may do better in the box office if Nagano wasn't caught in this scandal (No.4 in the first week of release) but looking at the latest weekly box office ranking, it is up against blockbusters like "Conan", "Mission Impossible" and "Minecraft" so that's definitely questionable. 

I do not know what Higashimura intended to achieve by making those comments but whether they will help in her movie's performance in the box office, that remains to be seen. For now though, with both Nagano and Tanaka losing all their CM deals and being taken off projects due the cloud of doubt still hanging over their heads, those who are working with them can only pray that Bunshun or any other tabloid doesn't have an even more damning Part 3 to put the final nail in the coffin for their careers.

Winners of Music Awards Japan (MAJ) 2025 - Premiere Ceremony (21 May 2025)

The Music Awards Japan (abbreviated as MAJ), is a music awards show held by the Japanese music industry to honour music talents from Asia, Japan and the Western regions and introduce Asian music to the global audience. The awards are organized by the Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA) in collaboration with the Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). CEIPA was founded by the five major music organizations of the Japanese music industry i.e. the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), the Japan Association of Music Enterprises, the Federation of Music Producers Japan, the Music Publishers Association of Japan, and the All Japan Concert & Live Entertainment Promoter's Conference and is responsible for the organization, marketing and hosting of the Music Awards Japan.

The list of eligible works and artists was generated through an automatic system based on data from Oricon, Billboard Japan, GfK Japan, Luminate, Usen, Daiichi Kosho Company, JASRAC etc. The artist concerned must have released at least one work during the qualification period of 29 January 2024 to 26 January 2025. 

The nominees (up to 5 per category) were then decided by a panel from the Japanese music industry. An international panel then decided on the winner for each category. However, the following categories' nominees and winners were selected through a public voting exercise via Spotify:

• Best of Listeners' Choice: Japanese Song
• Best of Listeners' Choice: International Song

The winners for the inaugural edition of MAJ will be announced over two days i.e. during the premiere ceremony on 21 May and the grand ceremony on 22 May, both held at Rohm Theater in Kyoto.

* Note that the announcement website provides links to various streaming/download portals to listen to the winning songs.

* The delayed-live stream of the grand ceremony can be viewed here.

Here are the winners announced during the premiere ceremony:

Best Japanese Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best J-Rock Song: "SPECIALZ" by King Gnu

Best Japanese Hip Hop / Rap Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best Japanese R&B / Contemporary Song: "Automatic" by Utada Hikaru

Best Japanese Dance Pop Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best Japanese Alternative Song: "more than words" by Hitsujibungaku

Best Japanese Singer-Songwriter Song: "Kaiju no Hanauta" by Vaundy

Best Idol Culture Song: "Watashi no ichiban kawaii tokoro" by FRUITS ZIPPER

Best Anime Song: "Idol" by YOASOBI

Best Enka / Kayokyoku: "Kurenai no chou" by Yamauchi Keisuke

Best Revival Hit Song: "Peppermint Blue" by Ohtaki Eiichi

Best Cross-Border Collaboration Song: "Feelin' Go(o)d" by Fujii Kaze / A.G. Cook

Best Instrumental Song: "aruarian dance" by Nujabes

Best Vocaloid Culture Song: "Senbonzakura" by Kurousa

Best Music Video: "Idol" by YOASOBI

Best Dance Performance: "Otonablue" by Atarashii Gakko!

Best Viral Song: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Top Japanese Song in Asia: "Lemon" by Yonezu Kenshi

Top Japanese Song in Europe: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Top Japanese Song in North America: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Top Japanese Song in Latin America: "Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" by Creepy Nuts

Best International Pop Song in Japan: "APT." by ROSE & Bruno Mars

Best International Rock Song in Japan: "feelslikeimfallinginlove" by Coldplay

Best International Hip Hop / Rap Song in Japan: "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar

Best International R & B / Contemporary Song in Japan: "we can't be friends (wait for your love)" by Ariana Grande

Best International Alternative Song in Japan: "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" by Billie Eilish

Best K-pop Song in Japan: "Ditto" by NewJeans

Best Jazz Album: "Step Into Paradise - LIVE IN TOKYO -" by Yano Akiko x Hiromi

Best Classical Album: "Opus" by Sakamoto Ryuichi

Best Japanese Song Artist: Mrs. GREEN APPLE

Best J-Rock Artist: King Gnu

Best Japanese R & B / Contemporary Artist: Utada Hikaru

Best Japanese Dance Pop Artist: Atarashii Gakko!

Best Japanese Alternative Artist: Hitsujibungaku

Best Japanese Singer-Songwriter: Fujii Kaze

Largest Live Audience: WEST.

Best Radio-Break Song: "Ai ga issou mellow" by Rikon Densetsu

Best Dance / Electronic Song in association with JDDA: "Edison" by Suiyoubi no Campanella

Best DJ in association with JDDA: DJ Nobu

Quick Review #128: Bansan Blues - Winter 2025

Title: Bansan Blues / 晩餐ブルース　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a healing show featuring food and friendship amid the struggles of life

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- What really left a deep impression on me was how well the cooking scenes were done. While it may feel like I was watching "Kinou nani tabeta" at times, the style here was a lot more "calming and comfortable" because there was hardly any narration nor loud BGM to explain the steps involved in the cooking process. As such, I managed to focus more on the visuals of the food and natural sounds from the cooking steps which somehow felt very therapeutic to watch. Be warned though, don't watch this while hungry because it can be quite torturous to see the delicious dishes on display and the cast indulging in the food.

- The "blues" part of the story was handled with the right amount of heaviness and did not make the whole drama feel like a depressing tale. The struggles felt by the key characters in this drama were relatable and very real. As the story progressed and the trio rekindled their friendship through sharing dinner, the whole atmosphere became a lot more positive and hopeful even though there wasn't any definite or long-term solution given. This transition coincided with the season setting in this drama i.e. from the cold and bleak winter to a warmer and brighter spring.

- Inowaki Kai and Kaneko Daichi were very good in their respective roles. Inowaki managed to convey the lethargic and somewhat brooding character especially towards the end. As for Kaneko, I thought that he did the cooking scenes really well and showed the depressed side of his character with precision without going overboard. I must say, this drama has also changed my impression of Kaneko to a large extent because I honestly didn't remember much of his past performances in supporting roles even though he is a familiar face to me.

Disliked: 

- While it was good that the episodes were less than 30 mins long, I thought that it could have been a bit shorter because the pace was a bit draggy towards the last few episodes. This probably coincided with the twist in Yuuta's (Inowaki) psychological state because he had been the one who was more "cheerful" at first so the atmosphere became a lot more heavier compared to when it was Kousuke (Kaneko) who was in the doldrums. Perhaps keeping it to between 6 and 8 episodes might make the story a bit more succinct.

- As I pointed out above, I liked the cooking scenes for being "no-frills" which allowed me to enjoy them more. Towards the end when more people started to cook with Yuuta, it got a lot more noisier and there were some parts which had narration so I didn't quite like this change.  

Too detached from reality? - The conflicting settings and unrealistic things in TBS Spring 2025 drama "Caster"

While "Caster" has been getting the wrong kind of attention of late due to Nagano Mei's ongoing controversy about an alleged affair with Tanaka Kei, another part of the drama is also being scrutinized for its apparent gaps between reality and fiction. This article from Pinzuba highlights the key discrepancies that are being talked about among viewers and industry insiders especially with regard to the character and newsroom settings.

To begin with, let's find out more about the key positions in a TV news reporting programme's production team:

• Producer (プロデューサー): Person-in-charge of the entire programme. Manages various aspects such as planning, production and budget control.
• Assistant Producer (アシスタントプロデューサー): Assists the producer in areas including drafting proposals, schedule and budget management
• Overall Director (総合演出): Decides on the direction of the programme, issues instructions to directors and monitors the programme on-site
• Director (ディレクター): Executes the plans from the overall director as well as gives instructions and manages the situation on-site.
• Assistant Director (アシスタントディレクター): Follows the instructions of the director and provides support on-site.

• Desk (デスク): The boss of the reporters who checks the articles and direction of the news reporting, decides on the composition of news topics for the day and time allocated to each story
• On-site Reporter (リポーター・取材記者): Reporting news on site
• Editing Reporter (編集記者): Compiles the information obtained on-site and creates articles to be read during the programme
• Cameraman (カメラマン): The person-in-charge of filming footage at news reporting venues
• Editors (編集者): Edits the information and filmed footage to produce news videos
• Editor-in-chief (編集長): The boss of the editors who considers the quality and direction of the video content along with the viewers' needs and preferences and decides on the content mix

• Caster / Announcer (キャスター・アナウンサー) : The person who reads the news in the programme
• Commentator / Panelists (解説委員): Subject matter experts or panelists to explain the background and meaning behind news topics

• Technical staff (技術スタッフ): Includes those working in broadcast technology, sound, artistic direction and technical support

Note that there may be slight differences in the terms used for the positions and/or segregation and overlap of duties between positions depending on various TV stations but the above more or less covers the key staff members for such news programmes.

If we are to look at the cast lineup in "Caster", the corresponding positions are as such:

Main Caster: Shindo Souichi (Abe Hiroshi)

Sub Caster: Koike Nami (Tsukishiro Kanato)

News Reporting Department Head: Kaiba Kouji (Okabe Takashi)

Producer: Yamai Kazuyuki (Otoo Takuma)

Overall Director: Sakikubo Hana (Nagano Mei)

Editor-in-chief: Ichinose Sakiko (Miyazawa Ema)

Director: Kajihara Koudai (Tamaoki Reo)

Assistant Director: Motohashi Yuusuke (Michieda Shunsuke) / Choi Jae-seong (Kim Mu-jun)

Editor: Ono Junya (Kimura Tatsunari)

Reporter (Society News): Ando Erika (Kikuchi Akiko)

The role and age of the overall director

First of all, one of the most commonly-heard "complaints" was the choice of Nagano to play the role of the overall director and what that position actually involves. This important role is often said to be the second-highest-in-command after the producer and has to manage the entire production personally in the studio while the producer actually spends more time away from the recording/broadcast of the programme doing high-level planning behind-the-scenes.

 

While the age of Nagano's character was not specified, it is estimated that she should be in her mid/late 20s to early 30s. Considering the fact that she was said to have worked in the variety department for a while and even got the Chairman's Award before, her age should be somewhere in her late 20s at the very least. In addition, the drama did have some scenes where Michieda's character Motohashi referred to her as his senior. This could be in reference to the fact that her position is higher than his or that she is older than him since the time setting of the story is that he is just into his second year of employment with JBN (his estimated age should be somewhere around 25).

Given her age setting, industry insiders pointed out that it was near impossible for someone to be given such an important position especially for a news programme. It would have been more appropriate for her to be a director instead. Moreover, based on what has been shown in the drama, this overall director had hardly done any "directing" within the studio and was often seen outside the studio such as going along with Shindo to film his interviews or get involved in the news reporting process. These are things which the overall director does not do in real life.

The unclear job scope and overlapping responsibilities

There are also seemingly unnatural points about the job scopes of other characters. 

For example, the editor-in-chief played by Miyazawa Ema should be busy enough dealing with news stories and making decisions on what to include for the day's broadcast. However, she had been depicted multiple times to be wearing an intercom headset and giving instructions to the staff during the broadcast which is what an editor-in-chief does not do. It also appears as if the story treats the role of the editor-in-chief to be equivalent or similar to that of the desk because she did refer to herself as the desk but the official cast chart shows her job title as editor-in-chief.

Likewise, Otoo Takuma's producer character should have been focusing on the management of resources and budgets instead of getting involved heavily in what goes on during the broadcast. As such, his actual job scope in the drama seems to deviate from reality too.

The unnatural / nonsensical news reporting process

In real life, there will be reporters in charge of designated areas/topics in the TV station's news reporting department. They are the ones who actually go out to report on news and pass the footage and information to the editors who create videos and other content used for the broadcast.

However, "Caster" hardly features any reporters doing this. In fact, the assistant director Motohashi and the overall director Sakikubo go outside the TV station to do the reporting while there is a noticeable absence of a reporter on site each time. Having an AD to confront a interviewee with proof of wrongdoing as featured in Ep 3 was also something that could never happen in reality. Moreover, a key component of the reporter's work i.e. negotiations with the production team on how much of the content is shown during the broadcast is sorely absent from the drama.

Spoiling the exclusive scoop

In Ep 3, when Motohashi exposed the professor's wrongdoing, he had done so in the presence of representatives from other media outlets even though this was an exclusive scoop he secured due to the evidence given to him by his friend. The thing is, nobody in the news reporting circle would spoil their own exclusive scoop like this because your rivals would just take the same information and report it. As such, the usual practice is to secure confirmation from the target in private without letting your competitors know. 

Employment matters are not decided on the fly

In Ep 5, the director Kajihara was suspended from work and told that his contract expiring at the end of the month would not be renewed due to an issue which cropped up for a report he was doing. The head of the news reporting department Kaiba said that since Kajihara's contract happened to be near the expiry date, the TV station would use this as the perfect excuse to give the latter his marching orders. However, this is not what happens in reality because there will be at least a two to three-month notice period when it comes to contract renewals especially if you factor in handover procedures. In addition, Kajihara is the chief director so for an important position like this, it is impossible to treat his contract in such a manner.

Trivalising the impact of a senior employee's brush with the law

In one episode, the director of JBN's societal news department was arrested for a criminal offense. However, JBN continued to operate as per normal as if nothing had happened. For a scandal like this involving a senior employee and in a position that deals with law enforcement authorities and the government bodies, the TV station couldn't have gotten away with just a simple apology on air. In extreme cases, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications can even issue a broadcast suspension as punishment because this is considered a significant breach of trust as a TV broadcaster. 

While it is obvious that the drama prioritises entertainment over reality and tries really hard to portray Shindo as a super news caster who seems to do no wrong (until the rest of the characters do seem quite silly at times), these gaps with reality, conflicting settings and unrealistic developments make it more difficult for viewers to immerse themselves fully into the story. Although there were clear attempts at using real-life incidents as the base of these news stories featured in the drama (perhaps to boost the reality factor and gain more eyeballs by tapping on these big cases), it was also evident that the drama could not delve too deeply into these because of the potential negative impact on the actual persons and entities involved. In the end, this became a vicious cycle where the story ends up in the middle of nowhere.

Based on the episodes I've watched so far, I must say that the points raised in the article are indeed valid to a large extent. Personally, I wouldn't say that I have enjoyed all episodes of this drama to date because the quality seems to fluctuate a fair bit and the gap with reality does bug me to a large extent. And at this stage, most of the episodes can be considered to be fillers until the main plot/background story surfaces in the second half of the season so it's probably no wonder that the quality of the story seems to be a bit lacking at the moment. Coupled with the distraction from Nagano's scandal - somehow when she tries to be self-righteous and criticises Abe's character, it just comes across as uncomfortable to watch and less impactful as it should have been. This inevitably causes the impact of the drama and the message it is trying to convey to be weakened too. While I'm hopeful of better developments to come, I think it will take a major improvement in the second half of the drama to make up for the underwhelming first half in more ways than one.

Quick Review #127: Kawapperi Mukoritta (movie)

Title: Kawapperi Mukoritta / 川っぺりムコリッタ　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 5 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a slow and mild heartwarming story and/or are fans of the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

Liked:

- The charm of this story lies in the mild but heartwarming developments in the second half of the movie where people who aren't related come together to offer one another comfort in their respective struggling lives. However, the movie didn't go big on theatrics or extremely emotional outbursts to be a tearjerker so it came across more like a gentle river flowing through.

- While the characters were clearly struggling with their respective circumstances and flaws, there were also parts which made them look more endearing and relatable to the audience. In this respect, I think that the cast of Matsuyama Kenichi, Muro Tsuyoshi, Mitsushima Hikari and Yoshioka Hidetaka were critical in making these characters look more appealing than they seemed on the surface. Also look out for some of the cameos who added a nice edge and surprise to the story at times.

Disliked: 

- It took a lot of patience and willpower not to give up on this halfway because the slow pacing was indeed a big deterrent. Coupled with the fact that the gloomy state of affairs added to the weight of the story, this is probably something you might not want to watch if you are feeling down or frustrated because it will get on your nerves. Moreover, the ending may bring a light smile to your face but I wouldn't call it gratifying enough to justify the "torture" from the first half of the movie.

- Much as the characters were endearing and quirky in their own ways, I thought that the movie painted them as rather one-dimensional so it was difficult to see why they behaved as they did. As such, I found that I couldn't really understand these characters enough to form an opinion about them and only remembered them more for their interpersonal interactions that were the highlight of this movie.

The more the merrier vs. too many cooks spoiling the broth? - Looking into the trend of multiple scriptwriters in TBS' Sundays 9pm dramas

Is it a case of the more the merrier or will too many cooks spoil the broth? 

This article from Real Sound raises the above question by looking at the dramas from TBS' Sundays 9pm timeslot which has consistently done better than its competition in terms of ratings and critical reviews despite the languishing real-time ratings in recent years amid the rise of alternative viewing channels such as TVer and a wider variety of content vying for eyeballs such as those from Netflix.

While Japanese dramas traditionally tend to be written by a single scriptwriter, there is an increasing number of dramas featuring a main writer with assistants or multiple scriptwriters to share the workload or producing a collective script in the Hollywood style of "writers' room" where the team can range from as many as 10 to 20 writers. Recent examples in Japan which adopted the Hollywood style include NHK 2024 drama "3000-man" and Amazon Prime Video 2023 drama "Angel Flight".

Given that the Sundays 9pm timeslot is TBS' crown jewel in its drama programming, it is no wonder that a lot of time and resources are put into the offerings. However, the TV station's attempts to experiment with various genres and writing styles may not always turn out to deliver desired results. For example, while "VIVANT" in 2023 may have been a hit in terms of scale, the star-studded line-up and unexpected storyline which was kept a secret until the first OA, the response to last season's "Mikami-sensei" was somewhat divided especially over the long, complicated and philosophical lines in the script which required a fair bit of brain power to process.

The article highlights this season's "Caster" as being one of the unusual examples in this timeslot for having as many as 6 scriptwriters compared to the usual 1 to 4 writers in most dramas these days. Considering that a Sundays 9pm timeslot drama these days tends to last for 10 episodes, this actually means that each scriptwriter will probably get to work on slightly less than 1.5 episode (if divided equally). However, it is not known if they will actually co-write for each episode or divide individual episodes among themselves. 

One thing to note though, the last time a Sundays 9pm timeslot drama had 6 writers was in 2023's "Get Ready!" which was criticized for the lack of consistency in its story caused by fluctuating tones, writing style and story tempo back then. While it may be good to bounce off ideas from one another with a team of writers, it can also be risky if the team fails to agree on a single approach or chooses the wrong one when faced with varying viewpoints and options or worse still, come up with a script that has developments which do not agree with one another.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After reading this article, I wanted to investigate whether the number of scriptwriters do have a part to play in a drama's success/failure and if there are indeed trends pointing to a shift from single scriptwriters towards the multiple-writers system. As such, I obtained data for the TBS Sundays 9pm timeslot based on their offerings for the past decade and also tried to compare between figures from the pre- and post-COVID eras.

No. of dramas between Winter 2015 and Autumn 2019 = 20 (Pre-COVID)

No. of dramas between Winter 2020 and Winter 2025 = 19 (Post-COVID)

*Note that the Spring 2020 drama "Hanzawa Naoki 2020" was postponed to Summer 2020 due to the lockdown caused by the COVID pandemic. 

*I did not include "Caster" in the sample for the Post-COVID group since it is still running.

*Ratings information are based on the Kanto region thus may not reflect the true popularity and extent of viewership on both domestic and international streaming platforms.

Key observations over the past decade

• The number of dramas which were real-life adaptations from novels and manga were about the same for pre-COVID (10 out of 20) and post-COVID (9 out of 19). 
• Why I chose to make a distinction between the originals and adaptations in my analysis is that scriptwriters working on the latter need to fit their work within the parameters of the source material thus would have lesser creative freedom to do their thing. On the other hand, those doing originals have to bear the risk of their own ideas going either way - could be a success or flop.
• One other thing to note is the difference between 原作 (original work) and 原案 (original draft). In the former, the scriptwriter has an original novel/manga etc. to adapt into a drama's script but in the latter, a draft with the broad outline of the characters and story setting is written by someone else other than the scriptwriter. As such, 原案 works are somewhat in the middle of the spectrum with adaptations and original creations at both ends and can be likened to be a "template" for scriptwriters to work with. In the pre-COVID days, there were no 原案 dramas but after the pandemic, there were at least 2 in this timeslot. This might be something to look out for in future - the concept of "DCU" was from overseas producers while "Gekokujou Kyuuji" was based on a non-fiction book about a true story. 

• The number of Sundays 9pm dramas written by single scriptwriters was the same for both periods i.e. 11 out of 20 for pre-COVID and 11 out of 19 for post-COVID.
• While some may say that there seems to be more dramas with multiple scriptwriters these days, the truth is that at least for this particular timeslot, it still seems to be fairly distributed between single and multiple scriptwriter systems for now.

• However, the average number of scriptwriters for each Sundays 9pm drama has indeed increased. From an average of 1.65 writers per drama in the pre-COVID days, it does seem like there is a shift towards the multiple writers format with an average of 2.47 per drama in the post-COVID era.
• It can also be observed that in terms of the number of writers per drama, the norm before COVID was anything from 2 to 4 but 4 seems to be the ideal number as seen in the post-COVID era with some going up to as many as 6 for a 10-episode drama series. This should explain why the average jumped so much in the past 5 years.

• The length of a drama in this timeslot seems to be headed towards the sweet spot of 10 episodes per season post-COVID as compared to a variety of numbers in the pre-COVID era (ranging from 7 to 12). The average number of episodes per drama was 9.85 before 2000 but after that, the average inched up to 10.42.
• As compared to the past when there was more or less standardization in terms of start and end dates for the seasonal dramas, there is a lot more variation these days with some having start dates before the beginning of the first month in the season and some not starting until the competition is already done with 2 or 3 episodes.
• Despite so, to have the same number of episodes each season at 10 per drama since Spring 2022 (except for "Atomu no ko" which had only 9 episodes) seems to suggest the trend going forward that this is the preferred number of episodes for dramas in this timeslot.

• In terms of performance based on average ratings, while the number of dramas which got an average above 10% was about the same at 15 titles for each period, the average rating was actually higher post-COVID at 13.39% compared to 12.81% pre-COVID. 
• It is important to note that the post-COVID era included the monster hit "Hanzawa Naoki" which had a high average of 24.7% that was easily double of most offerings so this brought the average up significantly. In addition, the average ratings between 2020 and 2022 (the height of the pandemic where more people stayed home) were higher as compared to when restrictions were relaxed and people could head out more than before.

• However, if you delve deeper in the 10%-and-above "hits" for both eras, only 6 out of 15 were written by single scriptwriters in the pre-COVID era while as many as 9 out of 15 were from solo scriptwriters in the post-COVID era.
• What this probably suggests is that putting an entire drama in the hands of one scriptwriter can turn out to be a huge gamble thus resulting in the subsequent shift towards multiple scriptwriters as a form of risk mitigation by the TV station. 
• On the other hand, since dramas by multiple scriptwriters tend to be those who are relatively unknown or fresh to this industry, it also helps in giving them experience without the burden of shouldering a drama's fate single-handedly.
• In most scenarios, the staff credits list do not actually make a distinction in terms of hierarchy in the scriptwriting team. It is only when there is a main writer that the others are named as assistants e.g. "Mikami-sensei". As such, it looks from the outside that the members in such teams are on equal footing (more or less).
• The higher success rate in the post-COVID era also needs to be considered along with the pandemic's situation between 2020 and 2022 when more people stayed home to watch TV. As such, out of the 9 hits in this period, 7 of them were from these years while there was only 1 in 2023 and 1 in 2025. 
• The 3 dramas which got above 10% in 2024 were all written by teams of 4 scriptwriters while the only solo work "Umi ni nemuru daiyamondo" in the same year had a single-digit average rating.
• Interestingly, while the 6 hits in the pre-COVID era were all from different solo writers, Kuroiwa Tsutomu accounted for as many as 4 out of the 9 hits in the post-COVID era i.e. "Kiken na Venus", "TOKYO MER", "My Family" and "Last Man Zenmou no sousakan". Of these, only "Kiken na Venus" was an adaptation from a novel so the others were all original scripts. 
• On the other hand, the only other scriptwriter who had more than 1 hit in the past decade was Morishita Yoshiko but her two works were from different eras i.e. 2015's "Tennou no ryouriban" in the pre-COVID era and 2021's "Tengoku to Jigoku" from the post-COVID days. Perhaps this phenomenon seems to reflect a tendency to go back to tried-and-tested names when engaging solo writers because of the stakes involved for a golden timeslot like this?

On a personal note, I do pay attention to the scriptwriter other than the cast lineup and genre when deciding what to watch. While I do have some favourites, it is not always a given that I will like everything from them. Likewise, I don't really shun works by people I am not aware of or familiar with since the cast and genre tend to play a more significant part in influencing my decision. Of course, there are some who I know I probably wouldn't like because of their style of writing or past bad experience and would approach such works with a bit more caution and apprehension. 

One other thing which I do not really like is the idea of putting big names together to work on the same story especially if their styles are totally different and very hard to integrate with each other. One recent example I can think of is Netflix's "Rikon shiyouyo" - my conclusion is that the styles of Kudo Kankuro and Ooishi Shizuka just do not match and their individual strengths do not get amplified by putting them together.

Just based on the findings above, I think what's clear is that the more established names in the industry are likely to be the ones who get sole responsibility and power to write their scripts on their own especially for a primetime slot like TBS' Sundays 9pm. On the other hand, the willingness to shift towards having multiple writers can be good for the industry as a whole to introduce fresh and varied perspectives but it does come with a risk of the story being messed up. How to strike a balance between the need for consistently high quality throughout the entire drama and risk & resource management within the confines of the harsher operating environment is going to be an important issue to consider. Otherwise, it will be even hard to get access to good scriptwriters and nurture new ones when they get wooed with more resources from companies with deeper pockets and enjoy more creative liberty beyond what's allowed on traditional TV. In the end, viewers like us would probably not get to enjoy good productions if the scriptwriter i.e. one of the three key pillars in drama production is not there to shore up the story even with the best cast and staff lineup.

Quick Review #126: Tengoku to Jigoku ~ Saiko na futari ~ - Winter 2021

Title: Tengoku to Jigoku ~ Saiko na futari ~ / 天国と地獄～サイコな２人～　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 8 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who want to watch a soul-switching suspense story with great acting from Ayase Haruka and Takahashi Issei

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- While I am not a fan of stories involving switched souls especially when it involves a man and a woman, I thought that it was smart for the story not to focus too long on the inconveniences and trouble experienced due the characters' souls changing to a body of the opposite gender. This subplot may have created some comical relief here and there but I didn't want to see the drama become a half-baked comedy so it was great to see that the story didn't deviate too much from the main plot of investigating the serial murders.

- Although I must say that the truth behind the serial murders was somewhat obvious i.e. Hidaka (Takahashi) couldn't have been the culprit, I felt that the rationale/motive behind the murders was actually rather interesting and meaningful. And the fact that this was in sync with the title beyond the circumstances which the lead characters were in i.e. Hidaka and Azuma's fates were decided just due to a 15-min difference in birth order, I thought that it was a nice round-up to the concept of heaven vs. hell.

- Ayase and Takahashi delivered great performances albeit in slightly different manners. I felt that Ayase was probably more outstanding in terms of showing the transformation in a more physical and visible manner while Takahashi absolutely nailed it in terms of subtle mannerisms and facial expressions especially when it came to the more emotional scenes. Fans of Ayase would be very pleased to see her looking really gorgeous after the body-switch because her original setting as Mochizuki was supposed to be someone who didn't pay much attention to dolling up. And Takahashi did look quite good in this drama - a welcome deviation from the recent roles I saw him which tend to "cover up" his good looks.

Disliked: 

- The use of Beethoven's "Symphony No.5" as the BGM got on my nerves a fair bit. Sometimes, when the vibe of a scene was comparatively serious, the entry of this piece at such junctures was a big distraction and sort of weakened the atmosphere build-up as a result. In addition, the opening title segment was simply too drawn-out so I had to skip this part in every episode.

- As a suspense story, I thought that the complexity of the case could be further improved. Right from the start, the use of Sakoda Takaya to play Azuma already suggested that this character couldn't be an insignificant one so it was a dead giveaway on the importance of this role. 

JASRAC Awards - Top 10 most heard/sung songs in Japan in 2024 + J-drama and J-movie theme song winners in past years

JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers) announced the winners for its JASRAC Awards which honours the most heard and sung songs for the year based on the amount of music copyright royalties paid to their creators. This award was first given out in 1982 and started off with just two winners per year i.e. the domestic and international categories before it changed to its current format of having the gold, silver and bronze awards for the domestic top 3 along with the International Award and Foreign Song Award in 1988 (for the year 1987).

Some interesting things to note:

- Only songs under JASRAC's management are eligible. As such, songs entrusted to other copyright management companies such as NexTone are not eligible for the award. In the event that the sub-copyrights are distributed to multiple companies, only the portion managed by JASRAC is considered to be eligible for consideration for this award.

NexTone holds its own NexTone Award which was first established in 2017. Due to the above condition, you will notice that the winners for both awards tend to be quite different especially if the copyright is managed exclusively on one side but not the other.

- The JASRAC data is compiled based on the following sources:

• Sales of physical media such as records and CDs
• Number of requests on cable broadcasts and request programs
• Use of the song in broadcasts such as TV and radio as well as in movies
• Sales of video software such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs
• Number of times the song is sung at karaoke
• Distribution of the song through channels such as online games, ringtones and music streaming/download portals
• Use of the song in pachinko machines

- Compared to other music awards, past winners tend to be songs that have been used as background music (accompaniments, soundtracks) for television anime and movies, or songs that have been used as commercial songs. This trend is especially evident in the International Award and Foreign Song Award, where all winning songs for the International Award since its inception in 1988 have been background music songs.

- In terms of the domestic gold award winners, most of them were enka songs which were heavily used in karaoke during the 1980s. The first time that a non-enka song won this award was in 1987 (for the year 1986).

- The International Award honours the domestic song which got the most copyright payments from overseas while the Foreign Song Award is for a non-Japanese work that earned the most royalties for the year.

- The record companies for the top 3 songs are also honoured for their role and efforts in popularizing the winning songs.

- In the 2025 edition for the year 2024, the gold award went to YOASOBI's Idol which is written by Ayase. Note that the song also won the same award last year.

And here is the top 10 ranking for 2024:

Gold Award: Idol - YOASOBI

Silver Award: Bling-Bang-Bang-Born - Creepy Nuts

Bronze Award: Shou - Ado

No.4: Kawa no nagare no you ni - Misora Hibari

No.5: Tensai Bakabon - Idol Four

No.6: Toshishita no otokonoko - Candies

No.7: M.LEAGUE Koushiki Anthem - Kawase Mikihiko & Sato Yoko

No.8: ONE PIECE BGM

No.9: Genki wo dashite - Takeuchi Mariya

No.10: SPECIALZ by King Gnu

International Award: ONE PIECE BGM

Foreign Song Award: SOUL BOSSA NOVA - Quincy Jones

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since the 1990s, there have been quite a number of drama theme songs/tie-ups honoured in the JASRAC Awards so just to highlight some of them (drama title in brackets and the years are based on the time they were released) below:

1991

Gold Award: Love story wa totsuzen - Oda Kazumasa (Tokyo Love Story)

1992

Gold Award: SAY YES - Chage & Aska (101 kaime no proposal)

Bronze Award: Kimi ga iru dake de - Kome Kome Club (Sugao no mama de)

1993

Silver Award: Manatsu no yo no yume - Matsutoya Yumi (Dare nimo ienai)

1994

Gold Award: survival dAnce ~ no no cry more ~ - trf (17-sai - at seventeen)

1995

Silver Award: CRAZY GONNA CRAZY - trf (Gaman dekinai!)

1997

Gold Award: CAN YOU CELEBRATE? - Amuro Namie (Virgin Road)

Silver Award: FACE - globe (Kanojotachi no kekkon)

Bronze Award: HOWEVER - Glay (Ryakudatsu Ai Abunai Onna)

1998

Gold Award: Time goes by - Every Little Thing (Amai Kekkon)

2000

Silver Award: SEASONS - Hamasaki Ayumi (Tenkiyoho no koibito)

2001

Gold Award: EVERYTHING - MISIA (Yamato Nadeshiko)

Silver Award: Can You Keep A Secret? - Utada Hikaru (HERO)

Bronze Award: Lion Heart - SMAP (Food Fight)

2003

Gold Award: Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana - SMAP (Boku no ikiru michi)

2004

Gold Award: Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana - SMAP (Boku no ikiru michi)

2005

Gold Award: Hana by ORANGE RANGE (Movie - Ima, ai ni yukimasu)

Bronze Award: Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana - SMAP (Boku no ikiru michi)

2006

Silver Award: Sakura - Kobukuro (Ns' Aoi)

Bronze Award: Konayuki - Remioromen (1 litre no namida)

2007

Gold Award: Flavor of Life - Utada Hikaru (Hana Yori Dango 2)

2008

Bronze Award: Kiseki - GReeeeN (ROOKIES)

2009

Gold Award: Kiseki - GReeeeN (ROOKIES)

2013

Bronze Award: Time goes by - Every Little Thing (Amai Kekkon)

2015

Silver Award: Ito - Nakajima Miyuki (Seija no koshin / Rikou / movie - Ito)

2016

Gold Award: Nakajima Miyuki (Seija no koshin / Rikuou / movie - Ito)

2017

Gold Award: Koi - Hoshino Gen (Nigeru wa haji daga, yaku ni tatsu)

2019

Gold Award: Lemon - Yonezu Kenshi (Unnatural)

Bronze Award: Nakajima Miyuki (Seija no koshin / Rikuou / movie - Ito)

2020

Silver Award: Pretender - Official Hige Dandism (Confidence Man JP)

Bronze Award: Lemon - Yonezu Kenshi (Unnatural)

From the list, you can observe the following trends:

- The number of drama/movie theme songs which won awards was evidently much higher in the 90s and early 2000s which somehow coincides with the waning influence and popularity of TV dramas and their theme songs in the past decade or so, considering that no drama theme song won an award in the past 4 years.

- The anime theme songs are the ones which have been hogging this award for the past few years, thanks to the popularity of blockbuster anime titles like "Kimetsu no Yaiba", "NARUTO", "ONE PIECE" and "Oshi no ko".

- There were some songs which were long-running hits as they either won awards in multiple/consecutive years, were used in multiple works and/or resurfaced years later from their first release. Examples include Every Little Thing's "Time goes by", SMAP's "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana", GReeeeN's "Kiseki", Yonezu Kenshi's "Lemon" and Nakajima Miyuki's "Ito".

I will post about the NexTone Awards another day which will offer a different perspective of what was popular in the past decade. See you then!

Romaji lyrics of "Muchuu" by BE:FIRST - Theme song of FujiTV Spring 2025 drama "Nami uraraka ni, Meoto biyori"

Title: Muchuu

Sung by: BE:FIRST

Written by: SKY-HI / eill / Ryo 'LEFTY' Miyata

Theme Song of FujiTV Spring 2025 drama "Nami uraraka ni, Meoto biyori"

nee ii kaketa

kinou no gomen mo

tayorigai no nai aizuchi mo

uragawa de naiteru I love you

kinishitenaitte uso wa tsuketa kedo

tama ni munasawagu no mo wakatte yo

suki ga tsunotte rollercoaster

mawatte yurete ochite kimi ni todoku kana

konya no koi moyou

nagareru hoshi uraraka na

kotoba no tsuzuki wo okuru yo

Hey, look at me baby

kimi ni muchuu

I say, I love you

boku no hitomi ni zutto ite

raise demo zense demo

zutto aitakute

kimi ni muchuu

shirokuji chuu

chanto iu kara nee kiite

nankai demo nan mankai demo

namae wo yobu yo

Will you stay with me forever?

tsukiya terasareru yokogao

mitoreru jikan ga motto hoshii yo

kokoro ni kimi utsuru tabi

Make me hot

shoujiki ni narezu ni zutto

Torn in love

tadaima to okaeri

shiawase hanegaeshi

katawara ni sarigenaku saita

koi no hana

zutto issho

kotoba wa iranai yo

kokoro no motto oku de oboeteru kara

kimi ni muchuu

I say, I love you

boku no hitomi ni zutto ite

raise demo zense demo

zutto aitakute

kimi ni muchuu

shirokuji chuu

chanto iu kara nee kiite

nankai demo nan mankai demo

namae wo yobu yo

Please 

sono namida to isshoni

afureochisou na inori

sugu fui ni iku kara

boku wo yonde

dakishimeru zutto

hitori nakanai you

kimi ni muchuu

I say, I love you

boku no hitomi ni zutto ite

raise demo zense demo

zutto aitakute

kimi ni muchuu

shirokuji chuu

chanto iu kara nee kiite

nankai demo nan mankai demo

namae wo yobu yo

Will you stay with me forever?

Quick Review #125: Sekai no chuushin de, Ai wo sakebu (movie)

Title: Sekai no chuushin de, Ai wo sakebu / 世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like pure love stories and are fans of the cast especially Oosawa Takao and Nagasawa Masami

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel.

* I have watched the drama version starring Ayase Haruka & Yamada Takayuki.

Liked:

- While I do know of this movie from 21 years ago being such a huge hit back then and am familiar with the story since I did watch the drama version also from 2004, I never thought of watching this until I came across the MV of "Hitomi wo tojite" by Hirai Ken and was reminded of the fact that Oosawa was the lead. And so, since I'm on a Oosawa high these days, there was no longer a reason for me to skip this despite my reluctance to watch pure love stories.

The thing is, the drama version seemed more tilted towards the high school arc rather than the adult arc so I hardly remember what happened in the latter timeline. On the other hand, the movie tried to shuttle between both timelines repeatedly which I felt was a bit easier for me to stomach the film which was close to 2 hours and 20 minutes long. It also helped that Oosawa was featured very prominently in the adult arc. In particular, I really liked the nostalgia factor from the high school arc such as cassette tapes, song dedications on radio shows and the Walkman which were things from my childhood.

- Nagasawa Masami's acting was simply fantastic for a newbie which definitely explains why she won so many awards for her performance here. Especially in the scenes featuring her voice only in the tape recordings, there was so much emotion conveyed from those scenes despite not seeing her facial expressions or body language. If you are a fan of hers, you will definitely want to watch her in this movie. Her chemistry with Moriyama Mirai was also good, be it the lovey-dovey or the sad parts.

Disliked: 

- This is more of my personal view towards Saku (Oosawa) as an adult because his behaviour bothered me quite a lot. He was supposed to search for his missing fiancee Ritsuko (Shibasaki Kou) who had gone to his hometown without a word but seeing him being so caught up with his past emotions pining for a long-gone first love, I don't know how Ritsuko could still stomach this and go to Australia with him to visit the place that he and his first love failed to make it to. After realising this fact, I would definitely have wanted to take some time off the relationship and wait for both sides to be ready before moving on (be it together or separately). While some viewers may like this devotion towards Aki shown by Saku, I just couldn't see it in this manner.

- Due to the shuttling between both timelines, the good thing was that it helped to keep the story "fresh" but the transition was sometimes abrupt and awkward. Just when I was getting into the vibe, the scene changed to the other timeline. And it also didn't help that there was too much of the sorrow in the high school arc and too little of the initial lovey-dovey for Saku and Aki so the whole film felt so heavy in the emotional department coupled with the dark atmosphere in the adult arc. Not the type of movie you would want to watch when you aren't in the best of moods.

Quick Review #124: TANG (movie)

Title: TANG / タング　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of Ninomiya Kazunari and like to watch a light science fiction story set in the futuristic era

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I have not read the original novel "Robot in the Garden".

Liked:

- As this movie was primarily focused on Ken (Ninomiya) and the robot Tang, you should be pretty satisfied with seeing a lot of Nino here. I also liked his interaction with Mitsushima Hikari who played his wife here. The acting from the both of them really helped to make this movie a lot more bearable for me at least. 

While Tang the robot didn't strike me as very endearing at first, it did grow on me over time as the film progressed which strangely enough, mirrored how Ken felt towards it. In this sense, I have to give the movie credit for making me feel this way.

Disliked: 

- The biggest issue I had was with the story which was predictable and quite uneventful. I do not know if the movie followed the original novel closely but the film felt pretty draggy at many junctures. The CG was a bit too much and overwhelming to show the futuristic vibe of the story. Moreover, the mad scientist part felt like an unwelcome distraction to me.

- The other problem was that the story did not delve deep enough into the characters to make me empathize with them or understand their actions. For starters, Ken's reluctance and inability to make decisions wasn't explained properly to justify his behaviour when faced with his own father's medical emergency. While I understood that he didn't want to continue being a doctor after his indecisiveness supposedly played a part in his father's death, the reason for this character trait wasn't addressed at all. There must have been something that triggered his lack of confidence in himself prior to that incident with his father but sad to say, the movie didn't give me this answer. And for his wife to bear with his downward spiral and loss of motivation in his life seemingly for an extended period of time, I would have appreciated a bit more insight into their relationship that could explain why she still tolerated this until she finally snapped.

- Despite having a pretty good lineup especially the three actresses Mitsushima, Nao and Ichikawa Mikako, I felt that they didn't get the opportunity to show their acting chops which was a great pity.

The justification behind NHK's payscale for the Asadora actors

While we would normally assume that the lead actors of a drama would be paid the most in the cast, this reasoning may not necessarily apply in NHK's dramas as mentioned in this Josei Jishin article. 

Using the current asadora (morning drama) "Anpan" as an example, the payscale reflected in the table above shows the estimated pay ranges for the cast on a per 60-min basis. Note that when there are reports of a similar nature, the payscale is usually reflected on a per episode basis. However, since each episode of the asadora is only 15 minutes, this is probably why the pay rate is on a per 60-min basis i.e. 4 episodes. 

As seen above, the leads Imada Mio and Kitamura Takumi supposedly do not command as much as some of their co-stars who are supporting actors or only make very brief appearances in the drama. According to Josei Jishin's research and interviews with production associates, NHK has an unique justification system as compared to its private network counterparts based on "contribution factor" rather than name value or status in the industry.

To begin with, NHK's rates are about 20 to 30 percent lower than that of private network TV stations. As such, it is common for supporting actors to earn more than the leads. In the case of "Anpan", Matsushima Nanako is supposedly the top earner in the JPY 600,000 per 60-min category while Abe Sadao is a close second at JPY 560,000 per 60-mins. Takenouchi Yutaka, Asada Miyoko, Toda Naho & Tsumabuki Satoshi are classified in the third-highest rank of JPY 500,000. When compared to Imada who is said to be paid JPY 300,000 per 60 mins and Kitamura who gets paid JPY 250,000 per 60 mins, these actors are making as much as double of the leads despite being supporting actors.

Apparently, the contribution factor is determined based on how much success or achievements the actor/actress concerned has had with NHK dramas in the past. 

In Matsushima's case, because of the fact that she had been the heroine in 1996's asadora "Himawari" and co-lead with Karasawa Toshiaki in the 2002 Taiga drama "Toshiie to Matsu", she had been the first actress at that time who had experience being the leads in the two signature drama timeslots. As such, despite being just 51, she already commands the highest pay rate for NHK dramas.

Likewise for Abe, he has extensive experience starring in NHK's dramas i.e. 3 Taigas and 2 asadoras and was also a joint lead with Nakamura Kankuro in the 2019 Taiga drama "Idaten". As such, he is seen as a huge contributor to NHK thus commanding such a high pay rate.

In the case of Toda, she was the lead in the 1993 morning drama "Ee nyobo" and Tsumabuki was the lead in the 2009 Taiga drama "Tenchijin". Both also have extensive experience starring in various NHK dramas over the years thus justifying why they are placed in the JPY 500,000 rank. 

On the other hand, while Takenouchi doesn't seem to have an image closely related to NHK, he also has considerable experience in NHK's Taigas like "Toshiie to Matsu" and "Idaten" and had been the lead for a NHK drama series before. When compared to Takenouchi's pay rate as the lead in a private network drama, the NHK rate of JPY 500,000 is definitely much lower than what he would have commanded as the lead of a private network drama i.e. more than JPY 2m per 45-min episode.

What's worthy of special mention is, this is the first time that Ninomiya Kazunari is appearing in an asadora so for him to be paid JPY 400,000 is seen as an unusual example. However, the justification for this was said to be him being a critically-acclaimed actor who has won many awards and had contributed to NHK in a different capacity outside of dramas. As a member of ARASHI who had appeared in the Kouhaku for 12 years and even took on the role of the host on a group and solo basis, the group was also the special navigator of NHK's coverage of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

As for Imada, the last time she appeared in an asadora was in 2012's "Okaeri Mone" while Kitamura only has experience in the 2012 Taiga drama "Taira no Kiyomori". Kawai Yumi and Takahashi Fumiya are also getting a considerably lower rate this time. While they may be paid lower now, these young actors stand to earn more in future with the experience built up through "Anpan" this time since the payscale is said to be updated each year. In addition, when the drama is rerun, the cast gets a rerun fee. Since Imada is the heroine and would appear in the most number of episodes compared to the others, this is a sizeable income even if her rate per 60 mins is on the lower side. Last but not least, this pay rate doesn't include the subsidy given out when filming on location outside the studios.

While the more senior and established actors do earn more in terms of the pay rate now, the younger ones will have the luxury of time to build up their careers and may overtake their seniors one day if all goes well. Perhaps more importantly for now, it is to build up name awareness and increase exposure for them in the domestic market since the NHK dramas have a nationwide reach. As such, even if the pay rates may not be as high as the private networks or even international OTT platforms, actors will still take up the national broadcasters' works in exchange for the intangible benefits outside of money.

Quick Review #123: Strawberry Night (movie)

Title: Strawberry Night / ストロベリーナイト　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are fans of the "Strawberry Night" series and the late Takeuchi Yuko, want to see the sizzling onscreen romance of Takeuchi & Oosawa Takao but don't mind the lacklustre suspense

* Potential spoilers ahead!

Liked:

- Fans of the "Strawberry Night" series and Takeuchi would probably like this, even just for the nostalgia since this movie was from 12 years ago.

- My only motivation for watching this was Oosawa so in this sense, I was pretty satisfied to see his acting as a yakuza head who was deeply attracted to a police officer he should have steered clear of and the amount of airtime he had. The icing on the cake was the sizzling onscreen romance of his character with Takeuchi's Himekawa although that was meant to end in tragedy from the start.

Disliked: 

- Perhaps due to the onscreen romance being too eye-catching, I found the suspense element of the story pretty underwhelming in comparison. Not only was it not difficult to deduce what had happened, the way how things developed especially the parts that didn't make much sense during Himekawa's solo investigation operation made it difficult for me to immerse fully into the story. 

- While much had been talked about in the past about the so-called love triangle between the characters of Takeuchi, Oosawa and Nishijima Hidetoshi, it was obvious that Kikuta never stood a chance. If it had been that Kikuta did matter to Himekawa in the romantic sense, perhaps that would have made the romance part even more exciting to watch.

Quick Review #122: Shinkansen Daibakuha (movie)

Title: Shinkansen Daibakuha / 新幹線大爆破　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who are in the mood for a Shinkansen version of the Hollywood classic "SPEED" and/or want to catch glimpses of your favourite actors in the cast

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* Currently showing on Netflix

Liked:

- If you liked the Hollywood movie "SPEED" which featured Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock stuck on a bus which couldn't stop due to a bomb planted on it, this movie can be likened to a Shinkansen version of that film with even more lives at stake with the speed limit raised even higher. Since JR provided filming support, the reality factor was heightened and thus helped to accentuate the tension and intensity needed for such a movie.

Disliked: 

- The positioning of this movie was a big issue. I don't know whether to classify this as a remake, sequel or refresh of the first movie in 1975 but there were a lot of references to the case in that movie. It may come across bewildering to people who are unaware of this link or have never watched that movie. To have them keep harping on that while assuming that viewers are in the know - I thought that was a bad move and didn't allow me to enjoy the movie on its own.

- The story was also very flat in that the ultimate motive for the bombing was somewhat "childish" and "trivial". I had also read comments from viewers about how this was comparatively small-scale and hard to empathize with vs. what was the motive in the first movie i.e. a thinly-veiled criticism towards the societal problems brought about by the period of high economic growth in Japan at that time. It also didn't help that because there were so many characters in this movie, there simply wasn't enough time to delve further into their personal circumstances, mentality or motivations behind their actions. As such, it was really difficult to identify with the criminals' motives.

- The information overload and technicalities involved in this movie was rather hard to stomach. To begin with, the number of characters and their positions, the places which the Shinkansen moved to and past as well as other trains involved in the rescue process were a lot to take in and the captions and subtitles flew by so fast that I had to rewind many times to read them. And when they got started with using the technical terms in the control centre, I pretty much lost track of the plot and decided not to try to make sense of how they were trying to manipulate the other trains to save the Shinkansen in question. Unless you are in the know, I think it's hard not to feel alienated by the amount of technical information overload here.

- While the cast did boast quite a number of credible actors including Non who hasn't been seen in many big productions ever since her dispute with her old agency, I think the movie just didn't offer these actors enough room to work with and that was a big pity.

Interview of Ichinose Wataru for his role in TBS Spring 2025 drama "Taigan no kaji"

Oricon News did an interview with Ichinose Wataru who is currently starring in the TBS Spring 2025 drama "Taigan no kaji" where he plays Tabe Mikako's husband Torao. While the following is not a complete translation of that, there were some interesting points he made about his preparation for and his thoughts about his character:

• Ichinose always had the impression that the TBS Tuesday timeslot is usually meant for stories focusing on female characters. Given that he usually plays the baddie or fierce-looking people, he didn't think that he would be someone who viewers for this kind of timeslot would accept readily. And he was really surprised to be offered the role of Tabe's husband in this drama.

• He was personally very happy and grateful when he knew that Akeno Kaeruko, the author of the original manga, liked his character Seki Torataro in the "HiGH & LOW" series so much that she chose to name his character in this story as Torao.

• Usually, he prepares for his roles by immersing himself into them but this time, he chose to approach it differently by imagining himself in various situations. For example, how would he have felt about quitting kick-boxing to become the manager of a izakaya restaurant? What would it be like to marry someone like Shiho (Tabe)? 

• The staff requested Ichinose that his acting should show how much he loves Shiho and their daughter Ichigo.

• As Ichinose's father had passed away when he was 5 years old, he didn't really have a father figure to look up to when he was growing up and his mother had to work to support the family. As such, his interactions with adult men as a child were largely restricted to his judo and boxing instructors who had a scary image. In order to prepare for the role this time, his reference figures were the late Nishida Toshiyuki and Kiritani Kenta. He felt that Nishida's acting had warmth just like how Torao is while Kiritani is someone who is a family man, fun to be with and treats children really gently.

• He praised his co-star Tabe for being a wonderful person who has a great smile. As Tabe is very experienced, even if Ichinose messes up his lines, she would be very forgiving and is someone who he can depend on. 

• As for the child actor who plays Ichigo, Ichinose revealed that he tries to play with her during the filming breaks so that they can become more comfortable with each other. He had learned balloon art due to the influence of a relative in the past and decided to practice it again for the sake of her. Initially, he could only make simple things like dogs with the balloons but gradually, he was able to do more complicated pieces which he gave to her as presents. Even though filming hasn't wrapped up yet, he's already feeling sad that he won't be able to see her again. Especially since kids grow up very quickly, he thinks that she might not even remember him several years down the road.

• Since he did quite a number of balloon art pieces for practice, he also gave them away to the children at a nursery near his home which they were very happy about. He said that it was interesting to observe a change in the reactions of the kids as the quality of his works improved.

• He hopes that everyone would be able to see new viewpoints through this drama. Instead of just focusing on how tough it may be for housewives, the drama also shines a spotlight on Torao's struggles at work as well as how difficult it is for working mums to strike a balance. With this understanding for one another, he hopes that it will provide a starting point for people to resolve their differences and issues.

Quick Review #121: Wara no tate (movie)

Title: Wara no tate / 藁の盾　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended for: 

For those who like action films by Miike Takashi and/or are fans of Oosawa Takao and Fujiwara Tatsuya

* Potential spoilers ahead!

* I remember having watched this before in the cinema when it showed in Singapore 12 years ago but I didn't write a review back then.

Liked:

- If you are a fan of Oosawa and Fujiwara, chances are, you would be quite pleased to see them in this movie. I have been on a Oosawa-high after watching the "Kingdom" movie series so this film came at a perfect time for me because he had a lot of scenes as the lead and looked so good. As for Fujiwara, he had a meaty and difficult role and as usual, you can count on him to deliver a credible performance.

Disliked: 

- I think I've mentioned this before but perhaps, Miike Takashi's films just don't go down well with me. Those who like his style might think otherwise though. 

The biggest issue I find this time (even though this was my second time watching it) was how flat the story was. Perhaps this was why I didn't want to write a review back then even though I made the effort to watch this in the cinema for the sake of Oosawa and Fujiwara.

So much attention was put on the nationwide manhunt for a psychopath killer who was being escorted to Tokyo for questioning and to be honest, the action scenes were pretty good. However, the story did not give much insight into the characters who felt very one-dimensional and forgettable. It also did not delve as deep into the moral dilemma of duty vs. conscience & justice as implied in the PR captions What's more, the ending was kind of sloppy even though I liked the fact that Oosawa's character survived.

- I feel that female characters in such movies can be portrayed quite stereotypically and positioned as more of an afterthought so it wasn't surprising to see Matsushima's character having not much room for development. It was a pity though because she did undergo an image change for this role but it just didn't leave much of an impact and felt rather insignificant.